Choose the right help surface
Desk is the work area for triaging and following up support threads. Issues is the area for reviewing reported problems and directing them to an issue list or board.
Use this page when you need to route a request, reply to a support thread, or review reported issues. For a full explanation of Desk, see Desk overview. For the complete Desk procedure, see Work from Desk. For Desk states and transitions, see Desk states and actions.
| If you need to… | Go to |
|---|---|
| Choose a queue for a support request | Open Desk or Issues |
| Reply to a customer or keep a note for your team | Work a support request in Desk |
| Change a support thread's state | Desk states and actions |
| Review reported problems and their charts | Review reported issues |
| Work on one issue record | Work with an issue |
| Manage an issue board | Manage issue boards |
| Recover from a broader problem | Common issues and solutions |
Before you start
Prerequisites
- Have a project selected in the project switcher.
- Know whether you are routing a support thread or reviewing a reported issue.
Desk and Issues are both scoped to the selected project. Without a selected project, each surface shows its project-selection empty state.
Open Desk or Issues
Prerequisites
- A project is selected.
Steps
-
Open the navigation and choose one destination.
If you need to… Choose Triage or follow up a support request Desk Review reported problems Issues -
If you opened Desk, choose the queue or view that matches the work.
If you need to… Choose Find requests waiting for a first reply Needs first response Find requests waiting for another reply Needs next response Find requests being investigated Investigating Find requests waiting for the customer Waiting for customer Find requests paused for later Paused for later See work completed today Done today See the triage queue Triage See your threads Your threads See threads without an assignee Unassigned
Result: Desk opens the selected queue or view, or Issues opens its overview.
Understand the help surfaces
The Desk composer is where you write a customer reply or an internal note. The duplicate dialog uses a ticket-number field. The Issues overview uses a time-range selector to change the reporting period.
| Surface | What to use | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Desk thread composer | Reply to the customer… (Markdown supported) | Enter the reply that you plan to send to the customer. |
| Desk thread composer | Internal note — only your team sees this… | Enter a note intended for your team. |
| Duplicate dialog | Ticket # (e.g. 13) | Enter the ticket number of the canonical thread. |
| Issues overview | Time range | Select the reporting period. |
The no-thread and missing-email branches are handled in Handle empty and unavailable states.
Work a support request in Desk
A support thread is the place to respond to a request, keep team-only context, and move the work through its Desk state.
Prerequisites
- Desk is open with a thread selected.
- For a customer reply, the composer contains the reply text before you send it.
Steps
-
In Reply to the customer… (Markdown supported), enter the response for the customer.
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To keep the text for your team instead, select Internal note before entering it in Internal note — only your team sees this….
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Select Preview to review the customer-facing Markdown.
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Choose the send action that matches the work.
If you need to… Choose Send the reply and keep the thread open for follow-up Send Send the reply and mark the thread complete Send & done -
Select the next thread state.
If you need to… Choose Mark the thread as being investigated Investigating Mark the thread as waiting for the customer Waiting for customer Mark the thread complete Done Reopen a paused thread Wake now Reopen a completed thread Reopen -
To postpone the thread, select Paused and choose one snooze period.
If you need to… Choose Return to the thread in one hour 1 hour Return tomorrow morning Tomorrow 9:00 Return next week Next week -
In the duplicate dialog, enter the canonical ticket number in Ticket # (e.g. 13).
-
Select Merge into ticket to merge the current thread into the entered ticket.
-
If you opened the duplicate dialog without merging, select Cancel.
When the composer is blank, Preview, Send, and Send & done are unavailable. A paused thread shows Wake now, and a completed thread shows Reopen.
Result: The reply, internal note, state change, snooze choice, or duplicate merge appears in the Desk thread view. For the next Desk state or action, continue with Desk states and actions.
Review reported issues
An issue is a reported problem that you review from the Issues overview before opening the detailed issue list or a board.
Prerequisites
- A project is selected.
- Issues is open.
Steps
-
Select Time range to set the reporting period.
-
Review the overview charts for the selected period.
-
Choose the next action.
If you need to… Choose Reload the issue statistics and issue list Refresh Open the complete issue list All issues Open issue boards Boards -
In Recent Reports, select View all to open the complete issue list.
The overview can display No activity in this period yet, No daily activity yet, No priority data yet, No resolved tickets yet to analyze, No category data yet, No audience data yet,
or No reported pages yet when the corresponding view has no data.
Result: The Issues overview shows the selected period, or the application opens All issues or Boards for the next step.
Handle empty and unavailable states
An empty state tells you which required context to provide before the normal help surface can appear.
| What you see | What to do |
|---|---|
No project selected on Desk | Use the project switcher, then return to Desk. |
Pick a project from the switcher to open the Desk. | Select a project before opening Desk. |
No project selected on Issues | Use the project switcher, then return to Issues. |
Pick a project from the switcher to see its reported issues. | Select a project before opening Issues. |
No thread open | Select a thread in Desk. |
No email on file — the customer can only see this on their tracking page. | Use an internal note for team-only text, or understand that a customer reply is visible only on the tracking page. |
If an Issues chart has no data, keep the selected period or choose another period from Time range. The chart message identifies which part of the overview has no data.
Result: The required project or thread is available, or the relevant empty-state message remains visible with the next action identified.
Recover from an error and continue
Desk applies a reply or state change in the thread view first, then reconciles it with the service response. If the service rejects a transition, Desk restores the earlier thread state; if it rejects a reply, Desk restores the earlier thread and draft.
| What you see | What to do next |
|---|---|
Reply failed — restored your draft | Review the restored text and try Send or Send & done again when the thread is ready. |
Duplicate merge failed | Check the ticket number in Ticket # (e.g. 13) and try Merge into ticket again. |
The Issues overview loads its statistics and issue list together. Refresh the overview with Refresh when you need to request the current statistics and list again.
For the next Desk state or action, continue with Desk states and actions. For a specific issue, continue with Work with an issue. For board work, continue with Manage issue boards. For broader recovery paths, continue with Common issues and solutions.
Result: You have a next action for a failed Desk operation and a destination for continued Desk, issue, or board work.
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