Transferring a conversation passes the responsibility for replying from one agent to another (or to a team), keeping the full history and context. You use it to bring in a specialist colleague, escalate to a manager, rebalance the workload or hand off a shift. This article covers how to transfer and what changes during the process.
Available on: All plans.
Who can do it: Any agent can transfer their own conversation; Managers and admins can transfer any agent's conversation.
Before you start
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The conversation is open and visible in your Conversations queue.
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The receiving agent is active and has permission for the Conversations module.
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You have agent, manager or admin permission.
Transfer vs. assignment: what's the difference
Transferring means passing a conversation that's already in progress to someone else. Assigning just designates an owner for a new conversation that nobody is replying to yet.
| Action | When to use | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Assign | The conversation is new and nobody is replying | Designates an owner |
| Transfer | The conversation is already with an agent and needs to change hands | Moves it from one owner to another, keeping the history |
When to transfer a conversation
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Expertise: the contact asks questions only another agent can answer (e.g. from tech support to sales).
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Workload balancing: an agent is overloaded and you pass conversations to colleagues.
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Handoff to a manager: a manager needs to take over an escalated conversation or a VIP customer.
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Shift handoff: an agent ends their shift and hands off pending conversations.
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Continuity: the current agent goes offline and whoever is online needs to take over.
Transfer to another agent
When you transfer to a specific agent, that person becomes the only one responsible for replying.
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Open the conversation in the queue by clicking its card.
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In the right side panel, click the actions menu (⋮, three dots).
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Click Assign agent.
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In the selection modal, you'll see all agents on the team (with online/offline status).
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Click the agent you want to transfer to.
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In the confirmation dialog, click Confirm.
What happens right after the transfer
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The Who replies badge on the card shows the new agent (a human, instead of the AI, if it was replying).
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The conversation leaves the previous agent's queue and enters the new agent's queue right away.
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The new agent can start replying immediately.
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The full history stays visible to both.
How to know it worked
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The Who replies badge shows the new agent's name.
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The conversation no longer shows in the previous agent's queue and now shows in the new one's.
Transfer to a team
When you transfer to a team, the conversation goes to a shared queue and any available member can take it.
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Open the conversation.
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In the side panel, click the actions menu (⋮).
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Click Assign team.
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In the modal, select the team you want.
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In the confirmation dialog, click Confirm.
What happens right after the transfer
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The Who replies badge shows the team's name.
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The conversation leaves the previous agent's queue and enters the team's shared queue.
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Any team member sees the conversation as available.
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The first member to reply automatically becomes the owner.
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The history stays visible to all team members.
How to know it worked
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The Who replies badge shows the team's name instead of an individual agent.
What changes during the transfer
Understanding what changes helps you decide between transferring to an agent or to a team.
From agent to agent
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Who replies changes: the new agent becomes the only one responsible.
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History intact: the new agent sees 100% of the history, from the first contact.
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Context kept: contact data, funnel stage and variables stay the same.
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“Needs attention”: if the conversation was flagged, this may change depending on what the new agent does.
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Queue updated: the conversation leaves the first agent's queue and shows up in the second one's instantly.
To a team
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Shared responsibility: the conversation stays in the team's queue until someone replies.
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History visible to everyone: any member sees the full history.
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First to reply takes over: when they send the first message, the member becomes the owner.
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History stays shared: even after someone takes over, everyone on the team keeps seeing the conversation.
Impact on history and AI
If the AI was replying
When you transfer a conversation where the AI (from a Smart Funnel) is replying:
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The AI is paused silently (no goodbye message).
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The human agent takes over right away.
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From then on, the contact's messages are answered by the human.
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The full history, including the AI's replies, stays visible.
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The AI doesn't resume on its own; it only comes back if you click Resume AI.
The record of who took over the conversation
Every time the conversation moves from the AI to a person, the conversation records it in its own timeline, even when the owner doesn't change. Before, this record only appeared when the owner changed — so the most common handoff case (the AI passing the conversation to the owner already linked to it, or the owner having been set earlier by the CRM sync) happened silently, with nothing showing in the chat.
The text changes depending on who made the handoff:
| Situation | What shows in the conversation |
| You take over a conversation that was already yours | Alex took over the conversation. |
| One agent hands off to another | Alex handed the conversation to Sam. |
| The AI itself makes the handoff | The AI handed the conversation to Sam. |
| The handoff came from an automation with no identified source | The conversation was handed to Sam. |
When the owner actually changes, the record is still the usual assignment one (“assigned the conversation to…”). There aren't two records for the same handoff.