Adding and Managing your Zoho Desk Users

Adding and Managing your Zoho Desk Users

Agents are the persons who handle tickets and work with customer problems. They perform a wide array of actions like responding to customers, editing ticket details, closing tickets, moving tickets between departments, etc. You can add as many agents in your Zoho Desk account, based on the user licenses you have purchased. Please note that license limits the number of active agents you have and not the total number of agents you've added.

To begin with, you can add users under one of the three user types. The first is the Agent, who is typically stripped off from certain administrative permissions in the help desk. The second is the Light Agent, who has very limited permissions and cannot perform such tasks like replying or commenting publicly to a ticket like regular agents could. The third is the Support Administrator, who is also an agent but has additional privileges to manage and customize the help desk. Please note that only administrators can change the roles and permissions of a user. 



Adding an Agent
As an administrator, you should add the other agents who will be working on the tickets that are received from your customers. 

To add an agent in your help desk:
  1. Click the Setup icon (  ) in the top bar.
  2. In the Setup Landing page, click Agents under Users and Control. 
  3. In the Agent List page, click New Agent in the upper right corner. You can also click the plus icon alongside the Agents menu. 
  4. In the New Agent page:
    • Enter the First Name, Last Name, and the Email Address
    • Specify a Role and the Permissions for the user. You can choose between Agent, Admin, Light Agent or other custom roles you've created. When you select 'Agent', you must also specify their access rights for tickets. You can either provide them with access to all tickets or only to those that are owned and unassigned
    • Select the Department they should belong to. Once you assign a department, the agent can access and view only those tickets that belong to that department. Also, this option is available only when you have created more than one department
    • Enter additional information like Channel Expertise, Bio, Desk Phone and Cell Phone
  5. Click Add New Agent.

The agent will receive an email invitation to their email address provided by the administrator. The agent must accept the invitation by clicking the Access link in the email within seven days of receiving it.

Important Steps on Accepting Invite
  1. If the user is new to Zoho and does not have a Zoho account:
    • After clicking the access link in the invitation email, user will be redirected to the Sign Up page
    • User will sign up and create an account with Zoho
    • On creating the account, user should click the Continue signing in button
    • The user has to confirm the email address by accessing the link sent in the Confirmation Email
  2. If the user already has an account with Zoho but does not have a Zoho Desk account:
    • After clicking the access link in the invitation email, user should click the Continue signing in button
    • The user will be logged in to the Zoho Desk account that is associated with their company

Modifying Agents
If you'd just entered agents' name, email address, role, and profile details while adding them, you can enter additional information of theirs, such as channel expertise, bio, phone numbers, etc., by modifying their details.

To modify an agent's details:
  1. Click the Setup icon (  ) in the top bar.
  2. In the Setup Landing page, click Agents under Users and Control.
  3. Hover your mouse pointer and click the Edit icon (  ) corresponding to the agent.
  4. In the Agent Information page, click the More link to enter the additional information about the agent. For example:
    • Select a channel the agents is expert in
    • Enter a short bio to let others know a little bit about the agent
    • Enter the phone number, extension, and mobile number at which the agent will receive phone calls
    • Make changes to the other details like role, profile, and department details, if needed
  5. Click Save.

Note:
  • Agents themselves can only specify other details like language, county locale, and time zone.

Re-inviting Agents
When a user didn't accept the invitation within seven days, the Administrator can resend the invite to the user. Users who have not accepted the invitation to join the Zoho Desk account will be listed as 'Not Confirmed'. You can send an invite again only to the unconfirmed users. Please note that re-inviting user is different from activating an inactive agent.

To re-invite a user:
  1. Click the Setup icon (  ) in the top bar.
  2. In the Setup Landing page, click Agents under Users and Control.
  3. Switch to Not Confirmed View at the top of the page.
  4. Hover your mouse pointer and click the Re-invite icon (  ) corresponding to the agent.
    An invitation email will be sent to the user's email address.


Activating/Deactivating Agents
You can deactivate agents if you want them to be activated later. Say, for example, your staffing needs change and you want to reduce your licenses temporarily, or you employ part-time or seasonal agents who you know will be back on your payroll.

When you deactivate an agent:
  • The agent will no longer be able to access your Zoho Desk.
  • No one will be able to log into the service using the deactivated ID.
  • You are free to use the same user license to add another agent. 
  • The agent license is not canceled. You will be billed for the number of licenses that you had bought.
  • The agent will be listed under Inactive list.

To deactivate an agent:
  1. Click the Setup icon (  ) in the top bar.
  2. In the Setup Landing page, click Agents under Users and Control.
  3. Hover your mouse pointer and click the Deactivate icon (  ) corresponding to the agent.
  4. Click Deactivate Agent on the following screen.



  5. For an agent assigned with open tickets or activities, continue with the following:
    • Use the drop boxes to specify the agents that you would like to take over the tickets and activities.
      You may need to do this for each department the agent belongs to.
    • Click Deactivate Agent.
  6. Click Yes, I understand. Deactivate Now to confirm deactivation.
Similarly, you can activate an agent who was deactivated previously. Please note that only active agents are counted towards user licenses.

To activate an agent:
  1. In the Agent List page, select the Deactivated Agents view.
  2. Hover your mouse pointer and click the Activate icon (  ) corresponding to an inactive agent.
  3. Click Activate Agent from the menu options. 
    The agent will be activated and a system generated email will be sent to the corresponding agent.

     

Anonymizing Agents
You can anonymize agent data across Zoho Desk to comply with the GDPR's "Right to be Forgotten," without having to delete tickets, activities, or other personal information.

When you anonymize an agent:
  • Zoho Desk scrubs their data from ticket fields, comments, mentions, history logs, etc. Perhaps, this applies to other modules as well.
  • The name of the agent is replaced with “[Anonymous Agent].” But you can choose a one-time personal nickname to be associated with the anonymized agent.

To anonymize an agent:
  1. Click the Setup icon (  ) in the top bar.
  2. In the Setup Landing page, click Agents under Users and Control.
  3. In the Agent List page, select the Deleted Agents view.
  4. Hover your mouse pointer and turn on the Anonymize toggle corresponding to the agent.
  5. On the confirmation screen, enter the Anonymous Name for the agent. This name is optional.
  6. Click Anonymize Agent.
    The agent is anonymized immediately.


Note:
  • You can anonymize only deleted agents. Although, you can anonymize and delete agents at the same time.
  • Once anonymized, the agent information cannot be retrieved again.

Reset Password
Zoho Desk agents with any role can reset their password individually by clicking on the Forgot Password link on the login page.

To reset your password:
  1. Click the Forgot Password link on the login page of Zoho Desk. The system will redirect you to the Zoho Accounts page.
  2. In Zoho Accounts page:
    • Email ID: Specify the registered email ID as mentioned in Account Information.
    • Image Text: Enter the captcha code as seen in the given picture.
  3. Click Request. 
    The system sends an automated email to your email ID.
  4. Click the link in the email you received to reset your password.
    You will be redirected to the Zoho Accounts Password Reset page.
  5. In Password reset page, enter your New Password.
  6. Click Change. 
    The new password is updated, and you can use it to log in to Zoho Desk and other services.

Deleting/Closing Zoho Account
You can close your Zoho account if you do not want to use Zoho Desk and any of the Zoho services associated with your email address.

To close your Zoho account permanently:
  1. Log in to https://accounts.zoho.com/.
  2. In the Zoho Accounts page, click Preferences and then click Close Account.

Important Note:
  • On closing your Zoho account, you will not be able to access any of our Zoho Services.
  • Before closing your account, please ensure that you have exported all your data from the Zoho Desk system and also from the other Zoho services.
  • Once you close your account, all of your data within Zoho services will be deleted immediately and cannot be restored in future.


Also Read:      Deleting Agents      Adding Light Agents


It is the responsibility of the data administrator to provide requisite permissions to their agents.


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