What is the Conversation ID

Every conversation in Atender already has a unique internal ID — the value in the URL when you open it. Conversation ID is a separate, customer-facing identifier you can switch on when you want a short, readable reference number that customers can quote back to you.

When it’s on, every new conversation gets an ID assigned at creation time. You decide what the ID looks like — a prefix, a date, a sequential or random suffix — and where it shows up.

When to turn it on

Most teams running modern, conversational support don’t need a ticket number. The conversation is the reference; customers reply in the same email thread, and Atender threads it.

Conversation IDs earn their keep when:

• Customers expect to receive a reference number (regulated industries, financial services, government)
• Multiple teams or systems handle the same case and need a shared identifier
• Customers call in and need to give you something short to look up — “I have ticket SUP-251225-001”
• Your business processes (returns, claims, RMAs) require a paper-trail identifier

If none of those apply, leave it off — it adds noise without adding value.

What the ID can look like

You assemble the ID from up to four pieces:

1. Prefix — optional. Free-text label like SUP, TKT, CONV. Can be overridden per channel or per team.
2. Date — optional. Pick a format: YYMMDD, YYYYMMDD, DDMMYY, or MMDDYY.
3. Sequence — required. Either:
   Sequential — a counter (0001, 0002, 0003, …) starting from whatever value you set
   Random — a 4-to-12 character mix of letters and numbers (A7B3X9, KZ4M2P, …)
4. Separator — the character that joins the pieces together. Defaults to -.

Example combinations:

• Prefix only + sequential → SUP-0001, SUP-0002, SUP-0003
• Prefix + date + sequential → TKT-251225-0001
• Date + random → 251225-A7B3X9
• No prefix, sequential only → 0001, 0002

A Live Preview panel at the top of Settings shows what the ID will look like as you tweak the configuration.

Where the ID shows up

Two display surfaces, each toggled independently:

• Show ID in Header — the conversation header in Atender displays the ID next to the customer’s name
• Show ID in Email Subject — outgoing emails automatically include the ID in brackets in the subject line, either at the end (Re: Help with my order [SUP-0001]) or after Re: (Re: [SUP-0001] Help with my order)

The email-subject placement matters for threading. Putting the ID at the end is the industry standard and plays nicely with most email clients. Putting it after Re: is more visible but can look unusual.

Per-channel and per-team prefix overrides

The default prefix applies to every conversation. If different channels or teams need different prefixes (e.g., SUP- for the support team, SALES- for the sales team), you can override.

• No Override — every conversation gets the default prefix
• Channel-Specific — pick a prefix per channel (email, web-chat, sms, whatsapp, facebook, instagram, voice, amazon)
• Team-Specific — pick a prefix per team

You can only use one override mode at a time. Channels or teams without an explicit override fall back to the default prefix.

What changes affect existing conversations

Switching the format affects new conversations only. Existing conversations keep the IDs they were assigned at creation time — those don’t retroactively change.

The Start Number for sequential IDs is a real reset, though: changing it sets the counter to the new value, so the next new conversation gets that number. Be careful not to set a value that would collide with existing IDs.

See also

• Configure conversation IDs