How to accept messages while away?

[Econvo]

How can you receive user input if you have an away message on? It doesn't seem to allow anything to be entered. Thank you!

[karstenkoehler]

Hi @Econvo,

My apologies for the delay in following up. Could you share a screenshot of your availability settings? (see my first post)

Best regards!

[Econvo]

Hello Karsten, Thank you for getting back to me. 

This is what it looks like. 

I just updated my availablity as away if you'd like to check it out. 

Thank you!

[karstenkoehler]

Hi @Econvo, the preview never allows typing, can you test this live, on your page? (It should work there.) Best regards!

[Econvo]

Yes, that was a live page. You can check it out here. I have the availability as away. 

https://englishconversationonline.com/

[Econvo]

Hello Karsten. I updated my previous post with the screenshot, though I'm not sure if that alerts you to the post. Just wondering if you had any insight into this restricted away message. 

[karstenkoehler]

Hi @Econvo,

There is, if you have set an away message for a live chat with defined business hours, website visitors can still type into the chat and you should see the messages in your conversations inbox:

Best regards!

[Econvo]

Currently I have a simple chatflow set up that requests name and email.  

When I go to availability it shows the option to enter an away message, however no content is able to be entered. Am I missing a setting somewhere that disables text entering?

[karstenkoehler]

Hi @Econvo,

Is this screenshot the preview or the actual live chat on your page? The preview doesn't allow any messages at all, you would have to check this on your page.

Best regards!

[Econvo]

Hey Karsten. It's the preview, but the same thing happens when I'm away. I will take a screenshot of the live version and post here later. Thank you!

Update: Screenshot is attached. It doesn't allow typing. 

[karstenkoehler]

Hi @Econvo,

There are settings specifically for this although they aren't exactly easy to find. Navigate to Settings > Inbox > Inboxes, use the dropdown (Current view) to select the correct inbox and below, under Connected Channels, you should see your chat. Hover over it, click the Edit button and find the Availability tab. This is where you'll see these settings:

If you're looking for additional features, you'd have to set up a bot that is available for chat outside of business hours and can route visitors to available team members: https://knowledge.hubspot.com/conversations/chatflow-availability-settings

(This is a Sales and Service Hub Professional or Enterprise feature.)

Hope this helps!

[Econvo]

Thank you for the quick reply Karsten. So there is no way to accept messages while you're away (without a bot)?