Configure case templates and chat shortcuts

Updated Wednesday, October 28, 2026 · Marc Staine

Case templates reuse approved content and supported case defaults. Chat templates provide reusable conversation text. Clear scope and concise content help agents respond consistently while still adapting the result to the customer.

Applies to: Supportbench Core. Location: Settings → Cases → Templates. Access and available controls depend on your role and account capabilities.

Before you begin

You need permission to edit this configuration. Ask an administrator if the page is available but its editing controls are not.
Review the current configuration and where it is used before making a change. Available choices depend on your account, enabled modules, division access and role.
Use a test record or a controlled test account for behavior checks. Do not change production routing or send customer messages just to try an example.

Configure and verify

Open Settings → Cases → Templates. Choose New Template, or open the existing template you are authorized to maintain.
Choose Template type: Case for a case response with supported case options, or Chat for reusable conversation text.
Enter a recognizable Name and a description explaining when to use it. Use Scope to choose Personal, Team or Global, with the corresponding owner or team.
In Content, write the response and add only approved variables and attachments. Tell the agent which customer-specific details must be checked before sending.
For a Case template, review Case Options: Activity, Case details, Routing and Related records. Set only the changes required for this particular workflow. Applying the template to an existing case can commit these changes before the reply is sent.
Choose Save Template. Resolve any validation message, reopen the template and confirm the saved content, scope and options.
On a controlled case, use the normal response-template chooser to apply it. Inspect the case immediately—before sending—for changed customer relationships, state, routing and fields. Check activity type, recipients, content and attachments separately.
Verify availability for an intended user and an excluded user where scope differs. Record the tested behavior and assign an owner to maintain the template.

Settings reference

Configuration

Setting	What it controls	How to choose
Name / Description	Name up to 50 and description up to 250 characters.	Use a recognizable task or response name.
Type	Case or Chat.	Choose the consuming experience before configuring options.
Quick command	Shortcut up to 33 characters.	Use a memorable unique command.
Scope / Team / Owner	Personal, Team or Global with the corresponding owner or team.	Limit availability to the people who should use the content.
Active / Hot	Availability and the supported prominent-template flag.	Keep commonly used approved templates easy to find.

Content and attachments

Setting	What it controls	How to choose
Body / Variables	Reusable rich text with supported template variables.	Preview variable values and avoid embedding customer-specific data.
Attachments	Files included through the supported attachment controls.	Use current, approved files and check the recipient audience.

Case options

Setting	What it controls	How to choose
Activity type / Subject	Defaults for the created activity.	Choose the intended internal or customer-facing activity.
Division / Case subject / Summary / Tags	Supported case content and classification defaults.	Avoid overwriting context that should remain case-specific.
Existing case ID	Uses an existing case where supported by the template workflow.	Verify the source case and copied content before sharing the result.
Priority / State / Issue / Queue / Owner	Supported routing and status defaults.	Test the whole combination with workflows and assignment rules.
Company / Contact / Asset	Supported record associations.	Avoid fixed customer associations in a broadly shared template unless intentional.

Behavior to know

Chat templates ignore case-option settings. A new Case template starts Personal, owned by the current agent and Active.
Applying a template can populate values that still need review; saving a reusable template does not itself send the message.

Understand what applying a template changes

Applying can save case changes before sending

Saving the reusable template and applying it to a case are different actions. Applying a Case template to an existing case can immediately update configured case details, add tags, change state or queue, change company/contact relationships and run update workflows. Closing or canceling the activity composer does not undo those committed changes.

Configuration	Effect to check when applying to an existing case
Division, Priority, Issue, Asset, Summary and Case subject	Configured values can replace existing case values. Confirm that this is appropriate for every case where the template will be offered.
Tags	Configured tags can be added. Do not treat the template as text only.
State and Queue	Can change the case lifecycle or routing. Queue handling and workflows can affect ownership.
Company and Contact	Can change the customer relationship. Fixed customer values are especially risky in a widely shared template.
Owner	An editor option, but not a direct assignment performed by this existing-case application path. Do not promise that choosing Owner alone transfers an existing case to that agent; inspect routing and workflow results.
Activity type and Activity subject	A new composer can adopt the selected activity type and related recipient mode. An authored activity subject is preserved; the template supplies a starting subject when it is blank.
Chat template	Reusable conversation content; the Case Options behavior described here belongs to Case templates.

After an uncertain apply result, inspect the case and composer before applying again. A missing confirmation or canceled reply is not evidence that nothing changed.

Design a template for one operational job

For a diagnostic-information request, use a name such as “Pump investigation — request operating details.” Ask for the equipment model, symptom, timestamp and safe diagnostic evidence. Leave company/contact and routing options unset unless changing them is an intentional part of that task.

A specialist handoff template has a different job: explain the impact, attempted checks, evidence, unresolved question and next communication owner. If it also changes the queue, make that consequence clear in the name or description and verify the resulting case ownership. Do not bury a routing action inside a template that appears to be a simple acknowledgement.

Use Personal while developing a genuinely personal response; use Team for a shared team process; use Global only when the guidance is appropriate across the intended organization. These are recommendations, not a requirement to publish every template globally.
Keep account-specific commitments and private diagnostic facts out of shared content. Agents should fill in verified details for the current case.
A Hot template is a prominence choice for important team/global Case templates, not a substitute for review. Keep the prominent set small enough to choose confidently.
Assign a review owner and revisit the content when product instructions, attachments, routing or customer commitments change.

Recover from an unexpected template result

Problem	Operational correction
A case changed even though the reply was canceled	Inspect case history, customer relationships, state and queue. Correct the unintended case change through the normal authorized workflow; canceling the composer is not rollback.
The case owner did not become the configured template Owner	Review the actual existing-case application path, queue routing and workflows. Use the supported assignment action when a direct transfer is required.
The composer changed from customer reply to another activity type	Recheck Activity type and recipient handling before sending. Correct the template if that type is inappropriate for its stated purpose.
The wrong customer or asset appears	Stop before sending, correct the case association through authorized actions, and remove the fixed association from the shared template if it was unintended.
A colleague cannot find the template	Check template type, Active, scope and the colleague’s access. Administration and consumption are separate contexts.

See Use response templates consistently in case work for the agent-side review and sending workflow.

Recommended use

Use terminology that agents and customers already understand. Explain the intended meaning in the description.
Keep the initial configuration small enough for people to choose consistently. Add options when they represent a real operational difference.
Review existing references before renaming, changing scope, or deleting. Where supported, deactivate an obsolete option before considering permanent deletion.

Worked example

Create a Team-scoped Case template for a repeatable acknowledgement.
Write concise content and insert supported variables.
Set only the case options that should be consistent for this task.
Save, apply it to a test case and inspect recipients, text, attachments and routing before sending.

Troubleshooting

Problem	What to check
The item is missing from a picker.	Check Active, division access, parent hierarchy, enabled modules, and the user’s role. Reopen the consuming form after saving.
The form rejects a save.	Read the displayed validation message. Check required values, text limits and permitted scope; do not change unrelated settings to bypass validation.
An existing record still shows an old value.	A configuration change and a record change are different operations. Inspect the record and relevant references before assuming the save failed.

Cases → Configure reusable case task scenarios
Cases → Configure case forms with case policies
Organization → Configure teams and SLA availability

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