# Support tickets

> How to handle the tickets students open: statuses, departments and owners, replies with attachments, closing and reopening, and what the student sees.

A support ticket is a private conversation between a student and your team, outside the lesson. It is for payment, access, certificate and anything that should not be public. The student opens the ticket in the student area. Your team replies, closes and reopens it in **Support > Support** (the **Tickets** inbox).

## The idea in one minute

Each ticket has a number, a **Subject**, the content it refers to and the messages, with attachments. If the account has departments, it also has a **Department**.

- Only the student opens a ticket.
- Only they see their own ticket.
- Any administrator with access to the channel replies.

**The most important rule:** the status says who spoke last. Replying does not close the ticket. It is only closed when someone clicks **Close ticket**.

## The statuses

| In the queue | What it means | Counts as pending? |
|---|---|---|
| **Open**, badge **Open** | New ticket with no team reply, reopened, or with the student's message last | Yes |
| **Answered**, badge **Answered** | Your team spoke last. The ticket is still open | No |
| **Closed**, badge **Closed** | Someone closed it. A line in the conversation shows who and when | No |

- Replying moves the ticket to **Answered** and takes it out of the menu counter.
- A student's message in a closed ticket reopens it and sends it back to **Open**.

The life of a ticket:

```mermaid
stateDiagram-v2
    accTitle: The life of a ticket
    accDescr: The student opens the ticket and it is open. When the team replies, it becomes answered; when the student writes again, it goes back to open. Close ticket closes it. A closed ticket goes back to open when the student replies or when the team uses Reopen ticket.
    state "Open" as Aberto
    state "Answered" as Respondido
    state "Closed" as Encerrado
    [*] --> Aberto: Student opens the ticket
    Aberto --> Respondido: Team replies
    Respondido --> Aberto: Student replies
    Aberto --> Encerrado: Close ticket
    Respondido --> Encerrado: Close ticket
    Encerrado --> Aberto: Student replies or Reopen ticket
```

Only **Open** counts in the menu counter. **Answered** is still an open ticket, waiting for the student.

## Departments

A department sorts tickets by subject, such as billing, teaching or technical. You create the ones that make sense.

- No department exists by default.
- A ticket may have no department.
- With departments registered, the student picks one when opening a ticket. Your queue gains the **Department** filter.
- Each department can have a **Responsible**, chosen among the administrators.
- Deleting a department keeps its tickets. They are left without a department.

**Heads up:** the **Responsible** only shows who looks after that queue. They do not receive each ticket or get a separate inbox.

## The tickets inbox

**Support > Support** has three panels: the list, the conversation and the details.

**The list**, titled **Tickets**.

- **Search ticket** looks in the subject and in the messages. With a search, the status filter does not count.
- The filters are **Status** (**Open**, **Answered**, **Closed**) and **Department**. **Department** only appears when there are departments.
- The inbox opens on **Open**.
- Each row shows the student, the subject, an excerpt of the last message and how long ago.

**The conversation, with no ticket selected.**

- **Go to a ticket**: type the **Ticket no.** and click **Open**.
- The **Departments** list, with each one's responsible, the pencil to edit and **Add department**.
- A click on a department filters the list.

**The conversation, with a ticket open.**

- The number and the subject, and the status badge.
- The messages with their attachments. An image shows as a thumbnail, a video plays right there and other files are for download.
- At the bottom, the **Write a reply...** field with **Attach file**.
- A long ticket opens on the latest messages. Scroll to the top to load the earlier ones.
- On a closed ticket, the bottom shows **Reopen ticket**.
- The bubble of one of your replies has **Edit reply** and **Delete reply**.

**The details.**

- The **Student**: name and email.
- The **Ticket** block: **ID**, **Status**, **Department**, **Lesson**, **Opened on** and **Last reply**.
- The **Actions**: **View student profile** and **Close ticket** or **Reopen ticket**.

## Step by step

### Reply to a ticket

1. Open **Support > Support**.
2. Click the ticket. If you know the number, type it in **Go to a ticket**.
3. Write in **Write a reply...**.
4. To send a file, click **Attach file**.
5. Send.

The queue opens on **Open**. A reply can be just the file. After you send, the ticket becomes **Answered**, leaves the counter and the student gets the notice.

### Close a ticket

1. Open the ticket.
2. In **Details**, click **Close ticket**.
3. Confirm in **Close**.

The ticket goes to **Closed**. The conversation gains the line "Ticket closed at ... by ...", and the student gets the notice. They can reopen it by replying.

### Reopen a ticket

1. Open the closed ticket.
2. Click **Reopen ticket**.

The ticket goes back to **Open**, with no new message.

### Correct or withdraw a reply of yours

In the menu of your reply's bubble:

- **Edit reply** corrects the text. The attachment stays as it is, and the student gets no new alert.
- **Delete reply** takes your message down. The status goes back to showing who spoke last. A closed ticket stays closed.

### Create or edit a department

1. Open **Support > Support**, with no ticket selected.
2. Click **Add department**, or a department's pencil.
3. Fill in the **Name**, for example "Technical Support".
4. If you want, choose the **Responsible**.
5. Click **Save**.

### Delete a department

1. Click the department's pencil.
2. Click **Delete**.
3. Confirm.

The linked tickets stay in the queue, without a department.

## What the student sees

- In the student area menu, **Support** lists their tickets. Each row shows the subject, the number, the department (or **No department**) and when it was opened. **Open** shows the conversation.
- **New ticket** opens the form: **Lesson**, **Department** (when there are any), **Subject**, **Message** and **Attachment**. In **Lesson**, they pick the content the ticket refers to, among those they can access. **Open Ticket** sends it.
- In the conversation, they see the department, the product, **Opened on** and the **Subject**. Below, the messages and the reply field.
- If they write in a closed ticket, the ticket reopens.
- They get a notice in the student area on each reply from your team. They also get one when the ticket is closed. There is no email.
- The same message repeated within two minutes is refused.
- With **Support** turned off in their form, they do not see the channel.

## Good to know

- **No automatic deadline.** No deadline escalates or closes a ticket on its own. **Reports > Support** measures the time to first reply and the tickets by department.
- **One queue for every product.** The ticket queue is not split by product. An administrator limited to some products sees every ticket, if they have permission on the channel.
- **Student in the trash.** The tickets of a student in the trash leave the queue and the menu counter. They come back when the student is restored.
- **Attachment that does not open.** An attachment the account cannot open shows the file name with **Attachment unavailable**, and no link.
- **Events for integrations.** Opening, replying, reopening, closing and changing the subject or department produce events for your integrations.
- **Student view.** No ticket can be opened from it.

## Frequently asked questions

**Can I assign a ticket to an agent?** No. The **Responsible** belongs to the department and only shows who looks after the queue. Any administrator with access to the channel replies.

**The student replied in a closed ticket. Now what?** The ticket reopened on its own and went back to **Open**. Reply or close it again.

**I replied and the ticket is still open.** That is expected. Replying moves the ticket to **Answered**. To close it, click **Close ticket**.

**I deleted a department. What happens to its tickets?** They stay in the queue, without a department.

**The student says they cannot access the lesson.** Before you answer, follow [Why the student cannot access](https://help.cademi.cloud/en/alunos/por-que-o-aluno-nao-acessa.md). The cause is almost always the enrollment, an end date, a suspension or a release rule.