A handover takes the AI agent off a conversation and passes it to your team. This article covers when that happens, who gets the conversation, what the customer is told and what happens next.
When the AI agent hands over
- Your guidance tells it to.
- The customer asks for a person.
- It can't complete the request, for example because it is unsure what to do or an action keeps failing.
- A teammate clicks Handover on a reply that waits for approval, or on an AI needs your input card.
- A teammate clicks Reject on the actions that wait for approval and approves none of them.
- Nobody answered an AI needs your input question within the Ask human timeout.
- Use pending status is set to Hand over to human and the customer didn't reply in time.
When the AI agent hands over, the conversation shows one of these grey activity lines: "The conversation was handed over to a support agent by [AI agent name]." when the handover picked an assignee, or "[AI agent name] was removed from the conversation" when it didn't. Hover over See reason on that line to read why.
Handover settings
Go to AI agent → Settings and scroll to the Handover to a human agent card. Only administrators can open this page.
- Assign the conversation to: Unassigned, or one agent. A team can't be chosen here.
- Fallback message: the text the AI agent builds its handover message from.
- Ask human agent: lets the AI agent ask your team a question instead of handing the whole conversation over. Ask human timeout sets how long it waits for an answer before it hands over.
Click Update settings to save.
Who gets the conversation
This depends on the channel.
Email and Judge.me reviews
- The agent chosen in Assign the conversation to gets it, if that agent is a collaborator of the inbox. Their online status isn't checked.
- With Unassigned, or when the chosen agent isn't a collaborator of that inbox, the handover leaves the conversation without an assignee.
Chat widget, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger and Instagram DMs
- On these channels a handover goes to a collaborator of that inbox who is Online. The agent chosen in Assign the conversation to doesn't get it while they are Busy or Offline.
- When several collaborators are online, the one with the fewest open conversations in that inbox normally gets it.
- Only teammates who have Accept chats from switched on for that inbox are picked. Each teammate sets this in the menu behind their name at the bottom of the left sidebar. It is on by default.
- Administrators are picked only when they are collaborators of the inbox.
- If the inbox has business hours and it is outside them, nobody counts as online.
- If nobody can be picked, the handover leaves the conversation without an assignee.
Auto-assignment after the handover
If the handover leaves the conversation without an assignee and the inbox has Enable auto-assignment on, auto-assignment gives it to the next eligible collaborator at that moment. If nobody is eligible, it stays in Unassigned and isn't picked up later when someone comes online.
How does auto-assignment work? →
Handover from an "AI needs your input" card
When a teammate clicks Handover on an AI needs your input card, the conversation goes to the agent chosen in Assign the conversation to, if that agent is a collaborator of the inbox. Otherwise it is assigned to the teammate who clicked.
Common setups
- Spread handovers over the agents who are online. Set Assign the conversation to to Unassigned. In Settings → Inboxes → Manage, tick Enable auto-assignment in the Collaborators card and leave Include offline agents unticked.
- Leave handovers unassigned so anyone can pick them up. Set Assign the conversation to to Unassigned and untick Enable auto-assignment for that inbox. Auto-assignment can't be switched off for AI handovers only. On chat channels a handover still goes to an online collaborator who accepts chats.
- Send every email handover to one person. Choose them in Assign the conversation to and add them as a collaborator to every inbox the AI agent works in. They get handovers when they're offline too.
- Spread handovers over a group of agents. Make those agents the collaborators of the inbox and use the first setup.
- Mark a topic for a team. Create the team under Settings → Teams. In the guidance for that topic, tell the AI agent to assign the conversation to the team, using the team's exact name. The team is set on the conversation and the AI agent leaves it. The customer gets no message from this step. If no team matches, nothing is assigned. Create a view with Team name set to that team so the team sees its queue.
What the customer is told
The handover message
When the AI agent decides to hand over, it first sends the customer a message based on your Fallback message. It keeps the meaning, writes it in the customer's language and may change the wording. With Require approval before AI actions on, this message waits in AI agent → Needs approval like any other reply.
Chat widget when nobody is online
Before it hands over a chat from the chat widget, the AI agent checks whether a collaborator of that inbox is online. If nobody is, it tells the customer that no one is available right now, or that it is outside your business hours. If the customer's email address isn't known yet, it asks for it so your team can follow up by email, and then hands over.
This wording is built in and translated into the customer's language. It can't be edited, and the Fallback message isn't used for it.
Handovers without a message
The customer gets no handover message when:
- a teammate clicks Handover on a reply that waits for approval, or on an AI needs your input card
- a teammate rejects the actions that wait for approval
- nobody answered an AI needs your input question in time
- Use pending status hands the conversation over after the customer didn't reply
- the AI agent only assigns a team or an agent, without a handover
- the AI agent leaves because no enabled guidance matched while Restrict AI responses to enabled guidances only is on
On chat channels there is one exception. When a handover that was started by a timeout or by rejected actions finds nobody online, the customer gets a short built-in line saying your agents are busy. It asks for an email address if none is known. It isn't sent while Require approval before AI actions is on.
After the handover
- The conversation is Open and shows in your regular lists. While it stays Open it is also listed under AI agent → Handover, in the tab Waiting while it has no assignee and Assigned once it has one.
- The AI agent is off the conversation and doesn't answer later messages from that customer. Someone on your team needs to pick the conversation up.
- The AI agent doesn't resolve a conversation it has handed over.
Give a conversation back to the AI agent
- Open the conversation and choose the AI agent as assignee in the right sidebar.
- Or, when you reply, pick the AI agent in the assignee picker next to Send. It is assigned after your reply is sent.
- For several conversations, select them in the list and assign the AI agent with the Agent button in the bulk toolbar.
The AI agent doesn't reply to messages that are already in the conversation. It answers the customer's next message. Your other settings still apply, for example Restrict AI responses to enabled guidances only.
What isn't possible
- A team or several agents as the handover target. Instead, use Unassigned with auto-assignment, or assign a team from guidance as described above.
- One fixed agent for chat handovers. Instead, limit the inbox's collaborators, and have teammates who shouldn't get chats switch off Accept chats from for that inbox.
- The AI agent picking a conversation back up by itself after a handover or after a teammate replied. Instead, assign it again.
- An automatic acknowledgement from the AI agent when a customer writes on a handed-over conversation nobody has picked up. Instead, use auto-assignment so handovers get an owner when someone is eligible, and work the AI agent → Handover → Waiting tab.
- Re-running the AI agent on conversations it missed. The AI agent joins a conversation when the conversation is created. Conversations created while it was switched off, or while your AI agent messages had run out, don't get it afterwards. Instead, assign the AI agent to them. It answers each customer's next message. Reply to the ones that can't wait yourself.
- Editing the built-in chat wording used when nobody is online.
Common problems
A teammate is missing from "Assign the conversation to"
The list shows agents who have accepted their invite. An agent whose invite is still pending isn't listed. They appear once they accept it.
Handovers go to an agent although the setting is Unassigned
- The inbox has Enable auto-assignment on, so the handover is assigned in turns right away.
- The conversation came in on a chat channel, where an online collaborator is picked.
- A teammate clicked Handover on an AI needs your input card. With Unassigned, that conversation goes to the teammate who clicked.
Handovers go to someone who isn't working
- On email, the agent chosen in Assign the conversation to gets handovers whether they're online or not.
- The inbox has Include offline agents ticked.
- The teammate left Commslayer open in a browser tab, so they still count as online.
Still stuck?
Contact support from the chat inside the app. Send the link to a conversation where it happened and tell us which channel it came in on.