Can I use canned messages when chatting with guests?

Canned messages for staffing via the webclient

If you use the webclient for staffing chat, then yes!  Operators can be assigned to shared pools of canned messages and/or create their own (private) canned messages.

Administrators can create shared groups (pools) of canned messages and assign operators to them using the canned messages management page in the admin site. Administrators can create multiple pools of messages and thus provide different messages for different groups of staff, or different categories of messages, if desired.

Using Canned Messages during a Chat

Both shared and personal canned messages are easy to use during a chat and can be manually inserted by operators within the webclient. A button that allows you to insert a canned message comes with every chat.

 

Canned messages can also be inserted via type-ahead suggestions when composing replies to guests during a chat. The list of canned messages is whittled to match what has been typed.  If no matches are found, the type-ahead suggestions will disappear.

To select a canned message from the type-ahead suggestions using only the keyboard, press the Tab key and the first canned message in the list will be selected. Then use the arrow keys to traverse the list. Once your desired canned message is selected, press the Enter key to insert it into the typing area. From there you can edit it if needed before sending.

Operators can disable type-ahead in their webclient preferences under "Chat Window Settings" if desired.

Creating and Managing Private Canned Messages

Within the webclient, users can review their shared canned messages and manage private canned messages by clicking the pencil icon in the navigation sidebar.

 

 

To add personal (private) canned messages, click the blue circle with a '+'.

And you can use the editor that appears to create your personal canned message. Click ADD when done.

 

 

---

Canned messages when staffing other ways

LibraryH3lp canned messages are only available to operators in the webclient, but there are ways to mimic canned messages in other clients. Since there are numerous ways to staff a LibraryH3lp service, a more complete answer depends on which specific staffing client is in use. 

1. You can also use Profile Pages (built via the admin site) to provide canned messages that your staff will cut and paste.  Staff access the profile pages by clicking on the queue avatar on each chat window in the webclient, or by following the link to the chat management page in all other chat clients (like Pidgin or Adium).
2. If you're staffing chat with Pidgin, try the Text Replacement plugin. It is included with Pidgin but not enabled by default. More info.

Other clients may have similar features available.  While we have not tested them, it sounds like TextExpander or Quicksilver would probably do the trick for Mac users running Adium.

Why do I see weird characters when I insert a canned message into a chat?

Canned messages support HTML, which allows you to send fancy things like lists and hyperlinks to guests. If a canned message includes HTML, the operator will see the full HTML after the canned message is inserted into the typing area of a chat within the webclient for staffing. The operator is allowed to see the full HTML at this point because this provides the operator an opportunity to modify the HTML if desired before the message is sent to the guest.

After the canned message is sent, the guest won't see the mark-up because the guest-facing chat box interprets the HTML mark-up appropriately.

Sometimes mark-up is unintentionally added to a canned message when the message is first created or later edited. Usually this happens when you copy content from another rich text editor (like Microsoft Word) into the canned message editor (also a rich text editor). Many times, this mark-up is not desired because it obfuscates the message for the operator and adds no real value.

If you copy content from another source into the canned message editor and do not wish to preserve the original formatting, there are two options.

1. If you happen to use Chrome, you can use the "Paste and Match style" option.
2. You can use the  "Raw mode" button in the editor; if you click "Raw mode" and then paste the formatting will not carry over and the pasting will work exactly as it used it since the "Raw mode" editor is not a Rich Text editor.