How to Automatically Assign an Agent-Initiated Ticket to Its Creator
When an agent manually creates a ticket (e.g., by composing an outbound email from within LiveAgent), the ticket is not automatically assigned to that agent by default. This article explains how to set up an automation rule so that any agent-initiated ticket is automatically assigned to the agent who created it.
Overview
Using LiveAgent's Automation Rules, you can configure a rule that triggers as soon as a ticket is created and automatically transfers (assigns) it to the agent who performed the action — the "action initiator". This is particularly useful for departments where agents regularly start outbound email threads and need those tickets to appear in their personal queue.
Prerequisites
- Administrator access to LiveAgent's Configuration panel.
- Agents must be creating tickets manually (e.g., via Create Ticket and sending an outbound email).
Setting Up the Automation Rule
- Go to Configuration > Automation > Rules and click Create.
- Set the Apply when (trigger) to:
- Ticket created
- Under And all these conditions are met, add the following condition(s):
- Ticket source > Email — to target only email tickets.
- Ticket department > [Your Department Name] — to limit the rule to a specific department (e.g., Supply Management). This condition is optional.
- Under Perform action, set the action to:
- Transfer ticket
- Transfer to: Same department
- Assign to: Action initiator
- Check the Keep ticket state checkbox if you want the ticket to remain in its current state (e.g., "Answered") after the assignment, rather than reverting to "Open". This step is optional.
- Click Save to activate the rule.
How It Works
Once the rule is active, every time an agent creates a new ticket by sending an outbound email, the rule fires immediately upon ticket creation. It detects the agent who initiated the action and automatically assigns the ticket to them within the same department — no manual assignment is needed.
Important Notes
- The Action initiator option refers to the agent who triggered the event — in this case, the agent who created and sent the ticket.
- Adding the optional department condition is recommended if you only want this behavior in specific departments, to avoid unintended assignments in other departments.
- The Keep ticket state option is useful if the outbound email puts the ticket in an "Answered" state and you do not want the assignment action to change it back to "Open".
- This rule applies to email tickets only when the Ticket source: Email condition is used. If you also create tickets via other channels and want the same behavior, adjust or duplicate the rule accordingly.