Claiming, assigning & statuses
In one sentence
Conversations can be claimed by an agent, assigned to a teammate, closed when done, and snoozed for later — so nothing falls through the cracks and two people don’t reply at once.
The status of a conversation
Every conversation is either:
- Open — needs attention (new or in progress), or
- Closed — handled; it drops out of the active worklist but stays searchable.
A conversation reopens automatically if the customer messages again after it was closed.
Assignment: who’s handling it
| Action | Who can do it | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Claim | Any agent | Takes an unassigned chat for yourself. |
| Assign to someone | Supervisor and above | Hands a chat to a specific teammate. |
| Release | The assignee | Puts it back in the shared pool. |
| Close | The assignee / supervisor | Marks it handled. |
| Snooze | The assignee | Hides it until a time you choose, then it resurfaces. |
Agents claim chats for themselves but can’t assign to other people — that’s a Supervisor/Admin power. This keeps front-line work self-serve while managers handle routing. See roles.
Auto-unassign (so chats don’t get stuck)
If an assigned agent goes idle for too long, MsgBuddy can automatically release the conversation back to the pool so someone else picks it up. This prevents a customer waiting on someone who stepped away. (The idle threshold is a workspace setting.)
Snooze vs. close
| Use Snooze when… | Use Close when… |
|---|---|
| You’re waiting on the customer or a delivery and want it back later | The matter is fully resolved |
| ”Remind me tomorrow morning" | "Nothing more to do here” |
Snooze is your friend for “I’m blocked until they reply.” It keeps your open list focused on what you can act on now, and the chat pops back exactly when you asked.
How this connects
- Assignment respects roles.
- A closed chat reopening is driven by an inbound message, the same event that powers the 24-hour window.
- Need a follow-up outside the chat? Turn it into a task.