When your team is offline, the Away Configuration keeps live chat useful and on‑brand. You define Business Hours, and outside those hours the widget automatically switches to an offline flow that lets visitors leave a message or create a support ticket—so every request is captured and routed to your team.

What you can do

• Create & assign Business Hours: Set operating hours for live chat and apply them per widget. Learn more on How to Configure Business Hours for Tickets and Live Chat in BoldDesk.
• Configure the offline form: Choose the form type and attachment behaviour, and customise labels shown to visitors during away hours.

Use the preview panel on the right to validate copy, labels, and layout before you save.

Steps to Personalise Away Configuration

To manage your live chat widget and enhance customer engagement, follow these steps:

1. Go to Admin > Chat > Live Chat.
   From the Live Chat page, either select an existing widget to edit or click Add Widget to create a new one.
   

   
   
   

2. Open the widget and go to Business Hours > Away Configuration.
   
   

   
   
   

3. Configure how the widget behaves outside business hours so visitors can still reach you when agents are unavailable.
   

   
   
   

Banner Description

A header message that appears when the widget opens outside business hours.

Away Message

A message that displays when visitors access the chat outside your defined hours.

Form Support

Choose Contact Form (or Contact Form with ticket fields) under Form Support to allow visitors to submit a ticket while agents are away or outside business hours.

The following are the Form Support options:

1. None

No ticket form is shown. Visitors only see the Banner Description and Away Message.

2. Contact Form

• Displays a simple ticket form (e.g., Name, Email, Phone Number (optional), Subject, Description).
• Create Ticket Button Text controls the label of the call‑to‑action shown in the widget (see the “Create Ticket” link in the preview on the right).
• File Upload Option (see Image 4) determines attachment behaviour:
  • None – No file picker is shown.
  • Single file – Allows one attachment.
  • Multiple files – Allows multiple attachments.
• Button Text – Label of the Submit button on the form.
• Confirmation Message – Message shown after submission. You can include the ticket link using the {{ticket.link}} placeholder.
  
  
  
  
  

3. Contact Form With Ticket Fields

• Renders a ticket form you’ve created in Help Desk settings.
• Additional fields appear:

  • Form – Choose which ticket form to display.

  • Create Ticket Button Text – Label for the call-to-action shown before the form opens.

  • File Upload Option – None, Single file, or Multiple files.

  • Button Text – Label of the Submit button on the form.

  • Confirmation Message – Message shown after submission. You can include the ticket link using the {{ticket.link}} placeholder.
    

    
    
    

Create Ticket Button Text

Label of the action users click to start the offline ticket flow. This appears when away hours are active.

Attachment Support (File Upload Option)

Choose whether to allow None, Single file, or Multiple files uploads with the offline form.

Option 1. None

No file picker is shown. Visitors can submit the form without attachments.

Option 2. Single File

Allows exactly one attachment with the offline form.

Option 3. Multiple files

Allows multiple attachments with the offline form.

Button Text

The label on the launcher button of the live chat widget.

Confirmation Message

The message shown after a user submits the form during away hours.

Hide the Phone Number Field with CSS

The phone number field can be hidden using custom CSS. Add this CSS in the Advanced Customization section of your Live Chat configuration:

.contact-form-info-container,
#cus_field_container_phoneNumber {
 display: none;
} 

Once applied, the phone number field will no longer appear to users in the chat interface.

When you hide the Phone Number field using the CSS/script, the instructional banner text associated with that field will also be removed automatically. Since the field is no longer displayed, its linked banner/instructions won’t appear either—so there’s no need to update the banner text separately.

Permission for Customizing the Away Configuration for the Live Chat Widget

To customize the away experience, ensure that the Manage Settings permission is enabled.

Troubleshooting

1. Away Configuration is not showing (widget stays “online”)

   • Confirm the Live Chat widget has Business Hours assigned.
   • Confirm the current time is outside the assigned Business Hours (including time zone assumptions in the Business Hours configuration).
   • Confirm you are editing the correct Live Chat widget (Away Configuration is per widget).

2. Visitors cannot see the ticket form during away hours

   • Verify Form Support is not set to None.
   • If using Contact Form With Ticket Fields, verify a Form is selected and that the form is enabled for the Live Chat widget as required by the multiform setup.

3. File upload is missing from the offline form
   Confirm File Upload Option is set to Single file or Multiple files (not None).

4. Admin user cannot edit Away Configuration
   Confirm the user role includes Manage Settings permission.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. What triggers Away Configuration in the Live Chat widget?
   Away Configuration triggers when the current time is outside the Business Hours assigned to the Live Chat widget.

2. What is the difference between Banner Description and Away Message?
   Banner Description is the header shown when the widget opens during away hours. Away Message is the main body text shown during away hours.

3. What Form Support options are available?
   Form Support supports None, Contact Form, and Contact Form With Ticket Fields.

4. Where do away-hours submissions go?
   Away-hours submissions create tickets, which then follow existing workflows such as SLAs, notifications, and automations.

5. Can the away-hours form use a custom ticket form?
   Yes. Select Contact Form With Ticket Fields, then choose the required ticket Form created in Help Desk settings.

6. Can visitors attach files to the away-hours form?
   Yes, if File Upload Option is set to Single file or Multiple files. If set to None, attachments are not available.

7. Can I include a ticket link in the confirmation message?
   Yes. Use {{ticket.link}} in the Confirmation Message.

Related Articles

1. How to Configure Business Hours for Tickets and Live Chat in BoldDesk
2. How to Set Up Multiform Feature in BoldDesk Ticket Forms Easily
3. Customizing the Start Chat Experience in the Live Chat Widget
4. How to Customize the Appearance of a Help Widget
5. Get Started with BoldDesk Chats: How to Connect Omnichannels