## Overview

**Auto resolve** closes conversations with no activity after the period you define, keeping the
queue clean without manual work. The platform **protects by default** conversations that are
still **awaiting an agent's reply**: a conversation whose last visible message is from the
customer is never auto-resolved — preventing an unanswered request from silently vanishing from
the queue.

The setting lives under **Settings → Account settings → Auto resolve**.

## Prerequisites

- **Administrator** role to change account settings.
- Minimum inactivity period: **10 minutes**; maximum: 999 days.

## Step by step

1. Go to **Settings → Account settings**.
2. Turn on the **Auto resolve** switch.
3. Set the **inactivity period** (minutes, hours or days).
4. Optional: write the **closing message** sent to the customer on resolution.
5. Optional: pick a **label** applied to auto-resolved conversations.
6. Optional: enable **"Also resolve conversations awaiting an agent's reply — not recommended"**
   only if you want to turn the default protection off.
7. Save.

## Settings & options

- **Inactivity period** — counted from the conversation's last activity. Once elapsed, the open
  conversation is resolved on the next check cycle.
- **Closing message** — sent to the customer at auto-resolution time (for example: "We closed
  this conversation due to inactivity; reply to reopen").
- **Post-resolution label** — makes it easy to filter and measure the automatically closed volume.
- **Awaiting-reply protection (default)** — conversations whose last visible message is **from
  the customer** are excluded from auto-resolution, even when inactive. The team keeps seeing the
  pending request in the queue.
- **Also resolve conversations awaiting a reply — not recommended** — an explicit option that
  turns the protection off. Use it only if your operation prefers closing everything by
  inactivity, regardless of who spoke last.

### Rule per inbox

Each inbox can behave differently from the account. In **Settings → Inboxes → (the inbox) →
Conversation rules**, pick one of the three options under **Auto-resolve on inactivity**:

- **Follow the account rule** (default) — the inbox uses what is configured on the account. If the
  account has no auto-resolve rule, conversations in this inbox are not resolved on their own.
- **Use its own rule** — the inbox has its own period, closing message, label and "waiting for a
  reply" preference. The inbox rule **replaces the account rule as a whole** and works even when
  auto-resolve is off on the account.
- **Never auto-resolve in this inbox** — conversations in this inbox stay out of auto-resolve,
  even with the account rule on.

The screen always shows the rule **in effect** and where it comes from (account or inbox). The
**Restore the account default** button returns the inbox to the account rule. On the account
screen, the list **Inboxes that do not follow the account rule** shows every exception.

Example: WhatsApp closing after 30 minutes, e-mail after 2 days, and a groups inbox that never
closes on its own.

## Use cases

- **High-volume support**: automatically close conversations where the customer stopped replying
  after the solution, keeping resolution metrics realistic.
- **Sales teams**: combine with the automatic label (e.g. "no-reply") to feed follow-up cadences.

## Tips, limits & best practices

- Resolution runs on periodic cycles and processes conversations in batches — on accounts with
  many eligible conversations, closing may be spread across a few cycles.
- Combine with the inbox **Conversation routing**: with "Reopen the same conversation" enabled, a
  customer who replies after resolution reopens the SAME conversation, keeping the history.
- The closing message also restarts the messaging window on windowed channels (such as WhatsApp)
  — write it with that in mind.

## Troubleshooting

- **"An inactive conversation was not resolved"** — check whether its last visible message is
  from the customer with no team reply: in that case the default protection keeps it open, by
  design. Reply or resolve it manually (or enable the opt-in, not recommended).
- **"Unattended conversations were being closed"** — confirm the "Also resolve conversations
  awaiting a reply" option is **off**; with it off the default protection applies to all
  conversations.
- **"The customer replied after resolution and a new conversation opened"** — the inbox is set to
  "Create new conversations"; switch it to "Reopen the same conversation" for a single thread.
- **"I changed the account rule and one inbox did not change"** — that inbox has its own rule or
  has auto-resolve turned off. Open **Conversation rules** on the inbox and use **Restore the
  account default**.

## See also

- [Conversation routing: reopen the same conversation or create new ones](/hc/ajuda/articles/inboxes-channels-roteamento-de-conversa-en)
- [Business hours, labels and attributes](/hc/ajuda/articles/administration-horarios-labels-atributos-en)