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Dispatch

Board shortcuts, notices and troubleshooting

Every key the dispatch board answers, what its status notices mean, and what to check when the board will not open or stays quiet.

Written By Chris Scaminaci

Last updated About 2 hours ago

This page lists every key the dispatch board answers, explains the status notices the board shows over the field, and gives checks for the problems people meet most often. It is the one page that lists the keys. Dispatchers, service desk managers and customer success staff use the board.

Before you start: the board is open and signed in. See Opening the dispatch board if it is not.

Use the keyboard

KeyWhat it does
/Moves focus to the search box.
RRefreshes the board and the footer figures.
PSwitches Pulse between a strip above the footer and the whole field. See Pulse, live calls and notice ribbons.
1 to 8Switches the View: 1 Agent, 2 Client, 3 Type, 4 Priority, 5 Age, 6 Stage, 7 Guided, 8 Lists.
N or ]Goes to the next ping.
[Goes to the previous ping.
EnterWith no focus card open, opens the card of your most urgent ping. With a card open, arms its recommended action, and a second press confirms whatever is armed. In the field, with a ticket selected, opens that ticket's cockpit.
SWith a focus card open, opens the snooze menu. Then 1, 2 and 3 choose 15 min, 1 h or Tomorrow.
1 to 4With a focus card open, runs the card's action with that number. While the technician list is open, 1 to 3 choose a technician.
Arrow keysIn the field, with a ticket selected, move the selection to the nearest hexagon. In the rail, they move between tabs and between cards.
EscCloses the topmost open layer. See the list below.

The board shows two reminders of these keys. The footer lists the keys for views, Pulse, search and refresh. A hint at the bottom left of the field lists the keys for pings: next ping, open or confirm, the action numbers, snooze, close, and previous or next. It shows while the ping queue is on and the window is wide enough.

Pressing a key never changes anything on its own. Every action that changes a ticket or sends a message needs a second press to confirm.

How the keys decide what to do

  • Digits: while a focus card is open and focus is on the card or on the page itself, 1 to 4 run the card's actions. In every other case, digits switch the view.
  • Typing: while you type in a field, only Esc works. Keys are also ignored when you hold Ctrl, Cmd or Alt.
  • Open layers: while the Settings drawer, a menu or a dialog is open, the board keys are muted. The setup wizard and the tour count as dialogs, so the board keys stay muted while the tour is open.
  • Focused buttons: N, [, ], Enter and S do nothing while a button, link or menu item has focus, so a focused button keeps its own Enter. The view digits still work.
  • A reply in progress: a bare Enter never sends a reply. In the reply box, Enter adds a new line and Ctrl+Enter sends.

Esc closes one layer at a time, in this order: a menu, a dialog or the setup wizard, an armed action on the focus card, the technician list, reply panel, snooze menu or dismiss menu on the card, the focus card, the Settings drawer, the ticket cockpit, the agent lens or an unpinned Intel drawer, the focus on an agent, a list filter, and finally the text in the search box.

You can also use the mouse: turn the wheel to zoom, drag empty space to pan, double-click the field to fit it, and right-click a ticket or an agent for its menu.

Read a status notice

When something needs your attention, the board shows one notice at a time over the top of the field. If several apply, you see them in the order of this table.

NoticeWhat it meansWhat to do
The reason a load failed, such as The dispatch board is not enabled for the extension on this server or Your account does not have a dispatch role.The board could not load its tickets.See the checks below.
Live updates unavailable: followed by a reasonThe live connection was refused or lost, so changes do not arrive by themselves. The connection state in the header reads Offline or Reconnecting.Select Refresh in the header. If it persists, see Troubleshooting the extension.
Your saved role was Technician…You once saved the Technician role. This board does not admit that role, so it now runs as Dispatcher.Select Choose a role to open the setup wizard and pick Dispatcher, Team lead or Customer success, or select Got it. See Board setup wizard and tour.
Your old Needs eyes filter had parts the new setup has no place for… followed by their namesThe board moved your old Needs eyes settings into Settings → Workspace and could not carry over the parts it names.Select Got it, and set up those parts again in the Workspace tab if you want them. See Workspace: how pings reach you.
Using local mode. followed by an explanationThe server does not send ticket facts yet, so customer replies, reopened tickets and VIP signals do not appear as pings until it is updated. Everything else works as before.Select Got it. The note shows once in each browser. Ask your administrator to have the server updated.

Fix a board problem

What you seeWhat to check
The board says Your account does not have a dispatch role.The board needs the Administrator, Service Desk Manager, Dispatcher or Customer Success role. The Technician role is not admitted. Ask an administrator to change your role. See Roles and access.
The board says it is not enabled for the extension on this server, or the grid icon and the Dispatch board item under More are missing from the side panel.Your account needs the Administrator, Service Desk Manager, Dispatcher or Customer Success role. Without one, the icon and the menu item are hidden. If you have a role and they are still missing, the board has been switched off for your instance. Ask your administrator.
Pings about customer replies, reopened tickets or VIP clients never appear.You are in local mode. See the Using local mode notice above.
You hear no sound.Sound is off until you turn it on in the toolbar. By default only the most urgent pings make a sound, and not during quiet hours in the evening. Both are set in the Workspace tab.
You get no browser notifications.They are off until you turn on Browser notifications under Settings → Alerts. Your browser must allow notifications for the extension. If it has blocked them, Alerts says so, and you allow them in the browser's settings first.
Few pings, or none.Noise may be on Calm, which shows only the pings that cost a customer something, one at a time. The ping queue may be off, or your scope may be narrow. Outside your working hours, pings other than P1 go to Later, or none show when Outside working hours is Nothing. When one kind of ping has fired more than Most pings per signal per hour allows (6 by default), the extras go to Later. All of these are in the Workspace tab.
A ping you expected is gone.It may be snoozed, in which case the Needs you tab shows it as a snoozed row with Wake now. A ping you dismissed returns only if the situation changes.
Many hexagons look dim.A search, a list or badge filter, or Unassigned only is on. Clear the search box, select the chip in the header, or turn the toggle off.
Keys do nothing.You may be typing in a field, or a menu, a dialog, the tour or the Settings drawer may be open. See "How the keys decide what to do" above.
You cannot sign in, the browser blocks something, live updates keep dropping, or the board says an action needs a HaloPSA-linked login.These problems are shared with the side panel. See Troubleshooting the extension.

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