> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://wiredesk.ai/docs/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Conversations and handover > How a conversation moves from the agent to a person and back: live call transfer on the phone, and team takeover in chat and email. The agent answers every conversation first. Handover is how a conversation reaches a person when it needs one. It works differently depending on the channel: * **On the phone**, the agent transfers the caller live to a number you choose. * **In chat and email**, the agent flags the conversation. Someone on your team opens it in WireDesk and replies, and the agent stops talking until they hand it back. This page explains how handover works. For setup steps, see [hand calls to you](/docs/actions/hand-calls-to-you), [request a human](/docs/actions/request-a-human) and [business hours](/docs/actions/business-hours). ## Handover is off until you turn it on Turning handover on promises your customers that a person is coming. That's only true if somebody is available. So: * **Request a human** (chat and email) is **off** on every new agent. Turn it on under **Agents → your agent → Actions**. * **Hand calls to you** (phone) needs a transfer number, set under **Channels › Phone** in **Transfer live calls to (optional)**. Once a number is set, the switch on **Actions** is on unless you turn it off. With neither on, a customer who asks for a person is told plainly that nobody can be reached right now, and the agent offers to take a message. It won't carry on as if they hadn't asked. ## On the phone: live transfer When a caller asks for a person, is upset, or has an urgent problem the agent can't solve, the agent says it's transferring them and then transfers the call to your transfer number. After the transfer, the call is between the caller and whoever answers. * The transfer number must be a real phone that someone answers, such as a mobile or a staffed desk line. It must not be the number customers dial, or a line that forwards back to WireDesk. WireDesk refuses a transfer it can see would loop back to the agent. * If the transfer fails, the agent apologises and takes a message. * Business hours don't apply to call transfers. * You can't test a transfer from the browser voice test. Call your number from a phone instead. ## In chat and email: team takeover When a visitor asks for a person, or has something the agent can't handle, the agent flags the conversation. It tells the visitor someone has been notified and asks for their name and contact details, so nothing is lost if nobody arrives. A flagged conversation moves through these states. The labels in brackets are what WireDesk shows in lists. | State | What it means | What the agent does | | --------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **Requested** (Needs human) | Someone asked for a person and nobody has joined yet. | Keeps answering. A request doesn't pause the agent. In chat, the visitor sees "Asking someone to join — they'll reply right here." | | **Active** (Human takeover) | A team member has joined. | Stays silent. In chat, the visitor sees "\[name] joined this conversation". | | **Back with the agent** | The team member handed it back, or went quiet. | Answers again. | | **Unanswered** (No answer) | Nobody joined in time. | Answers again. In chat, it tells the visitor: "Nobody's free to join right now, sorry. Leave a way to reach you and someone will follow up." | ### How a conversation moves between states * **Joining.** On the conversation page, click **I'll take this one** (the button reads **Take over from the agent** when no request is waiting), or just send a reply under **Reply as owner**. Either way the conversation becomes yours and the agent pauses. Chat replies appear in the visitor's widget. Email replies are sent from the agent's address, threaded into the customer's inbox. * **Handing back.** Click **Hand back to the agent**. If the person who took over sends nothing for 30 minutes, the conversation goes back to the agent automatically. * **Timing out.** If nobody joins within 10 minutes of the request, it becomes unanswered. The visitor can ask again, and that starts a new request. * **Coming back later.** A chat that has been quiet for half an hour is closed. If the visitor returns and writes again, it reopens with the agent answering, even if a person had taken it over before. These timers are checked every 15 minutes. A timeout or automatic hand-back can therefore happen a few minutes after the times above. ## Business hours You can limit **Request a human** to your opening hours by turning on **Only during business hours** and setting a schedule and time zone. Outside those hours the agent can't flag conversations. Instead it says nobody can be reached right now and offers to take a message. This stops it promising a person at 3am. See [business hours](/docs/actions/business-hours). ## Who is notified, and who can respond * **Notifications.** When someone asks for a person, the workspace owner gets an email by default, headed "Someone wants a human". Under **Settings → Notifications** you can switch this to a text message, sent to the agent's transfer number, or to both. If the visitor asks again, you're told again, at most once every five minutes. See [notifications](/docs/workspace/notifications). * **The dashboard.** The **Needs attention** card on **Dashboard** lists people waiting for a person, requests nobody answered in the last day, and conversations someone on your team is in. * **Who can respond.** Anyone in the workspace can reply to, take over, and hand back a chat or email conversation, including people with the Agent role. Replies carry the name of the person who wrote them, and when one person has a conversation, everyone else sees who. ## Related * [Request a human](/docs/actions/request-a-human) * [Hand calls to you](/docs/actions/hand-calls-to-you) * [Conversations](/docs/workspace/conversations) * [Team and roles](/docs/account/team-and-roles)