Table of Contents

Getting Started with Macros

Edcel Ceniza Updated by Edcel Ceniza

Macros is a DeskDirector Tech Portal feature which allows you to automate certain actions on a ticket. At the moment the only supported actions are to add a comment and trigger a webhook.

A good use case is to save common replies to common issues your techs encounter (aka canned responses). This saves a ton of time having to re-type information or looking for the information saved elsewhere and pasting it into the tech portal. Let's get started.

Creating a macro

To create a macro you will need to login to Tech Portal and navigate to the macro page on the left navigation menu. Once there, click the add button on the bottom right of the screen.

Step 1 - Name your macro and add a description

Give your macro a useful name for easy reference. You also need to give a description of what your macro does for easy reference.

Step 2 - Add a comment

The macro comment is basically what the macro triggers. You can add a comment here which will automatically be applied when using the macro on a ticket. You can also append placeholder tokens as described below.

Step 3 - View/Add tokens

You can also add placeholder tokens into your comment. These are:

  • Contact email - email of the contact assigned to the ticket
  • Contact name - name of the contact assigned to the ticket
  • Ticket Number - ticket number of the ticket
  • Ticket Summary - summary of the ticket
  • Member Name - name of the assigned member

When you activate a macro on a ticket these tokens will be replaced by the actual values from the ticket.

Step 4 - Sharing a Macro to a team

Ticking/Unticking Shared with team determines who can use the created macro. If this is unticked, the macro can only be used by the tech that created it. If ticked, this gives access for the whole team to use the macro.

Step 5 - Configure a webhook (optional and advanced)

This is an advanced feature which can be used to perform more powerful automations. You need to provide a http endpoint and select which data you want to include in the payload. When you apply a macro on a ticket, Tech Portal will send a request to the given endpoint with the given payload.

Example payload:

{
  "contactEmail": "chris@deskdirector.com",
  "contactName": "Chris Le Sueur",
  "ticketNumber": "1115503",
  "ticketSummary": "need live help",
  "memberName": "Andrew Lahikainen"
}

The payload values will all be of string type. You must perform the type conversions yourself (in the case of ticketNumber).

Using a macro

You can use a macro when viewing a ticket - just click the apply macro dropdown under the Note textarea.

If you set up a comment, it will appear inside the textarea. If you set up webhooks a button will appear on the top right of the textarea toolbar. You can click this button to see a summary of the webhooks that will be triggered when you click submit.

FAQs:

Q: Will macros work even without the webhook URL?

A: Yes definitely. The webhook is for more advanced use and tinkering of macros. The macro will work with just the macro comment set up.

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