Use Support to read a visitor's conversation, take over from the assistant, and reply as a member of your team. The conversation stays in the same chat, so you can review what the visitor has already asked before responding.
You need permission to manage support chats. If the page is read-only or the reply controls are disabled, ask your site administrator to check your access.
Check that team replies are available
In Support → Configure, use Assistant, then your team for AI answers with a team handoff, or Your team only for conversations handled by people. Cedros Assistant is the AI-only mode; use a mode that includes your team when you want people to take over reliably.
Chat must be enabled on the visitor's page. Conversation recording also needs to be enabled: the site's built-in analytics and Support chat analytics event setting control whether chat turns are stored for the inbox and handoff. Ask your administrator to check these if visitor conversations are missing.
See Adding support chat to your website for chat modes, recording, page visibility, and response estimates. Keep the promised response time realistic for the people monitoring your inbox.
Find the conversation
- Open Support to view Support chats.
- Choose Waiting to find conversations waiting for a person. Check Human active as well: visitors in chats someone has already taken may still be waiting for a reply.
- Use Search visitors, subjects, messages… to narrow the selected view. Switch to All and clear the search if you cannot find the chat. Select Load older chats when you need earlier conversations.
- Open the conversation and read the full exchange, including the assistant's replies. Check the visitor name, available contact details, page address, and timestamps before acting.
The views describe who is handling each conversation:
- Waiting: the visitor is waiting for a person to take the chat.
- With AI: the assistant is handling it.
- Human active: a person is handling it, whether or not the visitor's latest message has been answered.
- Resolved: the conversation has been marked finished.
- All: conversations across these states.
An unnamed person appears as Anonymous visitor. Opening a chat marks it read for you and can show teammates that you are reading it. Reading does not take ownership or send a reply.
Take over before you reply
- Check the status above the reply box. It tells you whether the assistant, nobody, you, or a teammate has the chat.
- If another teammate owns or is reading it, coordinate with them before taking over. A viewing notice means someone has the conversation open; it does not mean they have replied.
- Select Take over. Wait for You're now handling this chat. and confirm that the status says You have this chat.
- Recheck the latest visitor message, then write your reply. Taking over assigns the conversation to you without sending a message.
Taking over moves the conversation to Human active. It may leave the Waiting list while remaining open in the detail pane. The notice This chat has moved out of the queue you're viewing. explains that change; switch views to find it again.
Sending a reply can also move a chat into human handling. Use Take over first to make ownership clear: replying to a chat already assigned to someone else does not necessarily change its named owner. Ownership helps your team coordinate, but it is not an exclusive editing lock.
While a team-enabled conversation is waiting for a person or being handled by one, the assistant leaves the conversation to your team. You still need to send a useful reply; taking over alone does not answer the visitor's question.
Send and check your reply
- Read the visitor name and recent messages again, especially if you have switched between conversations. Write in Reply to this visitor.
- Give the answer or the next step in plain language. Keep each reply under 1,600 characters; longer replies may be cut short. Split a long explanation into shorter messages or link to a published help article.
- Select Send reply, or press Enter. Use Shift+Enter for a new line. Enter sends the message, so finish reviewing before pressing it.
- Wait for Reply sent to this support chat. Confirm that your complete message appears in the transcript with the expected author and timestamp.
Replies go to the website conversation. A contact email in the header does not turn Send reply into an email, and a sent confirmation does not prove the visitor has read the message. If separate follow-up is needed, agree on an appropriate contact method.
New messages appear as the inbox updates. If you have scrolled up to read older messages, use the new message indicator to return to the latest activity. On a narrow screen, All chats returns you to the conversation list.
If sending fails, the draft stays in the reply box. Check the transcript and connection before trying again, especially if the result is uncertain. Do not assume that no confirmation means no message was saved.
Coordinate ownership and priority
The status line names the person currently handling the chat, and a separate notice can identify teammates reading it. Agree who will respond before another teammate takes over. To transfer responsibility, have that teammate open the conversation and select Take over; the inbox does not provide a teammate picker beside the reply box.
Open More actions to choose Normal, High, or Urgent under Priority in the queue. Priority helps order chats within the work queue. It does not by itself assign the conversation, send a reply, or promise a faster response to the visitor.
Keep unresolved conversations in human handling when someone still needs to act. Avoid marking a chat resolved merely to remove it from the waiting list.
Hand the conversation back to AI
Use this when the visitor can continue with ordinary questions that your published information covers. If a person still needs to make an account change or investigate the issue, keep responsibility with the team.
- Send any explanation the visitor needs before the handoff. Make clear what has been completed and what remains open.
- Open More actions and select Hand back to AI.
- Wait for Handed this chat back to Cedros Assistant. Check With AI if the chat leaves your current view.
- Confirm that the site uses an AI-enabled answering mode. Handing a conversation back does not switch Your team only to AI or fix an unavailable AI provider.
Handing back clears the named assignee and changes the handling state. It does not generate a new answer immediately; the assistant can respond to the visitor's next message when AI replies are available. The action is not shown for chats already with AI or marked resolved.
For missing or incorrect AI answers, improve the information and instructions described in Teaching support AI about your business before relying on the assistant to handle that topic.
Resolve or reopen the chat
When the question is answered or the agreed next step is complete, send any closing explanation first. Then select Mark as resolved and wait for Marked this chat as resolved.
The chat appears in Resolved, and its reply box is replaced by Reopen and take over. Resolving changes the conversation's status; it does not delete the transcript or perform a promised refund, account change, or other business action.
If you resolved the wrong conversation, use Undo in the confirmation message to restore its previous handling state. Later, find it in Resolved or All, select Reopen and take over, and confirm that it is assigned to you before replying.
Fix handoff or reply problems
- No conversations appear: Clear the search and check All. If expected visitor messages are still absent, check chat visibility, the answering mode, and conversation recording with your administrator.
- You cannot type or take over: Check your permissions. For a resolved conversation, use Reopen and take over before replying.
- The chat disappeared after an action: It may have moved to Human active, With AI, or Resolved. Change the view or use All; a state change is not a deletion.
- Connection lost appears: Cedros retries automatically. Use Try now to request another refresh. Until the connection returns, do not treat the displayed transcript as proof that no new messages arrived.
- An update needs verification: Refresh the conversation and check its current state before repeating the action. Do the same for an uncertain send result, checking for your message before resending it.
- The assistant does not resume: Check that the chat is with AI and the site uses an AI-enabled mode. Handing back does not send an answer to an earlier message automatically.
If the problem continues, share the conversation address, approximate time, attempted action, and displayed error with your site administrator. Include only the customer information needed to investigate.