Your availability status controls whether live work is routed to you. Keeping it accurate is the single most important habit for a live-channel agent: it is what stops customers waiting for someone who is not there.
Availability is per channel, not one status for the whole console — see Which channels you go online for.
The statuses
Online — Selectable — You are available and can receive new requests on that channel
Away — Selectable — You are temporarily unavailable and will not receive new conversations
Invisible — Selectable — You appear offline and will not receive conversations, even though you are logged in
Offline — Not selectable — Pleased is not connected for you on that channel, so you receive nothing
Only agents set to Online are eligible to receive assignments.
About Offline
Offline is not something you choose — you will never find it in the status dropdown. Pleased sets it for you when the console is not there to receive work:
- You closed the Pleased tab, or the browser or machine shut down.
- You lost your network connection and the console disconnected.
- You have not signed in yet on this device.
- Two related behaviours are worth knowing, because they are easy to mistake for Offline:
- Long inactivity sets you to Away, not Offline. If you leave the console open but stop using it, Pleased moves your channels to Away. Returning restores the status you had before.
- Logging out sets you to Invisible. It does not leave you Online for the queue.
- Because Offline is applied automatically, the fix is always the same: reopen or refresh Pleased, check your connection, and set the channel back to Online. You cannot be assigned live work while Offline, so an unnoticed disconnection looks to your team exactly like an agent who went home.
Which channels you go online for
The top bar carries a separate status control for each channel you can work, each set independently. Going Online for chat does not put you Online for calls.
Chat — Live chat requests from the widget and chatbot
Voice call — Inbound and requested phone calls. Needs call-handling permission, plus microphone access in the browser
Ticket — Ticket assignment for agents on ticket routing
WhatsApp — WhatsApp conversations. Only available where the WhatsApp channel is set up for your workspace
You will only see the controls your role allows — your permissions must include handling live conversations, and voice additionally requires call-handling permission. A channel that is not set up for your workspace has no control, so an agent seeing three controls where a colleague sees four is normal.
If you are unsure why you are receiving no work on a channel, check that channel's own status rather than the first control in the bar.
Going online
- Find the status control for the channel you are covering in the top bar of the console.
- Set it to Online.
- Repeat for every channel you are covering — each one is separate.
- Confirm you are in the right group for the work you are covering.
- For voice, also make sure your browser has permission to use your microphone and that your headset is selected as the input device. If microphone access is blocked, Pleased will not let you go Online for calls and prompts you to grant it first.
How availability affects routing
Live chats and calls are routed on the basis of:
- Agent availability status
- Group membership
- Routing rules and conditions
- If nobody in a group is Online, conversations may sit unassigned or fall through to your fallback rules. This is why an out-of-date status is worse than being explicitly Away — the system believes someone is there to answer.
When to change your status
Update it when you:
- Start or end a shift
- Take a break
- Switch to non-chat work
- Step away from your desk
- Start covering — or stop covering — a channel you were not on before
Good practice
- Go Online only when you are actually ready to accept conversations.
- Switch to Away when you step away, even briefly.
- Do not sit Online if you cannot respond — it slows the whole queue.
- Supervisors should keep an eye on availability across teams via the dashboard's Agent Status section and the chat monitor.
- Use groups to control which agents are eligible for which conversations.
- Your status changes are recorded and can be reviewed later in the Agent Availability Logs.
FAQs
Why am I not receiving any chats? Check the Chat status specifically is Online — not just voice or tickets — and that you belong to the correct group.
Why does my status say Offline when I did not set it? Offline is set by Pleased, not by you: the console has disconnected, the tab was closed, or you are not signed in on this device. Reopen or refresh Pleased and set the channel back to Online.
Can I be Online for calls but Away for chat? Yes. Each channel has its own control and they are set independently.
Why do I see fewer status controls than a colleague? Controls appear per channel, according to your permissions and the channels your workspace has set up. Voice needs call-handling permission; WhatsApp appears only where that channel is configured.
Can supervisors change my status? Supervisors can monitor availability; whether they can change it depends on your workspace's permissions setup.
What happens if nobody is Online? Conversations wait in the queue or follow your fallback routing rules.
Does availability affect tickets created from chat? No — availability affects chat and call assignment, not ticket creation. A ticket is still created.