Private vs public

The agent and chat supervisor can converse without the requester knowing that they are having a conversation. Messages that only seen by the agent and chat supervisor are private messages. The requester does not see private messages. The agent and chat supervisor can toggle between the public and private messages using the Public Chat and Private Chat tabs. The Private Chat tab has a yellow background with "Message only visible internally" and private messages appear on the yellow background. When someone types in the Private Chat tab, the typing event indicator does not display. For example, when the chat supervisor types in the Private Chat tab, the agent's and requester's screen do not display the typing event indicator.

The tab that the agent types on and sends the message from determines whether a message is posted privately or publicly. If an agent starts typing a message on the Public Chat tab and then switches to the Private Chat tab, the Private Chat tab does not display the message. If the agent then goes back to the Public Chat tab, the message is still there. However, agents can see private messages regardless of whether they are on the Private Chat tab or the Public Chat tab.

The first time a chat supervisor switches from a private conversation (on the Private Chat tab) to a public conversation (on the Public Chat tab), a dialog box displays. The dialog box informs the chat supervisor that they are about to join the public conversation and the customer will be notified that the chat supervisor is joining the conversation. The chat supervisor can click Yes, I'm sure to join the public conversation or click cancel to remain in the private conversation.

If you send an attachment while on the Public Chat tab, the attachment is sent to all chat participants. If you send an attachment while on the Private Chat tab, the attachment is sent only to the agent and chat supervisor.

Message Sent confirmation messages do not display for private message conversations or if you are not the sender of the message (another agent sent the message to the requester).

If the agent needs assistance

An agent requests help from a chat supervisor by typing the quick action /help. By looking at the dashboard, the supervisor can see that an agent has requested help. The supervisor can then click the interaction in monitoring mode and view the private help message from the agent.