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Use AI to draft replies and summaries

By Jon Henshaw2 min readUpdated

Inside a ticket, agents can ask AI to draft a reply from the thread so far, or summarize a long thread into a private note. Both need an AI provider connected by the workspace owner, but once connected, both are available to any agent — not just the owner.

Where it appears

  • Open any ticket to view the conversation. In the composer, while Reply (not Note) is selected, a ✨ Generate reply button appears above the editor, next to + Template.
  • Below the editor, a ✨ Summarize button appears alongside the Done / Send + Close / Send controls.
  • Both buttons only appear once the workspace has a connected AI provider (see “Connect an AI provider”). They’re not shown otherwise, and — unlike the Settings page that configures the connection — they’re usable by any agent or admin, not owner-restricted.

Draft a reply

  1. Open the ticket you’re replying to and make sure Reply (not Note) is selected above the composer.
  2. Click ✨ Generate reply. The button reads “Generating…” while it works.
  3. The draft is inserted into the editor: if the editor is empty, it replaces it; if you’d already started typing, the draft is inserted alongside what you wrote rather than overwriting it.
  4. Review and edit the draft like any other reply, then send it as usual — nothing is sent to the customer automatically.

Summarize a thread

  1. In the ticket, click ✨ Summarize below the composer (it reads “Summarizing…” while it works).
  2. This posts a private AI-generated note summarizing the thread — customers never see it, and it’s excluded from what future triage and draft-reply calls read, so summaries can’t feed on themselves.

Edge cases

  • Both actions are disabled while a send or another AI action is already in progress, and disabled entirely if no AI provider is connected.
  • The Anthropic-only Instructions / knowledge base (Markdown) field under Settings → AI → AI features — agent-only internal guidance covering product details, common issues, and tone — is included in what the model reads for these actions when Anthropic is the selected provider, but it’s never shown to the customer.

Privacy: generating a reply or a summary sends the ticket thread to your workspace’s selected AI provider. There’s no separate toggle for this feature — it follows directly from having a provider connected.

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Source: https://help.essential.support/ai-automation/use-ai-to-draft-replies-and-summaries/