Troubleshooting - Vera.Support

GETTING STARTED

Installation

To display the chat on your website, go to your Vera Support account panel, click on the “Installation” or “Settings” tab, and copy the embed code. Paste this code into your website’s pages. After installation, activate the apps you need from Settings > Apps.

Optimal configuration

Vera Support is a powerful tool. To streamline the process, we provide a list of the most commonly used features that we advise setting up:

Activate email notifications from Settings > Notifications.
Configure the SMTP server under Settings > Notifications > SMTP.
Navigate to Settings > Messages & Forms and set up the follow-up message and offline message.
Optimize the system performance.
If you are utilizing the chatbot, make sure to check out the optimal AI configuration.

Having problems?

If you’re having any issues, please contact our support team. Before contacting us, please check the troubleshooting steps below.

Chat widget not displaying

The chat may not be showing due to the following reasons:

You may have disabled it in the settings area. To fix this, visit the settings section and deselect all options related to that: Chat > Manual initialization, Chat > Hide chat outside of office hours, Chat > Hide chat if no agents online.
Try disabling any performance plugins or techniques like cache or JS minification on your website.
Try disabling any CDN or Proxy (e.g. Cloudflare).

Conversations are not visible to administrators or agents

The conversations may not be showing due to the following reasons:

The agent has been given a department, yet the conversations have not been assigned to that specific department.
One or more of the following settings have been activated: Miscellaneous > Routing, Miscellaneous > Queue, Miscellaneous > Hide conversations of other agents.
You are using the chatbot and the Artificial Intelligence > Human takeover option has been activated.

For cases 1 and 2, make sure to log in with the correct admin/agent or check your admin/agent profile to ensure that there are no departments assigned. In case 3, please check the archived conversations.

CONVERSATIONS

Manage conversations

Conversations have a total of four different statuses: mark as read, archive, delete and restore. You can manage the status of a conversation by opening it in the conversations area and then clicking any of the corresponding icon buttons in the top right of the conversation window.

Search for conversations

You can search for conversations by department ID, assigned agent ID, conversation title, conversation ID, message text, message attachments name, user first name, user last name, or user email.

Information

When you empty the trash, all the conversations in the trash are permanently deleted.
When a user sends a new message to an archived or trashed conversation, the conversation is automatically restored to the Inbox.
Trashed conversations are deleted automatically after 30 days.
When a user is deleted, all their conversations and messages are permanently deleted too.
An agent can delete their messages by opening the message menu and clicking Delete.

Reply to a message

You can reply to a message by opening the message’s menu and clicking Reply to. This feature is supported on WhatsApp, Telegram, and Facebook Messenger.

Text editor and automated messages

The text editor of the admin area and automated messages can be used to create stylized messages:

Links formatting: All text links are automatically converted to clickable hyperlinks.
Text formatting: The editor supports standard formatting syntax:
- To make text bold, surround it with *: *your text*.
- To make text italic, surround it with __: __your text__.
- To make text ~~strikethrough~~, surround it with ~: ~your text~.
- To insert a code block, surround it with “`: “`your text“`.
To insert a line break into a message, use the keyboard combination SHIFT + ENTER or CTRL + ENTER.

Merge fields

Merge fields are strings replaced by external values when used (e.g., in automated messages or chatbot messages).

Code	Description
{user_name}	Full name of the active user.
{user_email}	Email of the active user.
{agent_name}	Full name of the active agent.
{agent_email}	Email of the active agent.

Rich messages

Rich messages are special messages with interactive features like buttons, dropdowns, or inputs. They allow an agent to request information from the user or display interactive content. Rich messages can be inserted into a chat message using shortcodes.

How it works:

Create and send: Create a rich message by inserting the shortcode into the text editor of the admin area.
Message is displayed: When a shortcode is used, the user sees the rich message (not the shortcode).
User’s response is submitted: Once the form has been filled out and sent, a success message is shown.

Rich Messages List

Name	Shortcode	Description
Card	[card image=”URL” header=”TITLE” description=”Lorem ipsum…” link=”URL”]	A call-to-action card with an image, title, and link.
Slider	[slider image-1=”URL” header-1=”TITLE” … link-1=”URL” …]	A slider of multiple cards. You can add up to 10 slides.
Slider images	[slider-images images=”URL,URL,URL”]	A slider of images.
Chips / Buttons	[chips options=”A,B,C”] / [buttons options=”A,B,C”]	A list of clickable buttons.
Select	[select options=”A,B,C”]	A dropdown list of options.
Inputs	[inputs values=”A,B,C” button=”Send now”]	A list of text inputs.
Email	[email name=”true” last-name=”true” phone=”true”]	A form to collect the user’s email and phone number.
Timetable	[timetable]	Displays the office hours timetable.
Articles	[articles]	Displays the Knowledge Base articles with a search area.
List	[list values=”A,B,- C,- D,E” numeric=”true”]	A text list. Prefix an item with – to make it an inner item.
Table	[table header=”A,B,C” values=”A:B:C,A:B:C”]	A table.
Button	[button link=”URL” name=”Click here” target=”_blank”]	A single link button.
Video		Displays a YouTube or Vimeo video.
Image	[image url=”URL”]	An image.
Share	[share fb=”URL” tw=”URL” li=”URL” wa=”URL”]	Social share buttons.

Note: If your text includes characters like , or :, you must add a \ before them (e.g., \,).

Global Parameters

All rich messages support global parameters like `title=”ABC”`, `message=”ABC”`, and `success=”ABC”` to add titles and descriptions.

Custom rich messages

You can create your own custom rich messages with custom HTML content by going to Settings > Miscellaneous.

Built-in messages

The built-in messages are pre-programmed messages sent automatically. You can find them by going to Settings > Messages & Forms.

Welcome message

Sends a message to new users when they visit the website for the first time. Supports text formatting, merge fields, and rich messages.

Follow up message

If no agents respond within a specified time, a message will be sent to request the user’s details, such as their email. Supports text formatting and merge fields.

Rating

Displays a feedback form to rate the conversation when it is archived by an agent. This is not compatible with messaging channels (WhatsApp, etc.).

Offline message

Notifies the user when their message is sent outside of the scheduled office hours or if all agents are offline. Supports text formatting and merge fields.

Privacy message

Requires the user to accept a privacy message (for GDPR compliance, etc.) before they can start using the chat.

Pop-up message

Shows a pop-up notification to all users.

Information (Conversations)

Notes

Notes allow agents and admins to add private comments to conversations. These notes are only visible to your team.

Transcript

The full conversation can be sent to the user as a transcript file. Agents can send transcripts by clicking the Transcript button in the conversation window or automatically when the conversation is archived via the Close Message setting.

USERS

Manage users

Manage users from the Users area in the left menu of the admin panel.

Import users

You can import users from Settings > Users > Import users. Only CSV files are supported.

Delete users

You can delete a user by opening their profile and clicking Delete user. To delete multiple users, select them from the Users table and click the top-right Delete icon.

User types

Type	Description
user	A “user” is any user with an email or who has registered.
lead	A “lead” is any user (often from messaging apps) with no email, who is automatically registered, and has at least one conversation.
visitor	A “visitor” is any user who has not started a conversation. Visitors are automatically deleted every 24 hours.

Manage agents and admins

Manage, create, and delete agents and admins from the Users area. Configure their permissions in Settings > Admin > Agent privileges.

Collect user details

You can gather user details, such as their name and email, through various methods:

With a pre-chat form using the registration form.
With the Follow-up message.
With the chatbot flows.

Registration

The registration form is a pre-chat form that can require the user to enter specific information before starting the chat. You can enable this in Settings > Users > Require registration.

Information

New users are automatically displayed in the user table in real time.
To view online users, enable Settings > Users > Register all visitors.
To receive online user notifications, you must enable Settings > Notifications > Online users notification.
Agents and admins can set their status to online or offline from their profile menu. If the Away mode is active, the status is set to offline automatically after 10 minutes of inactivity.

SETTINGS

Office hours

You can set the office hours timetable from Settings > Miscellaneous > Office hours. These hours are used for:

Sending the offline message.
Disabling and hiding the chat during out-of-office hours.
Disabling the chatbot during office hours.

Your UTC offset is generated automatically when you click the field Settings > Miscellaneous > UTF offset.

Articles

Knowledge base articles provide instant answers to customers. You can access them from the Articles menu.

How to display the articles area

The articles can be shown in the chat dashboard by enabling them from Settings > Articles > Display in dashboard.
Articles can be shared in any chat conversation via the rich message shortcode, [articles].

Language and translations

Vera Support is fully multilingual.

Chat language

Go to Settings > Chat and set the Language option to multilingual to automatically use the chat language of the user’s browser or their saved profile language.

Admin language

To translate the admin area, translate the texts in your language from Settings > Translations. To set the admin language, activate the option Settings > Admin > Automatically translate admin area.

Edit and add new translations

You can translate custom content like rich messages, built-in messages, and departments. Go to Settings > Translations to add or edit translations.

Departments

Departments help you distribute conversations and assign agents to specific topics (e.g., “Sales”, “Support”).

Go to Settings > Miscellaneous to add and manage departments.
Go to Users > Agents to assign agents to specific departments.
Agents with no assigned department see all conversations. Agents with an assigned department can only access conversations, users, and agents within that department.

Queue and routing

When the queue (Settings > Miscellaneous > Queue) or routing (Settings > Miscellaneous > Routing) is activated, Vera Support automatically assigns conversations to available agents proportionally.

Only online agents are counted as “available”. Admins are not included and always see all conversations.
Agents must archive a conversation to mark it as completed, which then gives them access to the next conversation in the queue.
The Queue system places users in a waiting line when all agents are busy and shows them their position.
Routing simply distributes new chats to the least busy agent.

Email piping

Email piping lets you sync email addresses to receive messages directly in Vera Support. It also allows you and your users to reply to chat messages via email. You can configure this by entering your IMAP/POP3 email server information in Settings > Notifications > Email piping.

Direct messages

Direct messages allow you to send a single chat message, email, or text message to a single user or several users. You can send messages from the Users area by selecting users and clicking the message icon.

Automations

Automations allow you to run automatic tasks when specific conditions are met (e.g., “IF user visits pricing page 3 times, THEN send pop-up message”).

This allows you to subscribe users to your newsletter service (like Mailchimp) when they provide an email through the chat.

More settings (Saved replies)

Saved replies (canned messages) are pre-written messages that agents can quickly use. Manage them from Settings > Admin > Saved replies. Agents can use them by typing # followed by the reply name.

NOTIFICATIONS

Email notifications

Both agents and users can receive an email notification when a new message is received. We highly recommend configuring your SMTP settings in Settings > Notifications > SMTP to ensure your emails are not marked as spam. Email notifications are sent to agents only if they are offline, and to users only if they are offline.

Push notifications

Push notifications work on desktops and mobile devices (via PWA) and alert you even if the browser is closed. You can activate them for agents in Settings > Notifications > Push notifications.

Desktop notifications

Shows a desktop notification when a new message is received while the browser is running. Activate this in Settings > Notifications.

Text message notifications

This feature requires a Twilio account. It allows you to notify agents and users via SMS. You can configure it in Settings > Notifications > Text message notifications.

Sound notifications

A sound will play when a new message is received. Enable this in Settings > Notifications > Sound settings.

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

These settings are related to the Artificial Intelligence app.

Human takeover

This feature allows a human agent to take over a conversation from a chatbot. This is triggered automatically if the chatbot fails to understand a message, or if the user explicitly asks to speak to a human. This is a critical feature to ensure a good user experience.

Smart Reply

Smart Reply suggests quick responses in real-time to your human agents during a conversation. It helps agents respond faster and more accurately.

Optimal configuration for the chatbot

Activate Artificial Intelligence > Smart Reply.
Activate the following OpenAI settings: Chatbot, Spelling Correction, Rewrite Message Button.
Train your OpenAI chatbot with your own content (see below).
Change the chatbot name from Settings > Users > Bot name.

OPENAI

These settings are related to the Artificial Intelligence app.

Synchronization

Vera Support offers two ways to use OpenAI:

Automatic Sync Mode: This is the easiest method. You purchase Credits from us, and we handle the billing and connection.
Manual Sync Mode: This is for advanced users. You register at platform.openai.com, get your own API key, and enter it into Settings > Artificial Intelligence > OpenAI > API key.

To activate the chatbot, check the Settings > Artificial Intelligence > OpenAI > Chatbot box.

Chatbot

The OpenAI chatbot feature provides automated responses to user messages. You can set the Chatbot mode to “All questions” (responds to anything) or “Only questions related to your sources” (responds only to what you taught it).

Settings

Prompt: This is the most important setting. It instructs the AI on how to behave. (e.g., “You are a friendly assistant for Vera.Support…”).
Spelling correction: Automatically fixes spelling mistakes in an agent’s message.
Message rewrite button: Adds a button to the text editor that rewrites the message to be more professional or friendly.
Speech recognition: Converts audio messages into written text.
Image recognition: Allows the chatbot to analyze and understand images sent by users (requires GPT-4 models).
Source links: The chatbot’s response will include links to the training data or articles it used to generate the answer.
Note data scraping: Automatically extracts key information (like URLs, contact info, or a summary) from a conversation and adds it to the “Notes” panel.

Training

Your chatbot can be trained using your own content. Go to the Chatbot area from the main menu.

Training using files: Upload PDF and TXT files for the bot to learn from.
Training using a website: Enter your website URL (using a sitemap URL is recommended for larger sites) for the bot to crawl and learn.
Training using articles: The bot automatically learns from all articles you create in the Articles section.

Q&A

This section (in Chatbot > Training > Q&A) allows you to train the chatbot by adding specific questions and answers. This is the best way to ensure the bot gives a precise, controlled answer to common questions.

Flows

Flows (in Chatbot > Flows) allow you to create step-by-step visual conversation guides. Use them to lead a user through a process, like booking an appointment or troubleshooting a problem, using a drag-and-drop editor.

TICKETS

The Tickets app provides a formal, panel-based interface for support instead of a pop-up chat.

Display the tickets area

To display the tickets area, include your chat embed code on your page and add &mode=tickets to the script URL. You can also make it appear by inserting the code <script>SB_TICKETS = true;</script> into any page showing the chat.

Information

The tickets area is compatible with most chat settings.
To protect your ticket form from spam, it is highly recommended to enable reCaptcha in the Settings > Tickets tab by entering your Google reCaptcha keys.

Allows your users to contact you via WhatsApp.

Installation

Go to Settings > WhatsApp and click “Synchronize now” (for automatic sync) or follow the manual setup instructions. The automatic mode is easiest and will guide you through connecting your Meta Business Account and phone number.

Templates

Due to WhatsApp’s policies, you cannot send marketing messages to a user after 24 hours. To do this, you must use a pre-approved Message Template. You can send these templates to multiple users via the Users > Direct Message feature.

MESSENGER & INSTAGRAM

Installation

Go to Settings > Apps > Messenger and click “Synchronize now”. A Meta (Facebook) pop-up will guide you through connecting your Facebook Pages and linked Instagram Business accounts.

Installation

Go to the Telegram app and search for the official @BotFather. Use the /newbot command to create a bot and get an API token. Paste this token into Settings > Telegram and click “Synchronize now”.

SLACK

Synchronization

Go to Settings > Apps > Slack and click “Synchronize now”. This allows your team to receive and respond to user messages directly from within your Slack channels.

MISCELLANEOUS

Progressive Web App (PWA)

The Vera Support admin area is a PWA. This means you can “install” it on your desktop or mobile home screen and use it like a native app for faster access.

Keyboard shortcuts

The admin panel supports keyboard shortcuts. For example, use SHIFT + ENTER to add a line break in a message, or CTRL + UP/DOWN ARROW to navigate between conversations.

URL parameters

You can add parameters to your site’s URL to perform actions. For example, `https://example.com/?chat=open` will automatically open the chat widget.

Calendly

You can send a Calendly booking invitation by using the [button] rich message. (e.g., `[button link=”httpsScreen” name=”Schedule a meeting”]`)

Zapier

You can use Zapier to connect Vera Support to thousands of other apps. To set it up, go to Settings > Miscellaneous > Webhooks, get the URL from Zapier’s “Webhooks by Zapier” app, and paste it into the URL field.

Security

Your account is protected by IP banning (blocking an IP after 10 failed login attempts) and protection against XSS and CSRF attacks.

Performance

You can improve performance by enabling Minify JS and Archive old messages in Settings > Miscellaneous > Performance optimization.

GETTING STARTED

Installation

Optimal configuration

Having problems?

Chat widget not displaying

Conversations are not visible to administrators or agents

CONVERSATIONS

Manage conversations

Search for conversations

Information

Reply to a message

Text editor and automated messages

Merge fields

Rich messages

How it works:

Rich Messages List

Global Parameters

Custom rich messages

Built-in messages

Welcome message

Follow up message

Rating

Offline message

Privacy message

Pop-up message

Information (Conversations)

Tags

Notes

Transcript

USERS

Manage users

Import users

Delete users

User types

Manage agents and admins

Collect user details

Registration

Information

SETTINGS

Office hours

Articles

How to display the articles area

Language and translations

Chat language

Admin language

Edit and add new translations

Departments

Queue and routing

Email piping

Direct messages

Automations

Newsletter

More settings (Saved replies)

NOTIFICATIONS

Email notifications

Push notifications

Desktop notifications

Text message notifications

Sound notifications

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

Human takeover

Smart Reply

Optimal configuration for the chatbot

OPENAI

Synchronization

Chatbot

Settings

Training

Q&A

Flows

TICKETS

Display the tickets area

Information

WHATSAPP

Installation

Templates

MESSENGER & INSTAGRAM

Installation

TELEGRAM

Installation