Timeline Widget: Columns, Sorting and Column Filters
The columns on the left of a Timeline widget turn each agent's row into numbers you can work with. Some columns total up the dashboard's date range (Time on calls, Tickets solved, Time in Lunch). Others show what the agent is doing right now (Current status, Time in current status, Current work state). Sort by any column, and filter on any column, to find the rows you care about in seconds.
Use them to answer questions like who has been on break for more than an hour?, who is on a call right now?, or who spent the most time in Lunch today?
New to the Timeline widget? Start with Timeline Widget: See What Every Agent Was Doing, Minute by Minute, which covers adding a timeline, its metrics and reading it.
Before you start
You need a Timeline widget on a dashboard. See the article linked above.
To add or remove columns, you need permission to edit the dashboard.
Anyone who can view the dashboard can sort and filter. When someone who can edit the dashboard sorts or filters, it is saved with the widget for everyone. Anyone else's sort and filters last until they leave the page.
Step 1: Add the columns you need
Open the dashboard and click Edit.
Click the Configure timeline icon in the widget's top bar (or the + after the last column header).
In the middle panel, each metric on the timeline lists the columns it offers under Columns. Click one to add it (a tick means it is already on). The Columns panel on the right shows them in order: drag to reorder, or click × to remove.
Click Save.
There are two kinds of column:
Totals add up the dashboard's date range: counts such as Calls or Tickets solved, and times such as Time on calls. The unified agent statuses metric also offers a Time in <status> column for every status your account has, for example Time in Lunch or Time in Training. Statuses with the same name share one column.
"Now" columns, marked NOW in the window, show what each row is doing at the moment the timeline last refreshed:
Metric | "Now" columns you can add |
Unified agent statuses | Current status, Time in current status, Current availability |
Default Zendesk statuses | Current Messaging / Talk / Email status, Time in current Messaging / Talk / Email status, Online statuses open now |
Work item statuses (calls, chats) | Current work state, Time in current work state, Time since last call ended, Messaging sessions open now |
Scheduled activities | Scheduled now, Time into scheduled activity, Time left in scheduled activity |
Messaging chats | Chats open now, Oldest open chat age, Time since last chat started, Time since last chat ended |
Ticket assignments and status changes | Tickets assigned now, Oldest open assignment age, Time since last ticket status change, Time since last solve |
Zendesk replies and internal notes, Messaging messages sent | Time since last public reply, Time since last comment, Time since last message |
Organization metrics | Time since last ticket, Time since last customer email, Time since last agent reply |
When the current work state is shown, the more important activity wins: an agent on a call while a messaging session is open shows the call.
A "now" column only makes sense when the date range includes the present. If the dashboard's date range ends in the past (for example Yesterday), "now" columns are left empty and hovering their header says Live only.
Step 2: Sort by a column
Click a column header to sort by it. Click it again to flip between highest first and lowest first (A to Z and Z to A for names and statuses). The chip above the table names the current sort, for example Sorted by Time in current status, highest first; click it to scroll the columns back to that one.
Every column is ready to sort as soon as the rows appear, even while the timeline is still drawing the detail for each row.
Step 3: Filter on a column
Every column header has a funnel button. Click it to set a rule for that column, then click Apply. The editor fits the column:
Status columns (such as Current status or Current work state): tick the values to keep. Each status shows in its colour, Search narrows a long list, and No value keeps rows with nothing in that column. A row matches if its value is any of the ones ticked.
Time columns (such as Time in current status or Time on calls): choose More than, Less than, Exactly or Between, enter a number, and pick seconds, minutes or hours.
Count columns (such as Tickets solved): the same choices, without a unit.
The name column (Agent or Organization): keep the rows whose name contains the text you type. Upper and lower case don't matter.
Filters apply at once to the rows already on screen, without reloading the timeline. Add rules on as many columns as you need (up to 12): a row is shown only when it matches all of them. Filters and sort work together, so you can filter to the agents on break and then sort them by how long they have been there.
What done looks like
The toolbar shows how many rows match, for example Showing 16 of 60 agents, and one chip per rule. Click the × on a chip to remove that rule, or Clear filters to remove them all. A filtered column's funnel is highlighted, so you can see which columns are filtering.
Filters keep working as the timeline refreshes. With auto-refresh on, the rows that match change as agents change status, and the rule stays in place.
Saved for everyone, when you can edit. If you can edit the dashboard, your filters and sort are saved with the widget, so everyone who opens the dashboard sees the same view. Otherwise they are yours until you leave the page.
Zooming keeps the columns. When you click a summary bar to zoom in, the timeline narrows what it draws, but the columns, the rows and their order still cover the dashboard's whole date range.
Troubleshooting
A filter chip is marked and the filter isn't applied. The rule is on a "now" column, and the dashboard's date range doesn't include the present. The rule is set aside rather than emptying the table, and it applies again when you switch to a range that includes now (for example Today or Last 24 hours).
A "now" column says Live only, or is empty. The same cause: pick a date range that includes now.
Showing 0 of … rows. No row matches every rule at once. Remove a chip, or widen one of the rules.
I can't add a 13th filter. A timeline holds up to 12 rules. Remove one first.
My filters disappeared when I came back. Only people who can edit the dashboard save filters with the widget. Ask an editor to set the filters you need, or to give you edit access.
A column I want isn't offered. Each column belongs to a metric. Add that metric to the timeline in Configure timeline first, and its columns appear under it.