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Message Shortcuts

Message Shortcuts are saved canned responses for agents to fire off in escalated chats. They cut typing on common replies — greetings, refund procedures, “let me check on that,” etc. — without losing the agent-to-visitor feel.

Manage them at Live Chat → Shortcuts. Use them inside the Live Chat composer.

Message Shortcuts page with shortcut trigger input, tag selector, rich text message editor, Add Shortcut button, and grouped shortcut management list

What a shortcut is

A shortcut has three pieces:

  • Shortcut trigger — the word typed after ! (for example !hello or !pricing).
  • Message — the rich-text response inserted into the composer.
  • Tag — one group such as General, Refunds, or Onboarding.

Shortcuts are team-scoped. Every agent on the team sees the same library; edits propagate immediately.

Authoring shortcuts

Open the Shortcuts page and:

  1. Add a shortcut trigger.
  2. Select a tag.
  3. Write the message body.
  4. Save.

You can edit or delete an existing shortcut from its row. Tags can also be created, renamed, or deleted; deleting a non-default tag moves its shortcuts to the default tag.

Using a shortcut in chat

In the Live Chat composer:

  1. Open the Shortcuts composer tab, or type ! followed by a search term.
  2. Search by trigger or message text.
  3. Select one. The body fills the composer.
  4. Edit before sending if needed (e.g. swap in the visitor’s name).
  5. Send.

Shortcuts are templates, not auto-sends. The agent always reviews and can edit before pressing send.

Variable substitution

Shortcut bodies are inserted as authored — there’s no built-in variable substitution today (e.g. no {{visitor.name}}). Personalize manually before sending.

Versioning

There’s no shortcut version history. Edits overwrite the saved shortcut, while messages already sent from a shortcut remain unchanged in the conversation history.

Best practices

  • Lead with greeting + acknowledgement shortcuts — they’re the most-used.
  • Keep bodies short — long canned responses feel canned. Aim for sentences agents can extend, not full essays.
  • Use clear tags — when the library grows past 20, tags are how agents keep the list scannable.
  • Review monthly — outdated shortcuts (referencing a deprecated feature, an old policy) cause more harm than good.

Troubleshooting

  • “Shortcut picker is empty” — no shortcuts have been created yet, or you’re filtering by a tag with no matches. Clear the filter.
  • “My edit didn’t propagate to other agents” — shortcuts are live; reopen the picker. There’s no caching beyond the agent’s current page state.
  • “I deleted a shortcut but it’s still in old chats” — deleting the shortcut doesn’t redact messages that were already sent.

What’s next