Your inbox called; it wants less clutter

Your inbox called; it wants less clutter


Inbox full of ghosts? Let Auto-Close do the haunting.

Ever stared at your support inbox wondering why half the chats are just… sitting there? No reply, no closure, just hanging like unread messages from a advertising company.

Let’s fix that.

With Auto-Close, you can set a timer to close inactive conversations automatically. It keeps your inbox clean and helps your team stay focused on what matters.

What is Auto-Close? 

Think of it like the support team’s version of putting the dishes away after dinner.

When a conversation goes quiet (no response from the customer), Auto-Close steps in, waits for a set time, and wraps it up for you. You decide how long is “too long.” Could be 10 minutes. Could be 24 hours. Either way, once the clock runs out, Auto-Close quietly shuts the door. No mess. Just a cleaner inbox.

Why use Auto-Close?  

Save your team’s time. No more manually closing chats that have gone cold.
Set expectations. A clear close message shows customers you’re not ignoring them, you’re just staying efficient.
Stay compliant. Platforms like WhatsApp only allow replies within 24 hours. Auto-close helps you stick to the rules.
Spot trends. Auto-closed chats give you insights into where customers drop off.

Auto-Close isn’t a one-size-fits-all feature.

You can adapt to the platform, the agent, and even the bot.

Let’s break it down:

You’ve got a WhatsApp chat going. The customer asks something, and your agent replies. But then… silence. You’ve set the auto-close timer to 30 minutes. The countdown begins. If the customer doesn’t respond by then, poof! The conversation closes.

For bots, the clock starts as soon as they send a message. You can choose from presets like 5, 10, 15 minutes or 24 hours. If the user doesn’t reply, the bot closes the chat.

Different businesses, different beats.

Let’s say you run:
  • An e-commerce store: Sometimes it's clear people want quick answers to specific questions like “Where’s my order?” or “What’s your return policy?” Use short timers like 5–10 minutes in these cases to keep your queue fresh.
  • A SaaS company or IT support desk: Users might need time to try your suggestions. Give them breathing room with timers between 30–60 minutes.
  • A healthcare or financial service: The stakes are higher here. A customer might pause mid-chat to check a report or talk to someone else. Use conservative timers, 60 minutes or more, and send occasional re-engagement messages like, “Still there? We’re here to help.” 

You’ve got the feature. Now make it work smarter.

  • Keep WhatsApp chats within the 24-hour window.
  • Use short timers for FAQs, longer ones when handling complex questions.
  • Always give a gentle nudge before closing: “We’ll close this chat in 10 minutes. Reply to keep it going!”
  • Review your auto-closed chats regularly. You might spot patterns like when people usually drop off, or which agents get longer pauses.

FAQ time


Can agents override auto-close?
Absolutely. Closed chats can be reopened anytime from the Closed section.

What if I reply just before the chat auto-closes?
The timer resets! The chat stays open as long as the conversation is active.

Can I set different timers for each channel?
Yes. WhatsApp, Messenger, LINE; you can set up timers for each to match their rules.

What happens if a chat is manually turned into a ticket before auto-close?
Let’s say a customer chats with you, and you manually convert it to a ticket before auto-close kicks in. That conversation becomes part of a new ticket. When auto-close runs later, it closes the chat thread, not the new ticket. The chat and ticket are now separate.
   

Let’s hear from you  

Do you have a sweet spot for your timers? Or a clever workaround your team uses? Maybe a bot trick that saved the day?

Share your Auto-Close success stories (or disasters turned into lessons) in the comments.

Your tweak might just be someone else’s "aha!” moment.


      • Topic Participants

      • Raj R

      • Sticky Posts

      • Zoho Desk Partners with Microsoft's M365 Copilot for seamless customer service experiences

        Hello Zoho Desk users, We are happy to announce that Zoho Desk has partnered with Microsoft's M365 to empower customer service teams with enhanced capabilities and seamless experiences for agents. Microsoft announced their partnership during their keynote
      • WhatsApp pricing changes: Pay per message starting July 1, 2025

        Starting July 1, 2025, WhatsApp is shifting from conversation-based pricing to per-message billing. That means every business-initiated message you send will count. Not just the first one in a 24-hour window. Pricing updates on the WhatsApp Business Platform
      • Live Webinar - Work smarter with Zoho Desk and Zoho Workplace integration

        Hello customers! Zoho Desk and Zoho Workplace are coming together for a webinar on 14th May, 2024. Zoho Workplace is a suite of productivity apps for email, chat, docs, calls, and more at one single place. Zoho Desk is closely integrated with a few tools
      • Apple iOS 17 and iPadOS 17 updates for Zoho Desk users

        Hello Zoho Desk users! Apple recently announced the release of iOS 17 and iPad OS 17. These latest OS updates will help you stay productive and efficient, through interactive and seamless user experiences. Zoho Desk has incorporated the updates to help
      • Zoho Desk Cheat Sheet For The Year-End

        Check out these Zoho Desk best practices to end this year on a high and have a great one ahead! #1 Set Business (Holiday) Hours - If you have limited working hours, please make sure you restrict your business hours or set them as holidays for the coming days. Let your customers know when you will, and won't, be available. #2 Update the Annual Holiday List - Check the holidays for the new year and update the holiday schedule. Usually, holidays from the current year will be carried over for the next

        • Recent Topics

        • Tip of the Week - Conditional Formatting Chart

          Conditional formatting allows you to highlight your data series based on a pattern or a trend in your data. This makes it easy for you to identify when your data reaches certain values or when it deviates from the trend.  Zoho Analytics allows you to
        • Zoho Learn - AI Translate

          Hi Learn team, I had a situation today where I was providing training to a client team and I had written articles into their Zoho Learn to support their learning. I realised that one of the team members was a non-native English speaker and they were struggling
        • Power of Automation :: Auto-Sync Custom Date Field Between Related Tasks via Blueprint Transition

          Hello Everyone, A custom function is a software code that can be used to automate a process and this allows you to automate a notification, call a webhook, or perform logic immediately after a workflow rule is triggered. This feature helps to automate
        • Introducing auto-upgrade in Zoho LandingPage

          Hi everyone, We’re excited to share an upcoming update to help you get the most out of your landing pages — the auto-upgrade option, launching on October 22, 2025. Your landing pages are designed to bring in leads, and we want to make sure you never miss
        • Workdrive comment links stopped working.

          I have marked a PDF file with 95 comments, they have worked for a while. When i clicked on them they brought me to the correct page and showed me the outline that i had drew on the plans. The comments included the page number of the outline, but now it
        • How to Bulk-Update Sales Orders in CRM

          Hi - I need to bulk update existing sales orders with dates from our ERP of when the sales orders were created. I made a date field on the Sales Order module where I want to insert that data. I can't Mass Update because I am not updating the fields to
        • Zoho ToDo in Cliq

          Our organization utilizes Zoho ToDo in the Zoho Mail Desktop app. Is there a way for these to show up in Cliq Desktop app as well?
        • 【Zoho CRM】サンドボックス機能のアップデート:カスタムビューが利用可能になりました。

          ユーザーの皆さま、こんにちは。コミュニティチームの中野です。 今回は「Zoho CRM アップデート情報」の中から、サンドボックス機能のアップデートをご紹介します。 目次 1. カスタムビューとは 2. 今回の機能アップデートについて 1. カスタムビューとは カスタムビューは、ユーザーが設定した条件に基づいてデータをフィルタリング・整理し、 重要な情報へ効率的にアクセスできるようにする機能です。 「過去15日間の見込み客」や「受注間近の商談」、「特定の優先度レベルが設定された案件」など 条件を指定してわずか数クリックで設定できます。
        • Changing an agents email address

          How do you change an agent's email address? I keep getting a red circle even though I am an admin. And on one of my agents he has two email addresses? How is that possible?
        • Zoho CRM - Potentials Tab

          Hi! When I create a Deal (Potentials tab) the header looks like this: After a refresh on the page it looks like this: What should I do so that it is displayed like in the second pic without refresh? Also I have a user that as of recently, cannot see this
        • Is there a way to automatically add Secondary Contacts (CCs) when creating a new ticket for specific customers?

          Some of our customers want multiple contacts to receive all notifications from our support team. Is there a way to automatically add secondary contacts to a ticket when our support team opens a new ticket and associates it with an account? This would
        • Unable to create embed code for resource of workdrive using API

          Hello Team, I am trying to create embed code for a resource using workdrive api in powershell, however facing some issues with injecting data in body. Followed Doc: https://workdrive.zoho.com/apidocs/v1/filefoldersharing/shareeveryone Please help, below
        • Feature Request - Insert URL Links in Folders

          I would love to see the ability to create simple URL links with titles in WorkDrive. or perhaps a WorkDrive extension to allow it. Example use case: A team is working on a project and there is project folder in WordDrive. The team uses LucidChart to create
        • not able to convert pdf to jpg and other forms and vice versa.

          i want to change my pdf to jpg, word, etc and some times jpg to pdf. i don't know how to do in this.
        • Enable / show scroll bar when Mega Menu is opened

          Hey there I am using the mega menu add-on and experience a "flicker" whenever the mega menu opens. The reason is, that the scrollbar, which has a width of a few pixels, stops showing when the mega menu opens. As the scrollbar disappears the whole page
        • Reports: Custom Search Function Fields

          Hi Zoho, Hope you'll add this into your roadmap. Issue: For the past 2yrs our global team been complaining and was brought to our attention recently that it's a time consuming process looking/scrolling down. Use-case: This form is a service report with
        • Zoho Inventory - Composite Items - Assembly - Single Line Item Quantity of One

          Hi Zoho Inventory Team, Please consider relaxing the system rules which prevent an assembly items from consisting of a single line item and outputting a quantity of 1. A client I'm currently working with sells cosmetics and offers testers of their products
        • How can I transfer data from Production to Development environment?

          Hi, I am using Creator V6 and would like to bring all the data in production to the Development and Testing environments? Is there an easy way of doing that or I have to export and import each table?
        • Add "Reset MFA" Option for Zoho Creator Client Portal Users

          Hello Zoho Creator Team, We hope you are doing well. We would like to request an important enhancement related to Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) for client portal users in Zoho Creator. Currently, Creator allows us to enforce MFA for portal users,
        • New portal SAML authentication error: User not found

          Dears, Has anyone else been experiencing this lately? I am creating a new portal authenticated by SAML (Entra ID). I followed the same process as I did with other portals, but any new portal created after this always encounters this error. I’ve been reporting
        • Devis et facture multi page

          Bonjour, je suis sur Zoho invoice et je rencontre un problème sur mes devis et factures lorsqu'ils dépassent 1 page. je me retrouve souvent avec des lignes coupées ou le sous total page 1 et le total page 2. j'aimerai savoir s'il existe une possibilité
        • Help with Filtering Records, HTML Pages, and Automatic File Uploads in Zoho Creator

          Hi Zoho Creator Community, I’m building a Zoho Creator application and need guidance on a few features I’ve been struggling with. I want to implement them safely and efficiently, and I’d appreciate any examples, tips, or best practices. I want users to
        • Convert invoice from zoho to xml with all details

          How to convert an Invoice to XML format with all details
        • Feature Suggestion for Zoho Websites – Inspired by Squarespace Systems

          Dear Zoho Team, I’m a Zoho user and also a Squarespace Platinum Circle member, and I recently noticed the launch of Zoho Websites in India. I wanted to share some ideas for features that could enhance the platform for professional users and agencies.
        • Custom View - Sort by Custom Field

          I created a custom field for our Engineering team to know which tickets to work first by numbering them.  I created a custom view to general data which includes the Engineering Priority.  However, I cannot sort the Engineering Priority column ascending
        • Zoho Indeed Intergation not pulling candidate details

          We have recently integrated zoho with indeed. Prior to this our candidates came into the candidates tab via the zoho.resumes email address from indeed and it pulled through the candidates mobile number, and majority of the time a postcode. However since
        • Custom View of tickets created today

          How can I create a custom view that list all my ticked created in the current date? Currently, if I select the "Created Time" criteria, the "Current Time" option does not work as today. Actually, I don't know how it works this "Current Time".
        • Lifecycle Reports

          From data to decisions: A deep dive into ticketing system reports A lifecycle report captures and visualises the sequential states that a ticket undergoes across its lifespan. For instance, when a customer submits a support ticket for a faulty product,
        • Zoho Forms - Print Button on Forms

          Hi Forms team, I'm replicating a form for a client which is currently based on JotForm. I noticed that at the end of the form there is a button to print the completed form. I thought this would be something worth sharing and a nice to have in Zoho Forms.
        • Putting Watermark on Zoho Sheet

          Can this be done?
        • Validation function not preventing candidates under 18 or over 30 from submitting the web form

          Hello everyone, I’m trying to create a validation rule for the Candidate Webform in Zoho Recruit. I added a custom field called “Date of Birth”, and I want to make sure that candidates cannot submit the form unless their age is between 18 and 30 years.
        • Report to know the history of certain Tickets on Desk

          Hi there guys, As the title implies we're wondering if there's any way to get some kind of Report that allows us to check the History of various Tickets at the same time since as of today if we want to know that we have to check them 1 by 1 which is not
        • Advanced Usage Billing: Prepaid with Drawdown

          Picture yourself at your favourite coffee shop, Bean & Brew. You come by every morning for your usual cappuccino, and occasionally you get an extra cold brew and a muffin or two in the afternoon. Interestingly, Bean & Brew has a new idea of offering a
        • Zoho Commerce in multiple languages

          When will you be able to offer Zoho Commerce in more languages? We sell in multiple markets and want to be able to offer a local version of our webshop. What does the roadmap look like?
        • Urgent Zoho Creator down!!!???

          Now my zoho creator faced this issue. Anyone has idea? Urgent!!!
        • The Social Wall: September 2025

          Hello everyone, As we step into the fall season, some major updates are on the horizon. Meanwhile, here are the exciting updates we rolled out this September. Approvals in iOS Managing approvals just got more seamless on mobile. With this update, the
        • Introducing Detailed View for Candidates in Vendor Portal

          We’ve added a new Details sub-tab inside the Vendor Portal to help vendors easily view complete candidate information after submission. With this update, vendors can now access all candidate details, from personal information to associated job openings,
        • Zoho One Down

          Zoho Team, Checking if when the services up - currently Zoho One is down
        • How can I track which zoho users are actively using Zoho CRM

          I have several licenses of Zoho CRM. We now need to add a new user. I could purchase a new license, but before I do, I would like to see if any of our existing users are not actively using the license assigned to them. How can I determine the activity
        • Access to Detail View From HTML Snippet

          Zoho Creator displays a detail view that slides out from the right onClick of a record in a report. Am I able to access that detail view from an html snippet, e.g. click a record in a list and display the detail view? The zc_LoadIn dialog is a bit clunky,
        • Next Page