How to Use Inactivity Triggers in BoldDesk Chat Workflows
Inactivity time triggers help you automatically detect when a live chat goes idle—either because an agent hasn’t responded or a customer has stopped replying—and then run a workflow to take action (for example, send a reminder, reassign the conversation, or close it). This reduces manual monitoring, improves response consistency, and helps prevent SLA breaches by ensuring conversations don’t stall unnoticed.
BoldDesk supports two dedicated workflow triggers for this purpose:
- Agent Inactivity — runs when an agent is inactive for the configured time.
- Customer Inactivity — runs when a customer is inactive for the configured time.
What you can automate with inactivity triggers
Use inactivity workflows to implement common operational playbooks such as:
- Warn before closing idle customer conversations (send a polite “Are you still there?” message).
- Reassign conversations when an agent doesn’t respond in time (for example, to another agent or group).
- Notify supervisors or log escalations (email/webhook) when inactivity crosses a threshold.
- Update conversation fields to reflect state (“Waiting for Customer”, “Needs Follow-up”, etc.).
If multiple workflows match the same condition, only the first matching workflow runs (based on workflow order/priority). Learn more on BoldDesk Workflow Automation: Triggers and Supported Blocks.
How inactivity timers work in BoldDesk
BoldDesk monitors inactivity by starting a timer when someone sends a message and checking whether the next expected reply arrives before the configured threshold.
1) The inactivity timer starts after meaningful chat activity (human agent or customer message)
- The system starts an inactivity timer every time a human agent or customer sends a message in a conversation.
- The next due time is calculated using the shortest configured inactivity duration that applies to the conversation’s brand and source.
2) Inactivity is tracked separately for agents and customers
- Agent inactivity means there is no new human agent message within the configured duration.
- Customer inactivity means there is no new customer message within the configured duration.
3) Consecutive-message rules prevent noisy timer resets (important for accuracy)
To avoid repeated resets caused by rapid back-to-back messages:
- For consecutive agent messages, only the last agent message is used to compute inactivity timing.
- For consecutive customer messages, only the first customer message is used to compute inactivity timing.
4) When the inactivity threshold is reached, the workflow runs—and the timer prepares for the next step
- Once the configured inactivity duration is reached, BoldDesk executes the corresponding inactivity workflow.
- After workflow execution, the system resets the timer so that additional inactivity actions (if configured as subsequent steps) can run later.
5) New activity cancels pending inactivity actions (so you don’t trigger workflows unnecessarily)
- If either the agent or the customer sends a new message before the inactivity workflow fires, the system cancels the pending inactivity workflow and recalculates the next deadline based on the latest activity.
Limitations and trigger restrictions of inactivity workflows
Keep these constraints in mind when designing your workflows:
- Brand-based configuration: Inactivity workflows are configured per brand and source, so each brand can enforce different idle-handling rules.
- Inactivity duration range: The total inactivity duration must be between 30 seconds and 7 days, entered using Days (0–7), Hours (0–23), Minutes (0–59), and Seconds (0–59).
- Auto-Close precedence:
- If both Auto‑Close and Customer Inactivity are configured, Auto‑Close takes precedence over the customer inactivity trigger.
If your goal is purely to close idle chats, consider Auto‑Close, which is purpose-built to close idle conversations after a specified time. Learn more on How to Automatically Close Idle Chat Conversations in BoldDesk.
How to Configure a Customer Inactivity workflow
Use this trigger to run actions when a customer becomes inactive for the configured time.
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Go to Admin → Chat → Chat Automation → Workflows.
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Locate the Customer Inactivity trigger tile/card on the Workflows page and click on it.
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Click Add Workflow in the Customer Inactivity page.
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In the Create New Workflow dialog, configure:
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Workflow Name: (example: Workflow for Customer Inactivity - Remind & Close)
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Brand: select a brand (required)
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Source: select the chat channel/source (required)
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Set Customer has been Unresponsive using days/hours/minutes/seconds.
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Use conditions to ensure the workflow triggers only for relevant conversations (for example: only when status is Open, only for certain priority), then click Next.
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In the Workflow Designer, add the blocks you need from the Actions menu.
The Actions menu includes the following commonly used blocks:
- Send Message — Send a message to the customer (or as a private message to the agent, if configured).
- Send Email — Email selected recipients to notify or escalate the conversation.
- Set Conversation Field — Update a conversation field (for example, status/priority/category or a custom field) to reflect the chat’s current state.
- Trigger Webhook — Send conversation data to an external system (for example, CRM, incident tool, or custom endpoint).
- Trigger Auto‑Assignment — Route or reassign the conversation to an agent or group based on your workflow rules.
- Manage Inputs — Control what participants can do during the workflow (for example, restrict or allow messages while a workflow step is running).
- Set Assignee — Assign or change the current assignee for the conversation.
- Wait Action — Pause the workflow for a specified time before continuing (useful for reminders or delayed follow‑ups).
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End the workflow with an Exit block such as:
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End Current Workflow (ends the workflow but keeps the conversation open).
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End & Start Another Workflow (hands off to a reusable workflow).
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How to Configure an Agent Inactivity workflow
Use this trigger when an agent hasn’t responded within the configured time.
To configure an Agent Inactivity workflow, follow the steps below:
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Go to Admin → Chat → Chat Automation → Workflows.
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Locate Agent Inactivity and click on it.
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Click Add Workflow on the Agent Inactivity page.
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In the Create New Workflow dialog, configure:
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Workflow Name: (example: Workflow for Agent Inactivity - Re-assign)
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Brand: select a brand (required)
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Source: select the chat channel/source (required)
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Set Agent has been Unresponsive using days/hours/minutes/seconds.
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Use conditions to ensure the workflow triggers only for relevant conversations (for example: only when status is Open, only for certain priority), then click Next.
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In the Workflow Designer, add the blocks you need from the Actions menu.
The Actions menu includes the following commonly used blocks:
- Send Message — Send a message to the customer (or as a private message to the agent, if configured).
- Send Email — Email selected recipients to notify or escalate the conversation.
- Set Conversation Field — Update a conversation field (for example, status/priority/category or a custom field) to reflect the chat’s current state.
- Trigger Webhook — Send conversation data to an external system (for example, CRM, incident tool, or custom endpoint).
- Trigger Auto‑Assignment — Route or reassign the conversation to an agent or group based on your workflow rules.
- Manage Inputs — Control what participants can do during the workflow (for example, restrict or allow messages while a workflow step is running).
- Set Assignee — Assign or change the current assignee for the conversation.
- Wait Action — Pause the workflow for a specified time before continuing (useful for reminders or delayed follow‑ups).
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Add an Exit block to complete the workflow.
Ready-to-use workflow patterns (recipes you can implement immediately)
Recipe 1: Send a custom message before closing a customer-inactive conversation
Goal: When a customer goes inactive, first send a message like “We’ll close this chat in 3 minutes if we don’t hear back.”
Recommended approach
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Use Customer Inactivity workflow to send the reminder message.
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Then close the conversation by updating the conversation status. If your workflow setup supports closing conversations by updating the Status field, you can close a conversation by setting status to Closed - workflows can update conversation fields using Update/Set Conversation Field blocks.
Recipe 2: Reassign when an agent is inactive (prevent stalled conversations)
Goal: If an agent hasn’t responded in 3 minutes, reassign the chat to the next available agent and notify the team lead.
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Actions:
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Trigger Auto‑Assignment (route to a group or agent).
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Send Email to team lead with conversation details.
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Optionally Update Conversation Field to tag “Reassigned due to inactivity”.
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Trigger: Agent Inactivity.
How inactivity triggers behave with conversation states
These edge behaviors are important for keeping conversation state integrity:
- Conversations on Hold (Snoozed status): Pending inactivity actions are cancelled, and inactivity workflows won’t run until the conversation is active again.
- Closed conversations: Any pending inactivity event is cancelled.
- Reopened conversations: The system recalculates deadlines based on the latest message timestamps.
- No inactivity workflow configured: No deadlines are set and nothing is scheduled.
Frequently Asked Questions
1) Can I configure inactivity workflows per brand and channel?
Yes. Workflows in chat automation are configured with Brand and Source, so you can apply different rules per brand/channel.
2) What inactivity triggers are available in BoldDesk?
BoldDesk supports Customer Inactivity and Agent Inactivity workflow triggers.
3) Can I send a custom reminder before closing an inactive customer chat?
Yes—use a Customer Inactivity workflow to Send Message to the customer first.
If you also enable Auto‑Close, note that Auto‑Close takes precedence over Customer Inactivity (and will prevent the inactivity trigger from executing).
