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Business hours tell the agent when somebody is there to take over a conversation. Inside your hours, a chat or email visitor can ask for a person (see A person in chat & email). Outside them, the agent does not promise a person. It says plainly that it cannot put them through right now and offers to take a message. The agent keeps answering questions at every hour. Business hours only change what it offers when someone asks for a person.

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What they apply to

If you do not want phone calls transferred outside your hours, turn the Transfer calls to a person switch off when nobody is available. See Transfer calls to a person.

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Set your hours

Business hours live on Handoff, right under A person in chat & email, because that is the only thing they affect. You can set them while it is off, but they only matter once it is on.
1

Open Handoff

Go to Agents → your agent → Handoff. Under In chat, email and WhatsApp, make sure A person in chat & email is on.
2

Turn on Only during business hours

Switch on Only during business hours. It starts you on Monday to Friday, 09:00 to 17:00, in your browser’s timezone.
3

Check the timezone

Pick the zone your team works in from Timezone. It is filled in from your browser, which is wrong if you are setting this up from somewhere else.
4

Set each day

Each day has a switch. On, it shows an opening and a closing time; off, it shows Closed.
5

Save

Click Save hours. “Saved” appears next to the button.
Once saved, the line under Only during business hours summarises the schedule and timezone, for example Mon–Fri 09:00–17:00 · Europe/London. Changing hours needs the Admin or Owner role.

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Rules

  • At least one open day. Saving with every day closed is refused: “Open at least one day, or switch hours off to always offer a person.”
  • A real window. A day cannot open and close at the same time.
  • Past midnight. Set a closing time earlier than the opening time, such as 20:00 to 02:00, and the window runs into the next morning. The editor shows “runs past midnight” next to it. The hours after midnight count as part of the day the window started.
  • Until midnight. To stay open until the end of the day, set the closing time to 00:00.

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Why the timezone matters

The hours are read in the timezone you pick, not the visitor’s and not your browser’s at the time of the conversation. “09:00 to 17:00, Europe/London” means London office hours for every visitor, wherever they are.

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Turn hours off

Switch off Only during business hours and click Save hours. With no hours set, a visitor can ask for a person at any time — the page warns: “Right now a visitor can ask for a person at any hour, including the ones nobody is awake for.”

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What the agent does outside hours

The hours are checked each time a visitor sends a message. Outside them, the agent has no way to request a person. If someone asks for one — a person, a representative, a manager — the agent says it cannot put them through right now and offers to take a message with their name and how to reach them. Messages it takes show under Needs you in the Inbox and on the dashboard, and send a Message taken notification, so the request is waiting for you when you are back.