Usage Guide

For Clients / End Users

Submitting a Ticket

  1. Go to the Support page on the website.
  2. Fill in your Name, Email, Priority, Summary (title), and Description.
  3. If ticket templates are configured, select a Request Type to pre-fill the description.
  4. Optionally click Choose Files (or drag and drop) to attach screenshots or documents.
  5. Click Submit Ticket.

You will receive an email confirmation containing a secure tracking link unique to your ticket.

Viewing and Replying to a Ticket

  1. Open the confirmation email and click the secure tracking link.
  2. Your private ticket portal shows the current status, priority, and the full conversation history. Reply timestamps display as relative times (“3 hours ago”, “Yesterday”, etc.) with the exact date shown on hover.
  3. To reply, type your message in the reply box, optionally attach files, and click Send Reply.

My Tickets Dashboard

If you visit the helpdesk portal page without a ticket link and are logged in to WordPress, you will see a card-based list of your open tickets with direct links. If you are not logged in, you will see the Resend my ticket links lookup form — enter your email address to have your secure links resent.

Closing a Ticket

When a technician marks your ticket as Resolved, a prominent Close Ticket block appears at the top of the portal. Click Close Ticket to formally close the ticket and notify the team. If you still need help, use the Still need help? Reply below link to send another reply instead.

After closing, you may be shown a 1–5 star satisfaction prompt. Rating is optional — click Skip to dismiss it.

Re-Opening a Ticket

If a ticket is Closed but your issue is unresolved, the standard reply form is replaced with a Re-Open Ticket form. You can optionally explain why you need it re-opened, but submitting without a message is also accepted. The ticket status is updated and the support team is notified.

For Technicians / Administrators

Viewing Tickets

  1. Log into the WordPress dashboard and click Tickets.
  2. The ticket list shows all tickets with their status, priority, and assignee.
  3. Click a ticket title to open the Ticket Editor.

Filtering and sorting: Use the filter dropdowns above the list to narrow by status, priority, assignee, or category. Column headers (Status, Priority, Date) are clickable for sorting. A blue dot marks tickets with unread client replies.

Bulk status change: Check multiple tickets and use the Bulk Actions dropdown to set them all to any configured status in one action.

Updating Ticket Details

The Ticket Details panel (right-hand side) contains:

  • Client name and email
  • Assignee dropdown
  • Priority and Status dropdowns
  • Category assignment
  • Links to all attached files

After making changes, click Update at the top-right to save.

Public Replies

  1. Scroll down to the Conversation & Reply section.
  2. Type your reply in the Reply text box. Attach files if needed.
  3. Click Send Reply (or the main Update button) to save and email the reply to the client.

Tip: If you change the status to Resolved or Closed at the same time as sending a reply, the system sends a single combined email rather than two separate notifications.

Internal Notes

Type in the Internal Note box to leave a note visible only to logged-in technicians. Internal notes appear in the conversation thread with a distinct yellow background. Clients never see them and receive no email notification.

Canned Responses

If canned responses are configured in Settings → Canned Responses, a Canned Response picker appears in the ticket editor. Click it, select a template, and its body is inserted into the active reply or note field.

Creating Tickets on Behalf of Clients

  1. Go to Tickets → Add New.
  2. Enter the ticket Title (summary) and Description in the standard post editor.
  3. In the Ticket Details panel, enter the client’s Name and Email.
  4. Check Send confirmation email to client if you want the client to receive their portal link immediately.
  5. Set the desired Priority, Status, and Category, then click Publish.

The ticket UID, secure token, and portal URL are auto-generated on the first save.

Categories / Departments

Assign one or more Categories to a ticket using the category meta box in the ticket editor. Categories are hierarchical, appear as a column in the ticket list, and can be used as a filter criterion.

Configure categories at Tickets → Categories. Auto-assignment rules (in Settings → Assignment & Routing) can automatically assign tickets to specific technicians based on category.

SLA Monitoring

When SLA thresholds are configured (Settings → General → SLA Warn/Breach Hours), the hourly cron check flags tickets that have been open beyond the thresholds:

State Visual indicator
SLA Warning Yellow .swh-badge-sla-warn badge on the ticket
SLA Breach Red .swh-badge-sla-breach badge on the ticket

An admin digest email is sent when tickets breach the SLA threshold.

Ticket Merge

If a client submits a duplicate ticket, you can merge it into the original:

  1. Open the ticket you want to remove (the source/duplicate).
  2. Scroll to the Merge Ticket section in the ticket editor.
  3. Enter the Target Ticket ID (the ticket to keep all replies on).
  4. Click Merge. All replies from the source ticket are moved to the target; the source ticket is then closed.

Reporting Dashboard

Go to Tickets → Reports to view the reporting dashboard:

Report Description
KPI Cards Total tickets, Open tickets, Avg resolution time, Avg first response time
Status Breakdown Doughnut chart showing ticket counts by status
Weekly Trend Bar chart of ticket volume over the past 7 days
Avg Resolution Time Average time from ticket creation to resolution
Avg First Response Average time from ticket creation to first staff reply

Report data is cached for one hour. The KPI cards load asynchronously after page load.

Inbound Email Webhook

Replies sent to a dedicated address can be forwarded to the plugin’s inbound webhook at:

POST /wp-json/swh/v1/inbound-email

See the Developer Guide for setup details.