Website Chat Appearance and Behavior

The Appearance, Behavior and Search AI tabs of a website chat control how the Resool chat widget looks on your site and how it behaves for visitors. You can match the chatbox to your brand with colors, a light or dark mode and your own welcome message in English and Arabic, decide whether visitors must leave an email or phone, let them send files and voice messages, and let them search your knowledge with AI before they write to you. A live preview updates as you edit.

#Before you begin

• Create a website chat first. See Website Chat Quick Start.
• Only Owners and Admins (or a custom role with Connect and configure channels) can change these settings.
• Changes are saved with the save bar at the bottom: Save applies them, Discard reverts them. Visitors see them the next time the chatbox loads.

#How to change the chatbox's look

1. Go to Settings › Channels and click Manage on your website chat.
2. Open the Appearance tab. The Preview your widget panel on the right updates as you edit.

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Settings › Channels › a Live chat channel › Appearance

The Appearance tab with the Chatbox Theme section (Color theme swatches, Layout theme, Color mode, Text theme, Welcome message EN/AR, Languages, Default language) on the left and the "Preview your widget" panel on the right showing the open chatbox and button.

File: screenshots/website-chat-appearance-tab.png

#Chatbox Theme

#Chatbox Button

• Show workspace logo in button: your workspace logo replaces the chat icon.
• Show last active operator face: the photo of the last teammate who replied replaces the chat icon.
• Show operator face during a chat: while a chat is ongoing, the button shows who's replying.
• Show activity metrics: shows how fast your team usually replies.
• Show availability tooltip: a small bubble next to the button says whether your team is online.
• Reverse chatbox position (left): moves the button to the other side of the page.

#General

• Channel name: how your team sees this chat in Resool.
• Away message (English) and Away message (Arabic): shown outside business hours.
• Business hours: Always online, or Set hours with a time zone and opening hours per day.

#How to set the chatbox's behavior

Open the Behavior tab.

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Settings › Channels › a Live chat channel › Behavior

The Behavior tab with the sections Chatbox Home, Visitors, Files, Hide Chatbox, Privacy and Other, with their switches.

File: screenshots/website-chat-behavior-tab.png

Chatbox Home

• Default section to show when the chatbox is opened: Home or Messages (default).
• Show a home section in the chatbox: a welcome screen with a start button, search and articles.

Visitors

• Ask visitors for their email address: after their first message, a small card asks for an email so they're notified of your reply.
• Ask visitors for their phone number: the same, for a phone number.
• Force visitors to identify themselves (email or phone): visitors fill in an email or phone before they can write.

Files

• Allow files to be sent from the chatbox: images, PDFs and documents.
• Allow audio recordings to be sent from the chatbox: a microphone button records a voice message.

Hide Chatbox

• Hide the chatbox if all operators are away: outside business hours and when nobody is online.
• Hide the chatbox on mobile devices: phones and small screens.
• Advanced Chatbox restrictions: click Go to restrictions to hide it on pages, countries, locales and IPs.

Privacy

• Operator privacy mode: visitors don't see when your team is typing.
• Operators can see what visitors write in real-time (MagicType): visitors' drafts appear live in the Inbox before they send.

Other

• Allow visitors to create new conversations (multi-conversational chatbox): visitors see their past conversations and can start a new one.
• Suggest to play a wait game when operators are slow to reply: a tic-tac-toe game is offered when a reply takes more than 45 seconds.

#How to turn on Search AI

Search AI lets visitors find answers in your knowledge sources from the chatbox, so simple questions don't need an agent.

1. Add knowledge sources first. If you have none, the tab shows Open AI Agents. See Knowledge base.
2. Open the Search AI tab.
3. Turn on Enable Search AI on my chatbox widget. A search box appears on the Home and Articles sections.
4. Optional: turn on Direct users to use search before reaching out. The chatbox opens on search, with a link to start a conversation.
5. Under Frequent searches, choose English or Arabic and add common questions. They show as one-click suggestions.
6. Click Save.

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Settings › Channels › a Live chat channel › Search AI

The Search AI tab with "Enable Search AI on my chatbox widget" on, "Direct users to use search before reaching out" on, and the Frequent searches list with the English/Arabic switch and three questions.

File: screenshots/website-chat-search-ai.png

#Notes and limitations

• The welcome message and away messages can be set in English and Arabic. The chatbox shows the one that matches its language.
• Frequent searches: up to 20 per language, 120 characters each.
• Satisfaction surveys for website chat are set on the Channels page and shown inside the chatbox. See Channel settings.

#FAQ and troubleshooting

#My changes don't show on my website. What can I do?

What you can do:

• Make sure you clicked Save on the save bar.
• Reload your website. The chatbox reads its settings when the page loads.
• Check the change in Open live preview to rule out caching on your site.

#How do I collect a visitor's email before the chat starts?

Turn on Force visitors to identify themselves (email or phone) on the Behavior tab. To ask without forcing it, use Ask visitors for their email address instead.

#What is MagicType?

When it's on, your team sees what the visitor is typing before they send it, so you can prepare an answer. Visitors whose browser sends a Do Not Track or Global Privacy Control signal are excluded unless you choose to ignore privacy choices on the Security tab.

#What's next?

• Website chat security and restrictions
• Knowledge base
• Satisfaction surveys
• Website Chat Quick Start