General chat settings

Use the Conversational Interfaces Console to set up the basic chat features shared by Virtual Agent and Agent Chat.

Table 1. General chat settings

I want to...	See these topics
Chat Client Display Options
Brand my bot	Branding your chat client
Preview new or unread messages in a minimized chat window	Enable message preview on the chat widget
Conversation Routing
Configure my bot to run in third-party messaging apps	Integrating Virtual Agent with messaging apps.
Create pre-chat surveys	Define pre-chat survey configurations
Create and use context variables to store chat-related information	Configure context variables for storing chat-related information
Display or announce callback options to users through other ServiceNow apps	Omnichannel Callback
Configure topic context intents	Define topic context intent configurations
System Actions
Modify system chat messages	Change Virtual Agent and Agent Chat system messages
Specify how links open from the chat window	URL navigation in Conversational Interfaces
Configure my bot to detect sensitive data	Configuring Sensitive Data Handler Note: This feature is being prepared for future deprecation. It will be hidden and no longer available for installation but will continue to be supported. For details, see the Deprecation Process [KB0867184] article in the Now Support knowledge base. Install the Data Privacy application as a replacement. For more information, see Data Privacy.
Send email summaries of unread messages to users when they are inactive	Sending missed chat activity emails

• Manage LLM virtual agents on the Assistants screen
  Create, edit, and turn on/off LLM virtual agents from the Assistants screen.
• Add your bot to a portal
  Give your users a place to interact with your bot and human agents. Choose a Service Portal chat configuration provided with your base system, such as the Service Portal Agent Chat configuration used for Agent Chat and Virtual Agent. Your end users can initiate and maintain a bot or Agent Chat conversation in any page of the portal.
• Branding your chat client
  Customize your chat interface with your own brand, including company logo and bot avatar, UI color schemes, fonts, and the chat support menu displayed to your users.
• Enable message preview on the chat widget
  Admins can allow their end users to see a preview of any new or unread messages waiting for them when the chat window is minimized.
• Enable public access to the chat widget
  Enable public access to the Virtual Agent chat widget for portals.
• Configure context variables for storing chat-related information
  Specify chat context variables, also called Live Agent chat variables, for storing chat-related information, such as pre-chat survey responses. These variables contain contextual information that can be used to determine topic intent or control how chats are routed to live agents. You can also define variables to capture contextual information passed in Virtual Agent topic scripts to share with live agents.
• Change Virtual Agent and Agent Chat system messages
  Customize the default system messages displayed during Virtual Agent conversations and Agent Chat.
• URL navigation in Conversational Interfaces
  Use URL navigation settings to specify where and how chat links open. You can configure certain links to open in a specific portal. You can also specify the link target, such as a popup window.
• Create chat surveys
  Use Survey Designer to build conversational questionnaires for gathering pre-chat information and post-chat feedback from end users. These questionnaires run in the chat client for Virtual Agent and Agent Chat.
• Define pre-chat survey configurations
  Use pre-chat surveys to capture preliminary information from a customer. You can define a configuration that determines the pre-chat survey to be presented to your customers. From the responses received, Advanced Work Assignment routes chat conversations to appropriate queues and groups.
• Define post-chat survey configurations
  Control the post-chat questionnaire displayed to your requesters to gather feedback on their experience with live agents. You configure the post-chat surveys to be used for chat queues defined in Advanced Work Assignment.
• Using pre-chat surveys with context variables for topic discovery
  Capture user input from pre-chat surveys to use as utterances or keywords for topic discovery.