When ticket auto-assignment is configured in BoldDesk, tickets should be assigned automatically to eligible agents in the selected group. If tickets are not being assigned to individual agents, the issue is usually related to one or more setup conditions.

This article provides a practical checklist to help you verify the most common causes and confirm that tickets can be assigned correctly to the intended agents.

1. Verify agent-level auto-assignment is enabled

Auto-assignment must be enabled for each intended agent inside the selected agent group. If auto-assignment is disabled for an agent, BoldDesk will not assign tickets to that agent even if the group is included in the auto-assignment rule.

What to check

• The correct agent group is selected in the auto-assignment setup.
• Each target agent inside that group has Auto-assignment enabled.

2. Verify agent availability is Online

BoldDesk assigns tickets only to agents who are both:

• Active, and
• Available (Online)

If an agent is Offline (or otherwise unavailable), BoldDesk excludes the agent from selection during auto-assignment.

What to check: The agent’s availability status is set to Online.

3. If you use shifts: confirm shifts are configured and currently active

If the account uses multiple shifts, agents can be automatically switched:

• Online at shift start
• Offline at shift end

This affects auto-assignment eligibility because Offline agents are not considered.

Expected behavior: If tickets are created when no agents are on shift (agents are automatically Offline), those tickets are assigned to the support group, not to an individual agent.

4. Confirm the correct group is selected for auto-assignment

Auto-assignment applies to the selected group. If the wrong group is chosen, BoldDesk will not assign tickets to the intended agents (even if those agents exist in a different group).

What to check

• The selected group matches the group that contains the intended agent(s).
• The agent is actually a member of that group.

5. If auto-assignment uses custom-field conditions: confirm the field is on the ticket form

If the auto-assignment rule conditions reference a custom field, the custom field must be included in the ticket form used to create the ticket. If the field is not present on the form, the condition may not evaluate as expected for ticket creation.

What to check

• The custom field exists.
• The custom field is added to the relevant ticket form.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Why are tickets not being assigned to agents even though auto-assignment is enabled?
   Tickets may still not be assigned to individual agents if one or more required conditions are not met. For example:

   • Auto-assignment may not be enabled for the agent inside the group
   • the agent may not be Online
   • the wrong group may be selected in the auto-assignment rule
   • the rule may depend on a custom field that is not included in the ticket form

2. Does BoldDesk assign tickets to agents who are Offline?
   No. BoldDesk assigns tickets only to agents who are both:

   • Active, and
   • Available (Online)
     If an agent is Offline or otherwise unavailable, BoldDesk excludes that agent from auto-assignment.

3. What happens if no agents are available when a ticket is created?
   If no eligible agents are available—for example, when all agents are Offline because no active shift is running—BoldDesk assigns the ticket to the support group instead of assigning it to an individual agent.

4. Why does selecting the wrong group prevent auto-assignment?
   Auto-assignment works only for the group selected in the rule. If the selected group does not contain the intended agents, BoldDesk will not assign tickets to those agents even if they exist in another group.
   To verify this:

   • check that the correct group is selected in the auto-assignment setup
   • confirm that the intended agent is a member of that group

5. Why does a custom-field condition stop auto-assignment from working as expected?
   If the auto-assignment rule depends on a custom field, that field must be included in the ticket form used to create the ticket. If the field is missing from the form, the condition may not be evaluated as expected, which can prevent the ticket from being assigned correctly.

Related article

How to Automatically Assign Tickets?