Configure conversation IDs

This walks through the full configuration — enabling IDs, picking a numbering strategy, adding a prefix and date, choosing display surfaces, and overriding per channel or team.

Before you start

• A user role with the Manage automation permission
• A clear sense of what your IDs should look like (start with the concept article if you’re not sure)

Step 1 — Enable the feature

1. Open Settings → Conversation ID.
2. Under General Settings, toggle Enable Conversation IDs on.

A Live Preview chip at the top of the page now shows an example ID. As you change other settings below, the preview updates in real time.

Step 2 — Pick a numbering strategy

Under Numbering Strategy:

• Sequential — a counter that increments with each new conversation. Set the Start Number to the value the next new conversation should get. Default is 1.
• Random — a random mix of letters and digits. Set the Random ID Length between 4 and 12 characters.

Sequential is the right pick for most teams — predictable, easy to read aloud, looks like a “real” ticket number. Random fits situations where you don’t want anyone reverse-engineering your volume from the IDs.

Heads up: changing the Start Number after you’ve already started using IDs resets the counter. Make sure the new value won’t collide with existing IDs.

Step 3 — Add a date component (optional)

Under Date Settings, toggle Include Date on if you want a date in the ID.

1. Pick a Date Format:
   YYMMDD → 231225
   YYYYMMDD → 20231225
   DDMMYY → 251223
   MMDDYY → 122523
2. Set the Date Separator — the character between the date and the rest. Defaults to -.

The sequential counter does not reset each day — it keeps incrementing across days, the date just changes alongside.

Step 4 — Add a prefix (optional)

Under Prefix Settings:

1. Default Prefix — type the prefix you want, like SUP, TKT, or CONV. Leave blank for no prefix.
2. Prefix Separator — the character between the prefix and the rest. Defaults to -.

The preview shows the final shape immediately.

Step 5 — Choose display surfaces

Back under General Settings:

• Show ID in Header — toggle on to display the ID in the conversation header inside Atender. Useful for your team’s visibility.
• Show ID in Email Subject — toggle on to inject the ID into outgoing email subjects. When on, a Position in Subject picker appears:
• At the end — Re: Help with my order [SUP-0001] (industry standard)
• After Re: prefix — Re: [SUP-0001] Help with my order

A small example panel below the position picker shows exactly what each option produces.

Step 6 — Override the prefix per channel or team (optional)

Skip this step if every conversation should use the default prefix.

Under Prefix Settings → Prefix Override Mode, pick:

• No Override — use default everywhere (recommended unless you have a reason not to)
• Channel-Specific — different prefix per channel
• Team-Specific — different prefix per team

When you switch to Channel-Specific or Team-Specific, a new card appears below for managing the overrides.

For Channel-Specific Prefixes:

1. Pick a channel from the dropdown (email, web-chat, sms, whatsapp, facebook, instagram, voice, amazon).
2. Type the prefix you want for that channel — e.g., EMAIL, CHAT.
3. Click the + button.

For Team-Specific Prefixes:

1. Pick a team from the dropdown.
2. Type the prefix.
3. Click +.

Each override appears in a list below. Click the trash icon to remove an override (conversations from that channel or team revert to the default prefix).

Channels or teams without an explicit override fall back to the default prefix.

Step 7 — Save

Click Save Settings at the top of the page. The change applies to the next new conversation. Existing conversations keep the IDs they were assigned at creation.

Verify it worked

Create a new test conversation — send a test email, start a web chat, whatever’s easy. Open the conversation:

• If Show ID in Header is on, you should see the ID in the conversation header.
• If Show ID in Email Subject is on, send a reply and check the outgoing email — the subject should now include the ID in brackets in the chosen position.

Common configurations

• Simple sequential — Default prefix SUP, sequential, start 1, no date → SUP-0001, SUP-0002
• Date-stamped — Default prefix TKT, sequential, include date YYMMDD → TKT-251225-0001
• Random for privacy — No prefix, random length 8 → A7B3X9K2
• Per-team breakdown — Default prefix CONV, override mode Team-Specific, SUP for support team, SALES for sales team

Troubleshooting

• Symptom: Save Settings shows “Failed to save settings.” Fix: Reload the page and try again. If it keeps failing, copy your settings to a notepad, reload, and re-enter them.

• Symptom: Email subjects don’t include the ID even with the toggle on. Fix: Check that the conversation was created after you enabled the toggle. Existing conversations don’t retroactively get IDs. Also confirm the conversation has an ID at all (visible in the header if Show ID in Header is on).

• Symptom: Sequential counter jumped or repeated. Fix: Someone changed the Start Number. Atender doesn’t prevent collisions — set Start Number higher than your highest existing ID before saving.

• Symptom: A channel’s prefix override isn’t being applied. Fix: Confirm Prefix Override Mode is set to Channel-Specific (not None or Team-Specific). Only one override mode is active at a time.

• Symptom: Email threading broke after enabling the email subject ID. Fix: This shouldn’t happen with the default At the end position — Re: stays first, so threading still works. If you switched to After Re: prefix, some older email clients may not thread correctly. Switch back to At the end to fix.

See also

• What is the Conversation ID