How to Review an Incoming Email
After you have accepted or retrieved an email for processing, normally your next step is to review its content. In Agent Desktop 2.0, emails are displayed in a split-pane layout, with the case list on the left and the selected case on the right.
The Agent Desktop 2.0 email interface is organized into email threads, visually separating customer messages, agent messages, and other case activities. This makes it easy to review conversation history and quickly identify relevant information when processing an email. The recommended order of email content analysis is as follows:
Step 1: Review the case history
Scroll through the case activity thread to review previous emails, notes, transfers, and other related events.
- All incoming, transferred, and outgoing emails related to the case are listed in reverse chronological order.
- Incoming emails may display the email addresses of all To: and Cc: recipients.
- Notes entered by you or other agents also appear in the case history.
- By default, quoted text from previous messages in the email thread are hidden. Click the Actions button to expand it and view the full message content.
Compact Case View
For cases that contain more than one activity, Agent Desktop 2.0 provides an optional Compact Case View that presents case activities in a more condensed format.
To enable Compact Case View:
- Open the selected case in the preview pane or full case view.
- Click the three-dot menu in the case pane toolbar.
- Select switch to compact view.
In Compact Case View, the case header and case form remain unchanged, and activities retain the same colors used in the full detailed view. Activities are displayed in a flatter layout without indentation, with some activities showing full content while others display a condensed preview. For condensed activities, the action message remains visible and the beginning of the message body is shown on a single line.
To reduce scrolling, subject lines, recipient information, transcripts, and some embedded content are hidden. Attachment indicators remain visible when attachments are present; however, voice recording players are not displayed in Compact Case View.
To review full content for a condensed activity, click that activity to expand it.
- Multiple activities can be expanded at the same time.
- Expanded activities remain open while the case remains selected or open.
- If you navigate away from the case and later return, condensed activities appear collapsed again.
- You can manually collapse any expanded activity.
Compact Case View is optional. By default, cases open in the full detailed view.
Step 2: Review importance
The Agent Desktop application displays emails sent with importance indicators. For example, if an email was sent with either high importance or low importance, the following indicators will be displayed:
- high importance (red exclamation point)
- low importance (blue arrow pointing down)
Normal emails do not display any importance indicators.
Depending on your contact center's practices, you may be required to address high-importance emails first. If you are not sure, ask your supervisor or system administrator.
Step 3: Read the email message
Review the selected email message and determine how it should be processed.
- The most recent activity is shown at the bottom of the case.
- Sender and recipient details are displayed above the message body.
- Each email activity includes the message subject, body, attachments, and related details.
- Drafts, notes, and previous replies also appear in the case thread.
If the case contains multiple activities, you may switch between full and compact views as needed. When replying to an email, depending on configuration profiles, you may be prompted to confirm before the message is sent.
Step 4: Open attachments
Some emails may include attachments that should be reviewed before proceeding. If attachments are included, their file names are displayed within the message activity.
To open an attachment, click its file name. The exact process depends on the file type, your computer settings, and your organization's security policies.
Step 5: Review additional context
Incoming email interactions may be accompanied by external web pages (e.g., CRM records), and/or forms that provide additional information about the requested service.
If additional context is configured for your contact center, use the available tabs or panels to review it.
For more information, see Understanding Screen-pop.
Step 6: Review other included information
You can also look for information related to the content of the incoming email in the Knowledge Base. In the email view, select a fragment of the original email that is likely to be found in some articles of the Knowledge Base (for example, a product name or model number). The Knowledge Base will display a list of articles that contain phrases matching the selected fragment.
For more information, see How to Use Knowledge Base Articles.
