Syncro's chat feature helps you conduct live chat conversations with the end users you are supporting, directly from their managed devices.

Read on, or watch this short video to learn more:

Notes: 

• You can't start more than one chat from the same asset.
• Emoji's and line breaks are not currently supported in Syncro chat.
• Syncro's chat feature plays a "ping" sound once per unread chat session. This helps avoid noise pollution and multiple pings in the case of many chats being conducted at once.

Prerequisites

Add Live Chat to the System Tray

To add Syncro's chat feature to the system tray, navigate to the Policies tab/module.

Then, create or edit your Policy to enable the System Tray and add a Menu Type for Live Chat. 

See also: Work in Syncro's Policy Builder.

Security Settings

There are a selection of settings to consider with Syncro Chat. Navigate to Admin > Security Groups and choose a Group to give access to Chat.

Notification Rules

The following Notification Events allow you to be notified on certain events:

• Chat - New unread message while I’m offline
• Chat - New unread message while I’m online
• Chat - New unassigned message while I’m offline
• Chat - New unassigned message while I’m online

See also: Customize & Assign Notifications.

Access Live Chat

There are numerous ways you can access live chat from within Syncro:

• Customize Syncro's primary navigation bar to display the Chat tab/module along with the others. (You can also reorder these with Tabs Customization.) 
• Click the Chat bubble in the Icons portion of the Syncro header, or select Chat from the New (+) button:
  
  Note: The Chat bubble count of unread messages includes unread chats assigned to you and unassigned chats.
• Click the Chat option from an Asset's Quick Preview:
  
• Select Chat from the ellipses menu next to the Relevant Asset on a Tickets Details Page:
  

Use Live Chat

Navigate to Chat using one of the methods described in Access Live Chat. Syncro may initially display an empty page:

Start a New Chat

To start a new chat session, click the (+) to the right of the Chats List filter. Syncro displays the Initiate Chat pop-up window:

There may be thousands of assets across your fleet, so you can optionally use the Filter by Customer dropdown menu to narrow the list of assets.

Since you are chatting with the asset (which a Customer owns and a Contact may be assigned to), you must always select an asset from the Search for Syncro Device dropdown menu. 

Once you've located your desired asset, click Start Chat.

About the Syncro Chat Interface

The Chat screen is divided into three sections (from left to right):

1. Chats list: Displays a list of all chat sessions that are still in progress.
2. Active chat session: The active (currently selected) chat, and
3. Information panel: Displays the Customer, Contact, and Asset information associated with the end user for the active chat.

Search or Filter the Chats List

Type to search for an existing chat. As you type, Syncro displays a narrowed list of results. Click the the one you want to open when you find it:

You can also filter existing chats using the following options:

• All Chats: Displays all chat sessions that are still in progress.
• My Chats - All: Displays all of the chats specifically assigned to you.
• My Chats - Unread: Displays chats specifically assigned to you that you haven't read yet.
• Unassigned Chats: Displays chat sessions that haven't been assigned to a technician.

The Chats List displays high-level information to help you locate a particular chat. This includes the Business Name, Contact Name, last updated time, last message, the Asset name, and Tech assigned to the chat session (if available):

When you select a chat from the Chats List, Syncro displays an actions bar in the upper right. It may include the following:

• Assign to Me: Assigns the chat session to you (which may be necessary to see additional actions).
• Close Empty Chat: Ends the chat and Archives the conversation. Archived Chats are added to Chat History subtab of the Customer Details Page.
• Re-Assign: Assigns the chat session to another technician. (Only appears for chats currently assigned to you.)
• Create Ticket: Creates a ticket from the chat session. The resulting ticket will have a communication/comment with a direct link to the chat, regardless of whether the chat is ongoing, archived, etc.
• Details: Shows/hides the Information panel on the far right.

Active Chat Sessions

This middle section is where the active, currently selected chat session displays. This is where you interact with your end users.

Note: To ensure that chat messages stay scoped to individual conversations, close chats when they are complete. This way, any new chat messages will create a new chat interaction. You can always find Chat History on the subtab of the Customer's Details page.