# Automatic chat assignment options Section: Tidio Features Description: Turn on automatic chat assignment in Settings \> Workflows and choose Load Balancing (with a conversation limit per agent) or Round Robin. Verified against Tidio panel 12.304.0 Last updated: 2026-11-09 Source: https://help.tidio.com/articles/automatic-chat-assignment/ Among other things, the **Workflows** section allows you to enable automatic chat assignment to your agents, instead of having them select and join conversations manually. There are two different options available for automatic chat assignment as well, letting you decide which method works best for your team. 💡 **Please note:** automatic chat assignment is available on the **Growth** plan and above. **In this article, you'll learn:** - [What the benefits of using automatic chat assignment are]() - [How to enable automatic chat assignment via Workflows]() - [How load balancing works]() - [How round robin chat assignment works]() - [How to manage your chat assignment workflow]() [Video]() Silent walkthrough. Opening Settings \> Workflows \> Templates, using the Assign conversations automatically template with Load Balancing and a limit of 5 conversations per agent, activating it, then editing the new Workflow to switch to Round Robin ## The benefits of using automatic chat assignment #### Equal chat distribution The chats are equally distributed among the active agents, so your agents don't need to worry about who should pick up the conversation. #### Faster reply time Automatic assignment can increase your agents' efficiency and shorten the time of the first response, as messages from new customers will be assigned directly to the agents. #### Balanced workloads If you're worried about high traffic and that your agents might not be able to respond properly to all chats that get assigned to them, the **Load Balancing** option allows you to decide what the maximum number of assigned chats is for your team. ## Enabling automatic chat assignment You can access the **Workflows** section by navigating to **Settings \> Workflows** in your Tidio panel: ![The Settings sidebar has "Workflows" selected under "GENERAL".]() Inside, you will find two main tabs: **My Workflows** and **Templates**. This is where you manage all your workflows in general - see a list of your added workflows, create new ones, or browse the available templates. Please [see this guide]() if you'd like to learn more about **Workflows** in general. What we need is the **Templates** tab, where the **Assign conversations automatically** workflow is listed. It's one of two built-in automations for live conversations (the other one is **Solve conversations automatically**), so you'll find it at the start of the list, labelled **Auto-assign** and **Live conversations**. As long as you haven't added it, it's also suggested at the bottom of the **My Workflows** tab: ![The Workflows "Templates" tab has the "Assign conversations automatically" card outlined, labelled "Auto-assign" and "Live conversations".]() Hover your mouse pointer over that template, and click on the **Learn more** button. A new window will pop up, telling you more about the automatic chat assignment workflow: ![The "Assign conversations automatically" template preview has a "Use template" button and connects "New incoming conversation" to "Assign to an operator".]() Click on the **Use template** button, which will let you configure your workflow. In the **Select a method** list, choose between two options: **Load Balancing** (selected by default) or **Round Robin**, which we cover below. When you're ready, hit the **Activate** button: ![The Assign conversations automatically window after clicking Use template: step 1 Select a method, with the list set to Load Balancing, the Conversation limit per agent field showing 3, the note about the Unassigned folder below it, and the Activate button in the bottom-right]() Please note that automatic chat assignment only applies to direct messages from **live chat**, **Messenger**, **Instagram**, and **WhatsApp**. Emails will continue to land in the** Unassigned** tickets folder, as they don't require as immediate attention as the other incoming types of communication. The automatic chat assignment mechanism will only work for the conversations that arrived in your inbox **after** enabling the feature. That means earlier conversations will not be affected by this workflow. If the **Departments** feature (available on the **Plus** plan and above) is used in your Tidio project, each department will have its own assignment queue. The method (and the conversation limit) you choose applies to all your departments. If an agent is assigned to several different departments, they will get conversations from all their departments separately. ## Load balancing The **Load Balancing** option not only assigns new incoming chats to your agents equally - it lets you decide the maximum number of open conversations that each agent is allowed. Simply type it in the **Conversation limit per agent** field (it's **3** by default, and needs to be at least 1). The limit is the same for all your agents. ![The automatic assignment settings use "Load Balancing" with "Conversation limit per agent" set to 3; excess chats go to the Unassigned folder.]() **Load Balancing** only takes **online** agents into account, and assigns the first available agent who has no conversations assigned yet. If all available agents have conversations assigned already, Tidio selects the agent with the **lowest** number of assigned conversations, and transfers the new conversation to them. If there are two (or more) agents with the same, lowest amount of assigned conversations, one of those agents is selected **at random**. If all available agents have already reached their **Load Balancing** limit, then the new incoming chat is transferred to the **Unassigned** folder. ## Round robin The **Round Robin** option assigns new incoming conversations to available agents equally, in sequential order. As opposed to the **Load Balancing** option, **Round Robin** does not impose any limit on the number of assigned chats. ![The assignment method is set to "Round Robin", with a note that agents are assigned automatically in sequential order.]() **Round Robin** only takes **online** agents into account, similarly to **Load Balancing**. This option, however, creates a** fixed queue** of all your available agents - from the oldest agent to the newest. **Round Robin** takes the first agent from this queue and assigns the first incoming conversation to them. It then moves on to the second agent in the queue, and if another new chat arrives - that second agent will be assigned to it. If any agent goes **offline**, they are **removed** from the queue. If any operator appears, they are added to the **end** of the queue. If all agents are offline, any new incoming conversation lands in the **Unassigned** folder. ## Managing your workflow Once you've added your **Assign conversations automatically** workflow, it will be listed in the **My Workflows** tab: ![The "My Workflows" tab lists "Assign conversations automatically" for live conversations, with its "Active" toggle switched on.]() From there, you can **disable** the workflow with the toggle, **delete** it completely, or **edit** the setup. To modify (or delete) the workflow, click on the three dots on the right, and choose **Edit** or **Delete**. **Edit** takes you straight back to **Select a method**, where you can switch methods or change the conversation limit: ![The workflow three-dot menu is circled and open, with "Edit" highlighted beneath "Delete".]()