Important: This article is for Freshdesk users. If you are a Customer Service Suite user, see What's new with User Management.


TABLE OF CONTENTS


Before you Begin

You may need to understand a few concepts:


Add an Agent

  1. Click on New Agent in the top bar.
  2. From the Agent type dropdown, select Support agent and choose whether they’re Full time or Occasional.
  3. Under Agent details, provide the following information:
    1. (Required) Email address: Provide the agent’s email address.
    2. If the provided email address is not in your contact book, you will be prompted to optionally provide a Name, Phone number, Mobile number, and Job Title for the user.
    3. If the provided email address is already in your contact book, you’ll receive an error message. See below.
    4. Upload photo: Click to add a profile picture of the agent.
    5. Time zone: Choose your agent’s time zone.
    6. Language: Choose the agent’s portal language.
    7. Signature: Customize the agent’s email signature.
  4. Under Scope, choose the appropriate option:
    1. Global access: The agent can access all tickets in the helpdesk.
    2. Assigned to their group: The agent can only access tickets assigned to the groups they’re a part of.
    3. Restricted Access: The agent can only access their assigned tickets.
    4. If you choose Global access or Assigned to their group, you can also use the given dropdown to add the agent to your defined groups.
  5. Under Roles, choose the roles to assign to the agent. You can choose from several default roles or any custom roles created in your FreshDesk account.
  6. Click Create agent.


Important: If the provided email address is already in your contact book, you’ll see an error message stating “Email has already been taken. View User.” Click View User to go to the Contact Profile page. Click Convert to Agent to bring up a dialog, select the type of agent and click Convert.


Once you successfully create the agent in Freshdesk, they will receive an activation email. They can use that email to log in and set the password for their Freshdesk account.

In case they don’t receive their activation email in their inbox or spam folder, they can attempt to log in as an agent and click on the Forgot Password link to regenerate their activation email. If the issue persists, please contact support@freshdesk.com.


Purchasing agent licenses

Your plan limits the number of agents you can add to your Freshdesk account, starting with 10 agents on the Free plan. As an Account Administrator, you can add more agents by upgrading to a higher plan or purchasing additional agent seats on your existing plan.

  1. Navigate to Admin | Account | Plans and Billing.
  2. Choose your plan, which displays the number of agent seats.
  3. Choose the number of agent seats to add and select Proceed to Payment.
  4. Check your order summary, account, and billing information, and provide your credit card details to complete the payment.
  5. After the payment is authorized, the requested agent seats will be added to your account.


Note: If a new agent is added during a billing cycle, charges will be prorated accordingly.


To add agents via the offline payment method (subscription via a retailer), contact billing@freshworks.com.

If the payment is completed but you cannot add agents, contact support@freshdesk.com.


About the agent’s email signature

When an admin creates a new agent, they can provide that agent’s email signature within the new agent form. Admins can also create a global signature for all agents to use.


Agents can change their own signatures by clicking their profile in the top right corner of the portal and going to Profile settings | Signature. Email signatures support rich text and publicly hosted images.


A configured signature is automatically added to a ticket response when you click Reply.


Edit an Agent

You may need to edit agents to change agents from Full Time to Occasional or vice versa, to change their access and scope, or to redefine their roles.

  1. Find the agent to edit in your list of agents or use the search box.
  2. Click the Pencil icon on the right side of their row to go to the Edit agent page.
  3. Update any fields you wish to change and click Update agent below.


To change an existing agent’s profile information and contact details, the agent must navigate to their profile instead. Admins cannot edit this information for agents.


Delete an Agent

Danger: Ensure that you reassign any unresolved tickets before deleting an agent. Otherwise, those tickets will be Unassigned.


  1. Find the agent to remove from your list of agents or use the search box.
  2. Click the More icon on the right side of their row.
  3. Click Deactivate to retain their information in the help desk, or Delete to remove them completely. See Deactivating agents.
  4. Click Confirm in the confirmation banner that pops up.


The agent is still retained as a contact in your Freshdesk account. If necessary, you can delete their contact from the Contacts page.