Learning paths — which chapters to watch, by role

Ref: overview-paths · Track: Get Started · Time to complete: ~5 min

Why this matters

With 53 articles across four tracks, knowing where to start matters. This article maps each role to the specific chapters they need — in the order that makes sense — so you can get productive without reading everything.

How to use this

1. Find the path that matches the person you are onboarding.
2. Work through the chapters in the order listed — each builds on the one before.
3. Each chapter takes 3–10 minutes (video + article + one hands-on action in Zendesk).
4. Path 1 is a prerequisite for all other agent paths.

Path 1 — Agent Day 1 (Support only, ~45 min)

For a brand-new agent whose job on day one is handling email and web-form tickets.

1. Logging in and the home dashboard
2. The top bar: Add menu, search, recently viewed
3. Your views — the agent's inbox
4. Anatomy of a ticket
5. Public reply vs internal note
6. Assigning tickets — take vs assign
7. Ticket statuses explained — the "tennis game"
8. SLAs — first reply, next reply, solve
9. Using macros to reply faster
10. Search and recently viewed tickets

After Path 1 the agent can safely work a real queue of email tickets under supervision.

Path 2 — Multi-channel agent, week 1 (~90 min total, do after Path 1)

For an agent who will take phone calls, messaging, and email.

1. Setting your online status for Talk
2. Answer your first phone call in Talk
3. Warm transfer — introduce before handing over
4. Outbound calls and calling back from a ticket
5. Voicemails and queue wait time
6. Abandoned calls — handling them per line
7. The email channel end-to-end
8. Messaging — chatting with a customer in real time
9. Channel switching — answer via email from a chat ticket
10. Chat macros vs email macros
11. Side conversations via email
12. Side conversations via Slack or Teams
13. Customer callbacks requested from phone tree

After Path 2 the agent can work any live channel assigned to them.

Path 3 — Team lead / supervisor (~60 min, do after Paths 1 + 2)

For the person who watches live dashboards, reassigns tickets, and coaches agents.

1. Filtering and bulk-updating tickets
2. Agent collision detection
3. Follow-up tickets vs reopens
4. Bump-bump-solve — chasing quiet customers
5. Merging duplicate tickets and merging users
6. Omnichannel routing and capacity rules
7. Explore — the Support dashboard
8. Drilling into custom fields in reports
9. Scheduling and sharing dashboards
10. Live dashboards for Talk

Path 4 — Knowledge Base admin onboarding (~75 min)

For the person who owns the help center. No agent path required first.

1. Why have a knowledge base?
2. How the knowledge base is structured
3. Creating and editing an article
4. Review statuses and publishing rules
5. Content tags vs labels
6. Previewing as anonymous, end user, agent, admin
7. The "book" — managing all your content
8. Controlling access at the article level

Path 5 — Knowledge Base admin, advanced (~60 min, do after Path 4)

For the admin who is ready to run the help center like a product.

1. User segments — partner-only or VIP-only content
2. Bulk-updating up to 30 articles at a time
3. Article verification — keeping content current
4. Content moderation and comments
5. Themes, versions, and Copenhagen
6. Content blocks — reusable snippets
7. Using your sandbox to experiment safely
8. Scheduled publishing for product launches
9. Archived articles and article history
10. Brand switching in the help center
11. Global KB settings — require sign-in, unsafe content, GA

Path 6 — Agents who use the KB inside tickets (~20 min, do after Path 1)

Short add-on for agents who will also contribute to or surface knowledge base articles.

1. Why have a knowledge base?
2. How the knowledge base is structured
3. Using macros to reply faster (refresher)
4. Knowledge Capture inside a ticket

Path 7 — Reporting and admin-lite (~45 min)

For the operations person who owns the numbers but doesn't handle tickets.

1. Logging in and the home dashboard
2. SLAs — first reply, next reply, solve
3. Omnichannel routing and capacity rules
4. Explore — the Support dashboard
5. Drilling into custom fields in reports
6. Scheduling and sharing dashboards
7. Live dashboards for Talk

Path selector — "I am a…"

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