Exploring Sidebar
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- UpdatedAug 3, 2023
- 7 minutes to read
- Vancouver
- Now Platform Capabilities
Using Sidebar, agents can have real-time collaboration with others based around a Workspace task-based or interaction-based record. These Sidebar discussions facilitate the exchange of information and knowledge to help resolve issues faster and with higher-quality outcomes.
Sidebar overview
An agent can initiate a group discussion from a task-based record or interaction-based record. The agent enters preliminary information and context for the discussion and adds subject matter experts to help. The agent can create multiple discussions for one record.
Sidebar workspaces
- Customer Service Management (CSM) Configurable Workspace
- CSM Manager Workspace
- Human Resources (HR) Agent Workspace
- IT Service Management (ITSM) Manager Workspace
- Vendor Management Workspace
For information on adding the Discuss button to one of the supported workspaces above, see Adding the Discuss button.
For information on adding the Discuss button to any workspace not listed (such as the Service Operation Workspace), see KB article KB1213249.
Sidebar components
- Sidebar discussion panel
When you select the Sidebar discussion icon
, the Sidebar discussion panel appears:
The Sidebar discussion panel includes:- Docked chat windows
Fulfillers can access multiple Sidebar discussions at the same time using the docked windows feature. When a Sidebar discussion is created, the record card is automatically added at the start of the chat window. Docked chat windows include these features:
Table 2. User avatar and presence User avatar and presence Description Displays the user's avatar and presence (online status). The dot indicates the user's presence depending on whether they’re logged in to the platform: - Green dot - user is logged in.
- No dot - user isn’t logged in.
- Orange dot - user recently logged out.
icon.
Table 3. More actions icon Icon Description Display additional actions for this message including:- Post to activity stream
- Remove from activity stream
- Edit message
- Delete message
If you minimize a docked window, it appears as a tab in the overflow menu at the bottom of the screen. If you hover over a minimized docked window, the record number and chat title appear to help you identify the content. You can select any of the tabs to access that discussion again. The maximum number of docked windows you can have in the overflow menu is 25 and this amount can be configured. If there are too many docked windows to display as tabs in the overflow menu, a tab with a number displays indicating how many extra docked windows aren’t displayed.
Activity stream and Sidebar
You must integrate Sidebar with activity stream if you want agents to be able to post Sidebar discussions to the activity stream. For instructions on integrating Sidebar with the activity stream, see Integrating Sidebar and activity stream. For information on using Sidebar with the activity stream, see Activity stream in Sidebar.
Sidebar installing and configuring
The Sidebar configuration settings are available via the Sidebar tab under . See Installing Sidebar for instructions. After Sidebar is installed, you must configure the admin settings. See Configuring Sidebar for instructions.
Using Sidebar
For information on how to use Sidebar, see Using Sidebar for more information.
- Creating custom discussion button
- Viewing Core UI forms with Sidebar
- Sidebar panel
- Sidebar unread conversation badge count
- Docked chat window
- Favoriting discussions
- Discussion information panel
- Quick actions
- Integrating with activity stream
- Integrating with AI search
- Drag-and-drop file sharing
- Emojis
- Using @ to call out a user
Using Sidebar and Microsoft Teams
After Sidebar and Microsoft Teams are integrated, users of both applications can collaborate with each other. For more information on integrating Sidebar with Microsoft Teams, see Sidebar and Microsoft Teams.
Core UI
You can create Sidebar discussions on interaction records from Next Experience Core UI.
Domain Separation
For information about domain separation in Sidebar, see Domain separation and Sidebar.
More information
To learn more, see the Now learning course on Sidebar.