So, you’ve got your first inbox ready in **Ruut** and you know how to navigate the dashboard. Now it’s time to dive into Ruut’s core features — where to find them and how to use them to support customers smoothly and confidently.

In Ruut we call these core functionalities **tools** — designed to help you communicate better, stay organized, and deliver great support.

## **Agents in Ruut**

### **Who is an Agent?**

An **Agent** in Ruut is anyone on your team who interacts with customer conversations. You might be a customer support agent, a product specialist, a co-founder, or anyone you’ve invited to help manage support. Agents are the heart of customer engagement in Ruut — they answer questions, resolve issues, and keep conversations moving.

### **Agent vs Admin — What’s the Difference?**

Agents can:

* Access inboxes

* View and reply to conversations

* Use Ruut’s saved responses and tools

* Assign conversations to themselves or other agents

* Resolve conversations

Admins can do everything Agents can do, **plus manage account settings, team configurations, automation rules, custom attributes, and more** — basically full control over the Ruut workspace.

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## **Using the Agents Feature**

Here are two important ways to work with Agents in Ruut:

### **1. Assign an Agent to a Conversation**

1. In your Ruut dashboard, open a conversation.

2. Look for the **Conversation Actions** area.

3. Click the **Assign Agent** dropdown.

4. Search for or select the agent you want to assign — or choose **Assign to me** to take ownership of the conversation.

This helps make sure every conversation has a clear owner and that nothing gets missed.

![](https://app.ruut.chat/rails/active_storage/blobs/redirect/eyJfcmFpbHMiOnsibWVzc2FnZSI6IkJBaHBBeW45QlE9PSIsImV4cCI6bnVsbCwicHVyIjoiYmxvYl9pZCJ9fQ==--ea55a1a40087027ce81d0b69a6dc430f4fb59473/image.png)

### **2. Use Private Notes**

Private Notes let you talk to teammates within a conversation without the customer seeing your messages.

1. Open a conversation in Ruut.

2. Find the **Private Note** tab next to the reply box.

3. Type your internal message — you can use `@` to mention another agent, add emojis, attachments, and more.

4. Your note stays internal, helping you coordinate without confusing the customer.

![](https://app.ruut.chat/rails/active_storage/blobs/redirect/eyJfcmFpbHMiOnsibWVzc2FnZSI6IkJBaHBBeXI5QlE9PSIsImV4cCI6bnVsbCwicHVyIjoiYmxvYl9pZCJ9fQ==--9f94d8bb6bb19444ceb2b40ee4e1873696d553bf/image.png)

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## **Agent Performance Reports**

Admins can view detailed reports about how agents are performing — including how many conversations they’ve handled, response speed, and resolution time.

To view these:

1. Go to **Reports → Agents**.

2. Choose an agent from the dropdown.

3. Pick the date range to view metrics.

4. Click on any specific metric to see a graph.

You can also export reports for deeper analysis.

![](https://app.ruut.chat/rails/active_storage/blobs/redirect/eyJfcmFpbHMiOnsibWVzc2FnZSI6IkJBaHBBeXY5QlE9PSIsImV4cCI6bnVsbCwicHVyIjoiYmxvYl9pZCJ9fQ==--bcb43343d152c4eb74038abda615f8a4031830c4/image.png)

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## **Teams in Ruut**

### **What is a Team?**

Teams let you group agents based on their expertise — like Billing, Technical Support, Product Help, etc. This helps conversations go to the right people and keeps your support workflow tidy.

An agent can be part of **more than one team**.

### **Assigning Conversations to Teams**

To assign a conversation:

1. Open the conversation in Ruut.

2. Click on **Conversation Actions**.

3. Find the **Assigned Team** dropdown.

4. Select the team you want to route the conversation to.

![](https://app.ruut.chat/rails/active_storage/blobs/redirect/eyJfcmFpbHMiOnsibWVzc2FnZSI6IkJBaHBBeTM5QlE9PSIsImV4cCI6bnVsbCwicHVyIjoiYmxvYl9pZCJ9fQ==--11f647504736f1e0928d1c7e93f5d53f572e433e/image.png)

### **Automation for Teams**

Ruut lets you set up automation rules so certain types of conversations go to specific teams automatically. For example:

* If a message contains “billing,” assign it to the Billing team.

* If an email subject mentions “bug,” send it to Engineering.

Automation helps save time and ensures consistency.

### **Team Reports**

Admins can also view team performance:

1. Go to **Reports → Teams**.

2. Pick the team and date range.

3. Explore metrics like response time, resolution time, and message volume.

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## **Contacts in Ruut**

In Ruut, **contacts** are people who have either:

1. Messaged your team before, or

2. Been manually added to your workspace.

You can view contacts and their details — like email, phone number, location, and related conversations — in the **All Contacts** tab.

### **Contact Filters & Segments**

Use filters to narrow down contacts based on specific traits (like location or tag). If you use the same filters often, save them as **segments** for quick access later.

### **Importing Contacts**

You can upload contacts in bulk using a CSV file — useful when onboarding new datasets or migrating from another system.

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## **Labels in Ruut**

Labels are like digital stickers you attach to conversations or contacts to categorize them — for example: **new customer**, **bug report**, **feature request**, etc.

This makes it easy to sort, filter, and analyze your support workload.

### **Assigning Labels**

You can:

* Add labels directly to conversations while replying.

* Tag contacts individually from their profile view.

Labels make searching and reporting much easier.

### **Label Reports**

Admins can explore metrics for specific labels (like how many bug reports were handled last month) under **Reports → Labels**.

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## **Canned Responses**

Canned Responses are reusable message templates that save time.

Instead of typing the same greeting or explanation over and over:

1. Type `/` in the reply box.

2. Choose the saved response you want.

3. Send it instantly.

Agents can use any canned responses available in Ruut — whether they created them or someone else did.

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## **Custom Attributes**

Custom attributes let you track important facts about a contact or conversation — like subscription level, purchase date, or product version.

Agents can:

* Apply attributes during conversations.

* Use them to filter contacts and conversations.

This helps you personalize support and find patterns faster.

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## **Automation in Ruut**

Automation rules help you automate repetitive tasks — like assigning conversations, adding labels, or triggering custom workflows.

Admins create automation rules, but all agents can benefit from them once they’re live. You don’t need to touch conversations manually once automation is configured — Ruut takes care of the rest.

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## **Reports in Ruut**

Ruut’s reports help you evaluate your support operations across:

* Conversations (volume, resolution time, response quality)

* Agents (performance and workload)

* Teams (work distribution)

* Labels (frequency and trends)

To view reports:

1. Click the **Reports** icon.

2. Pick the report type you want.

3. Select relevant filters like date range or team.

Explore insights that help your team grow and improve.

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