The desk (for agents)

Enterprise feature (1.19.0, helpdesk). See the Helpdesk overview.

The desk (/desk) is where agents work tickets. It is a workspace of its own: full screen, with no CompassDocs sidebar, meant to stay open in its own tab (or its own app window) beside CompassDocs all day. It uses the same sign-in, so there is nothing extra to log in to.

To open it, choose Desk in the CompassDocs sidebar or the command palette: it opens in a new tab. You need Work helpdesk tickets (helpdesk.agent), which the Helpdesk agent role grants, and a desk role. Which queues you see depends on the teams you belong to.

The layout

• The top bar: search across tickets (number, subject, requester; solved and closed tickets too), a CompassDocs link back to the main app, the status pill (1.19.2), the bell (the desk’s own inbox), your availability (Available, Away or Offline), your desk role, and Install Desk. From 1.19.4 the menu under your name also has Desk background…, when your workspace lets agents choose their own (see Desk appearance). From 1.20.0 its right-hand group starts with a Claude button when your admin has turned on Claude in the desk: a chat with Claude docked beside the ticket, also opened with Ctrl/Cmd+J.
• The icon rail: Tickets, Approvals, Workflows, Reports and Settings. You see the ones your desk role reaches.
• The queue and the ticket pane, side by side.

Your availability matters: assignment gives new tickets only to available agents unless a team says otherwise, and requesters see it on your contact card.

Service status in the desk

From 1.19.2, each team can follow the Status page services that matter to it (see Status services for teams). Then:

• The status pill in the top bar says how many of your teams’ services are affected (“2 services affected”), or shows a status icon when all is well. Click it for each service’s state, when they were last checked, and a link to the Status page.
• A pop-up in the lower right tells you when one of them degrades or goes down, once per spell of trouble, with Declare major incident (or a link to the major incident already open for it) and View details, and a short note when it’s back.
• A banner at the top of the team’s queue while it has trouble, with Declare major incident and Hide for today.

You see only your own teams’ services, and only with the Status page’s Read status board permission.

New in Desk settings

From 1.19.2, a page that is new in the release shows a violet New badge in the Desk settings rail until you first open it: in 1.19.2, Skills and languages, Canned responses and Checklists. The Teams settings page also shows a “New in 1.19.2” note listing them, until you dismiss it. Both are per person. In 1.19.3 the badge and the note (“New in 1.19.3: Assets.”) point to Assets instead, for the people who can open it. In 1.19.4 they point to Appearance, Chat apps and API and webhooks (“New in 1.19.4: Appearance, Chat apps and API and webhooks.”). In 1.20.0 they point to Claude in the desk (“New in 1.20.0: Claude in the desk.”).

From 1.19.4 an admin can also put artwork behind the desk, with see-through, frosted panels. Text stays readable, and the desk stays plain on devices that ask for reduced transparency, more contrast or less data.

Queues

The left column lists views and your team queues, each with a live count:

View	What it holds
Mine	Open tickets assigned to you
Unassigned	Open tickets in your teams with nobody on them
Open	Every open ticket you can see
Overdue	Open tickets past a reply or resolution target
In workflow	Requests whose workflow is still running
Waiting	Waiting on requester or On hold
Solved this week	Tickets solved this week
Reviews	Newbies’ replies waiting for you (team leads, see Reply review)

Each row shows the number, subject, requester, team, assignee, priority, status chips (from 1.19.2, a red Major incident chip on an incident’s own ticket, and the incident’s number on a ticket linked to one) and the SLA clock: when the next target falls due, or why the clock is stopped (“Paused for Christmas Day, resumes Mon 09:00”, or “No office hours” for a team whose calendar has none). A VIP chip marks a VIP requester, and Automated marks a ticket from an integration. Outside customer marks a ticket from the customer portal. Sort and filter by team, priority and assignee. Every ticket has its own address, /desk/tickets/{number}, so links in emails and chat open it directly.

From 1.19.1:

• Filter in the list’s header narrows any list by text, status, priority, team, owner, tag and age, and Save view keeps it under My views or for a team, with its own count. See Saved views and filters.
• Tick rows to change many tickets at once or merge duplicates. See Merging and bulk edits.

From 1.19.2:

• A Major incidents group lists each open incident whose ticket you work, with how many of its linked tickets are still open. Declare incident… in the bulk bar declares one with the selected tickets linked. See Major incidents.
• A team’s queue shows a banner while a service it follows has trouble. See Status services for teams.

From 1.19.4:

• Recycle bin, after the major incidents group, for people with Delete tickets: deleted tickets wait there for 30 days, to be restored or deleted for good. The bulk bar’s red bin button (Delete…) moves the selected tickets there. See Recycle bin.

The ticket pane

• The conversation: public replies, internal notes (tinted, never shown to the requester), system events such as “Assigned to Priya” or a workflow step, and attachments.
• The composer, with Reply and Internal note. Insert a macro (the Macro button, or / at the start of an empty box), link an article from your documents (the Article button, or [[ anywhere; suggestions for the ticket come first), and attach files (25 MB each by default). Files you upload but haven’t sent yet are capped at 60 files or 300 MB per person, and everything you upload at 500 files or 2 GB a day; drafts abandoned for more than six hours are cleared first to make room. Send posts it; Send and set posts it and sets the status to Waiting on requester, On hold or Solved in one go. Ctrl+Enter (Cmd+Enter on a Mac) sends. An unsent draft is kept per ticket in this browser, so switching tickets loses nothing. A newbie’s public reply shows Send for review instead (see Reply review).
• Properties: status, priority, team, assignee, category and tags, changed inline, as your desk role allows.
• The SLA: the first reply and resolution targets, how much time is left, and the calendar the clock follows.
• The requester’s card: who they are, from the directory. See Contact cards.
• The workflow: for a request with a workflow, its progress across teams and any blocked step. For a task, a Part of request #1047 link to the request, read-only. See Workflows.

Also on the ticket, from 1.19.1:

• Who else is here: “Sam Lee is viewing” or “is replying” under the subject, and a warning before you send if someone replied while you were typing. See Presence and collision warnings.
• CC and Following rows under the subject, and Follow in the header. See CCs and followers.
• Draft from Claude above the composer, when someone asked Claude to draft a reply: Use as reply puts it in the reply box to check and send, Discard removes it. See Claude connector: drafts in the desk. A draft from Claude in the desk (1.20.0) goes straight into the reply or note box instead.
• Time in the side panel: a timer and Log time. See Time tracking.
• Legal hold in the side panel, for admins. See Legal hold.
• Merge into another ticket… in the ticket’s … menu. A merged ticket is read-only, with Open #1049 to the ticket it joined. See Merging tickets.
• An imported ticket shows its old number, such as Zoho #1201. See Importing tickets.

And from 1.19.2:

• Canned responses in the composer: type ; and a few letters, or use the Canned response button, to insert saved text at the cursor. The placeholder in the box says so: “Write a reply… / for a macro, ; for a canned response, [[ for an article”. See Canned responses.
• Language in Properties: the ticket’s language, from the requester’s directory entry or detected from the first message. Change it there. See Skills and languages.
• Checklists in the side panel, and a card for each checklist on the ticket. Required items must be ticked before the ticket can be solved. See Checklists.
• Declare a major incident… and Link to a major incident… in the ticket’s … menu. An incident’s own ticket shows its updates, linked tickets and Get help banner; a linked ticket says which incident it belongs to, with Unlink. See Major incidents.

And from 1.19.3, once Snipe-IT is connected:

• Assets in the side panel, under the requester’s card: the devices linked to the ticket, with their status, warranty and earlier tickets, and + Link to add one (the requester’s own first). Each opens the asset’s page, with its tickets and its maintenance in Snipe-IT. See Assets and Snipe-IT.
• Log a maintenance record in Snipe-IT when you solve a ticket with a linked asset, if an admin turned it on. See Logging maintenance when you solve.

And from 1.19.4:

• The ticket’s … menu starts with Share with an agent…, Copy link and Print or save as PDF…. See Sharing and printing tickets.
• Delete ticket… in the … menu moves the ticket to the recycle bin, with Undo in the toast that follows. A binned ticket opened by its link is read-only under a red banner, with Restore.
• Assets from Microsoft Intune too, with an Intune line (“Compliant · seen 2h ago”) on a device Intune manages.
• Requests raised in Teams or Slack show the source Microsoft Teams or Slack, and your public replies reach the requester in that chat as well, while Follow and reply is on.
• Notes, replies and changes made with an API token say via API.

Keyboard shortcuts

Single keys work in the queue and the ticket pane, never while you are typing in a box or while a dialog is open:

Key	Does
/	Search tickets
j / k	Next / previous ticket in the list
Enter	Open the ticket under focus
r	Reply (focus the composer on Reply)
n	Internal note (focus the composer on Internal note)
e	Solve the ticket
a	Assign the ticket to yourself
x	Select the ticket under focus for a bulk edit (shift-click a checkbox to select a range)
Ctrl+Enter / Cmd+Enter	Send from the composer
Ctrl+P / Cmd+P	(1.19.4) On an open ticket, open Print #1047 instead of printing the page (see Printing)
Ctrl+J / Cmd+J	(1.20.0) Open or close the Claude in the desk panel, from anywhere in the desk, even while typing. With the panel open and your cursor elsewhere, it moves you into the question box first

The single keys follow your account’s single-key shortcuts preference: with it off, none of them fire (Ctrl/Cmd+Enter still sends). See Command palette & shortcuts.

Installing the desk as an app

The desk can be installed as an app of its own, CompassDocs Desk, with its own icon and window, so it lives in your dock, taskbar or Home Screen beside CompassDocs. Choose Install Desk in the top bar: when your browser can install it, it asks; otherwise the desk shows the steps for your browser:

Browser	How
Chrome, Brave (computer)	Click the install icon at the right of the address bar, or open the menu (three dots) → Cast, save and share → Install page as app. Click Install.
Edge (computer)	Click the install icon at the right of the address bar, or open the menu (three dots) → Apps → Install this site as an app. Click Install.
Safari (macOS Sonoma or later)	In the menu bar, choose File → Add to Dock, then Add. Open Desk from the Dock.
Firefox (computer)	Firefox doesn’t install web apps on most computers. Keep the desk in a pinned tab (right-click the tab → Pin Tab); notifications work without installing.
Android (Chrome, Edge, Brave)	Open the browser menu (three dots) → Install app or Add to Home screen, and confirm.
Firefox on Android	Open the menu (three dots) → Add to Home screen, then Add.
iPhone and iPad (iOS and iPadOS 16.4 or later)	Tap Share in the toolbar → Add to Home Screen, keep the name Desk and tap Add. Open Desk from the Home Screen.

The installed desk opens at the queue, works offline far enough to say it is offline, and signs in with your CompassDocs session. Installing needs the site on HTTPS (localhost is the one exception).

Push notifications

Push notifications reach you on your computer or phone even when the desk isn’t the tab you are looking at. Turn them on in Desk settings → Notifications → Push notifications, one device at a time: the browser asks for permission, and the device appears in the list. Each device has Send a test, Rename and Remove.

Push stops on a device when you sign out of the desk there, and on every device when you sign out everywhere, your account is deactivated or you are removed from the desk. Signing in again, turn it back on.

Browser	Push works	Notes
Chrome	Yes, on computers and Android
Edge	Yes, on computers and Android	On Windows, also check Windows Settings → System → Notifications.
Firefox	Yes, on computers and Android	No install needed: keep the desk in a pinned tab.
Brave	Yes, once allowed	Brave sends push through Google’s push service, which is off by default. Open brave://settings/privacy, turn on Use Google services for push messaging, restart Brave and try again. The desk says so when it detects Brave.
Safari on macOS	Yes, macOS 13 or later	In Safari itself, or from the Dock app (Sonoma or later). Also check System Settings → Notifications.
iPhone and iPad	Yes, iOS and iPadOS 16.4 or later	Only from the Home Screen: add the desk to your Home Screen first, open it from there, then turn notifications on. Safari tabs can’t receive push.

If you clicked Block. The desk shows how to undo it for your browser: usually click the icon at the left of the address bar, set Notifications to Allow, and reload. In Safari: Safari → Settings → Websites → Notifications. On iPhone and iPad: the Settings app → Notifications → Desk. On Android, for the installed app: Android Settings → Apps → Desk → Notifications.

Push needs your server to reach the browsers’ push services; an administrator who sees push fail everywhere should check the outbound hosts.

Your desk notifications

Desk settings → Notifications (under You) chooses what reaches you about tickets, and where: push (your devices), email (your account’s address) or the bell (the desk’s inbox).

• Per event: Assigned to me, New in my teams, Requester replied, Mentions and notes, Approval needed, Workflow task, Workflow stopped, Reopened, Reply waiting for review, Reply returned, SLA nearing, SLA breached, (1.19.1) Tickets I follow, (1.19.2) A service your team uses is down (bell and push; see Status services for teams) and (1.19.4) Shared with you (see Sharing a ticket).
• Following (1.19.1): Follow tickets I reply to, on by default. See Followers.
• New tickets by team: which of your teams’ new tickets reach you.
• Quiet hours on the days you choose, with Let urgent tickets and SLA breaches through. Your email digests wait for quiet hours to end; with break-through off, so do SLA breach emails. A night’s quiet hours belong to the day they start on.
• Preview and sound: Show ticket details in the notification (off shows only “New ticket #1048”), and sound on or off.
• Pause notifications for an hour, until 08:00 tomorrow or until you resume. Pausing holds push and email; the bell still collects.

A choice your workspace has locked shows Set by your workspace (see Notification policies). Off here or under Account → Notifications wins: either one turning an event off stops it.

Troubleshooting

Symptom	What to check
No Desk in the sidebar	You lack Work helpdesk tickets, or the workspace has no helpdesk license.
The desk opens but the queue is empty	You are in no team. Ask a team lead or admin to add you in Desk settings → Teams.
Install Desk does nothing	The site isn’t on HTTPS, or the browser can’t install apps (Firefox on a computer: use a pinned tab).
The test notification never arrives	Notifications blocked for the site or the browser in the operating system’s settings; Brave’s Google push setting; on iPhone and iPad, the desk not opened from the Home Screen.
Push stopped on every device after a server change	The master key changed (COMPASSDOCS_SECRET_KEY), so the push keys were lost. Turn push on again on each device.
Push stopped after signing out	Signing out stops push on that device. Turn it on again in Desk settings → Notifications.
“You have too many files waiting to be sent”	Send or remove the files in your drafts, or try again later.
Single-key shortcuts don’t work	Your single-key shortcuts preference is off, or focus is in a text box.