Your first hour: setting up the desk

The shortest path from an empty installation to a working support address that your customers can use today.

Before you start

Have three things ready: the email address customers already write to, a list of the people who will answer, and a rough idea of how your work splits — sales, technical, billing, complaints. Everything else can be changed later.

The six steps

1. Set your identity. Admin → Branding: upload your logo, set the brand name and the support email address customers will see as the sender.

2. Create departments. Admin → Departments. Start with two or three. More departments than staff is a mistake almost everybody makes on day one.

3. Add your people. Admin → Users & Staff. Give each person a role and the departments they work in.

4. Connect email. Admin → Settings: outgoing SMTP first, then incoming. Send a test message before going further.

5. Define categories. Admin → Ticket Setup. Five to eight categories that match what customers actually write about.

6. Work the checklist. Admin → Setup Checklist verifies each of the above and turns green only when it genuinely works.

Going live

Point your public support address at the desk, add the portal link to your website footer, and tell your team the queue is now the only place work happens. That last sentence is the hard part, and it matters more than any setting.