Canned responses for Zendesk (and every other help desk)

Zendesk macros are great for admins, but agents often need small personal replies, in several tools, without waiting for someone to create a macro. Text shortcuts fill that gap.

Macros vs. personal text shortcuts

Keep macros for workflows that change ticket fields. Use text shortcuts for the sentences you type twenty times a day: greetings, apologies, troubleshooting steps, refund confirmations. They work in Zendesk, Freshdesk, Intercom, Help Scout, Gorgias and live chat — the same ;refund everywhere.

Support templates with fill-ins

;refund — refund issued

Hi {Customer first name},

I’ve issued a refund of {text:Amount=$0.00} to your original payment method. It usually appears within 5–10 business days (by {date:MMM D +10bd}).

{optional:Apology}Sorry again for the trouble.{/optional}

{snippet:;bye}

;ack — acknowledge

Thanks for the details — I’m looking into this now and will update you within {choice:Response time=24 hours|2 hours|2 business days}.

;steps — troubleshooting

Could you try these steps and let me know what happens?

1. Sign out and sign back in
2. Clear the browser cache (Ctrl+Shift+Delete)
3. Try a private window

{cursor}

;esc — escalated

I’ve escalated this to our {choice:Team=engineering|billing|shipping} team with all the details. You don’t need to do anything — I’ll follow up as soon as I hear back.

;bye — sign-off (nested in others)

Have a great day!
{Agent name}
{text:Company=Support Team}

Why business-day dates matter

“Within 5 business days” is vague; “by Thursday, Nov 5” builds trust. {date:dddd, MMM D +5bd} skips weekends automatically.

Roll out to the whole team without IT

Put the team’s replies in one folder → Packs & sharing → Create link, and post it in your team channel. Everyone clicks Add to PhraseBolt. Update the pack and share again when wording changes.

FAQ

Does PhraseBolt change Zendesk ticket fields?
No, it only inserts text where you type. Keep using macros for status, tags and assignments.
Does it work in Zendesk’s rich text composer?
Yes. Rich editors receive the snippet like a paste, so line breaks are kept.

Add PhraseBolt to Chrome — freeNo account · 25 snippets free · 7-day Pro trial, no card

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