Summarize a ticket with AI
Get a two to four bullet summary of a long ticket, covering what the customer wants, what has been done and the next step, before you pick it up.
Last updated 2 min read
Long tickets take time to read. Summarize with AI gives you the short version: what the customer wants, what has been done and what still needs doing. It is ideal when you pick up a ticket from a colleague.
Before you start
- Who can do this: agents, admins and owners.
- Plan: all plans. Summaries do not count toward the AI cap.
- What you need: an AI provider connected on the server.
Step by step
- Open the ticket.
- Press More actions (⋯) in the header.
- Choose Summarize with AI.
- Read the summary: two to four bullets.
- Copy anything useful into an internal note for the team.
What happens next
The summary shows in a dialog. It is not saved to the ticket and the customer never sees it. It covers:
- what the customer wants;
- what has been done;
- what is still open, which is your next step.
It uses only facts from the latest 20 messages, with no greeting and no email addresses.
When a summary helps most
| Situation | Why |
|---|---|
| Shift hand-over | The next agent sees the state in seconds |
| A long back-and-forth | Find the open question quickly |
| Escalation to a lead | Paste the bullets into a note or Slack |
| Returning customer | Recall where things stood |
A good hand-over note
A useful pattern at the end of a shift: summarise each ticket you are passing on, paste the bullets into an internal note, add one line of your own ("Customer prefers email, refund approved by Kaye"), then reassign. The next agent starts with the full picture and the customer does not have to repeat themselves.
Tips
- Combine the summary with Show all events for the full picture of who did what.
- Paste the bullets into an internal note before you reassign a ticket.
- If the summary looks wrong, the thread may contain mixed topics; consider splitting it into new tickets.
Troubleshooting
"AI is not connected yet"
No AI provider is set up on the server. See Connect an AI provider.
"The AI service did not answer. Try again."
The AI provider did not respond. Try again in a moment.
"No summary came back"
The AI returned nothing. Try again; very short tickets may not need a summary.
"Ticket not found"
The ticket was deleted or merged. Refresh the inbox.
"Viewers can look but not change anything. Ask an admin for agent access."
Viewers cannot use summaries.
Frequently asked questions
How do I get an AI summary of a ticket?
Open the ticket, press More actions in the header and choose Summarize with AI. After a moment a short summary appears in two to four bullets, covering what the customer wants, what has been done so far and what is still open, so you know the next step.
What does the AI read to summarise a ticket?
The latest 20 messages in the ticket, including customer messages, replies and internal notes, plus the subject and tags. Long messages are shortened first. The summary only uses facts from those messages and leaves out greetings and email addresses.
Is the ticket summary saved on the ticket?
No. The summary is shown for you and is not added to the ticket. If it would help teammates, copy the useful lines into an internal note, for example when you hand the ticket over at the end of a shift.
Does summarising a ticket use my AI cap?
No. Summaries help your team and never reach the customer, so they do not count toward your plan's monthly AI resolution cap. Only answers that the AI agent sends to customers by itself count toward that limit, so summarise as often as it helps.
Why does the summary miss older messages?
Only the latest 20 messages are summarised, so very long tickets lose their earliest messages. That keeps the summary focused on where things stand now. For old history, scroll back through the timeline, or ask a specific question about the customer in Ask AI.
Was this helpful?
Related articles
- Draft replies with AIPress the sparkle or Ctrl+J to get a reply drafted from the whole conversation, the order and your macros, then make it shorter, warmer or more formal.
- See ticket history, rename, print or mark unreadShow every event on a ticket, such as assignments, tags and rules, rename an unclear subject, print the conversation and mark a ticket as unread.
- Reply to a customer or add an internal noteUse the reply box to answer by email or chat, switch to an internal note your team only sees, format text, and send with Send or Send and close.
- Ask AI about your tickets, customers and teamAsk questions in plain words, such as which tickets waited longest or how the team did this week, and get answers with links from your own data.
Still stuck?
Chat with the Hushdesk team. A person answers on every plan.