--- title: "Manage Departments" slug: "departments" updated: 2026-08-07T14:27:25Z published: 2026-08-07T14:27:25Z canonical: "docs.rocket.chat/departments" excludeFromExternalSearch: true --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.rocket.chat/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Manage Departments An Omnichannel Department is a core organizational feature that can be tailored to represent diverse units in your organization. This feature is essential when there are incoming chats originating from various communication channels, requiring expertise from diverse departments or specialized knowledge experts. Using departments is critical for ensuring your visitors are always connected to the most appropriate and knowledgeable agent. **Key features of Omnichannel departments** 1. **Directing conversations to a department**: Visitors can select the specific department they want to engage with, sending their inquiry directly to the right team. 2. **Agent assignment:** Managers can assign agents to specific departments, ensuring that conversations requiring specialized knowledge are routed to the most appropriate experts. To access the **Department** menu, go to **Manage** ![Screenshot 2025-12-23 130522.png](https://cdn.us.document360.io/6ae79a05-7252-45d0-96e8-8f375e07b1b2/Images/Documentation/Screenshot%202025-12-23%20130522.png) **> Omnichannel > Departments**. You can **View**, **Create New**, **Edit,** or **Delete** a department. --- ## Create Omnichannel department To create a new department: 1. Click the **Create Department** button at the top of the **Departments** page. 2. Toggle the **Enable** option to activate the department immediately. You can leave it disabled if you’re not ready to use it yet. 3. Fill in the following department details: | Field | Description | | --- | --- | | **Name******* | Enter a name for the new department. | | **Description** | Provide a brief description of the department’s function. | | **Show on the registration page** | Enable this option to display the department on the [livechat widget](/v1/docs/livechat-widget-installation), allowing visitors to select it when initiating a chat. | | **Email******* | Enter an email address to receive messages during offline hours. | | **Show on offline page** | Enable this option to display the department during offline hours. | | **Send this department's Livechat offline messages to a channel** | Select a channel where offline messages should be directed. | | **Max. number of simultaneous chats** | Enter the maximum number of simultaneous chats that agents in this department can attend. The order of priority is **agent-level limit > global limit > department limit.** 1. If you have set a value for the [**Max. number of simultaneous chats** field at the global level](/v1/docs/omnichannel-admins-guide#queue-management-settings), the agent-level limit takes precedence over the global limit. 2. If you have set a value for the [**Max. number of simultaneous chats** field for departments](/v1/docs/departments#create-omnichannel-department), the agent-level limit and global limit (if set) take precedence. 3. If these limit settings are not defined, there is no limit to the number of chats an agent can attend when they are available | | **How long to wait to consider visitor abandonment?** | Enter the time (in seconds) to wait before considering visitor abandonment. | | **Custom message when the room is automatically closed by visitor inactivity** | Enter the custom message to be displayed when a room is automatically closed due to visitor abandonment. | | **Waiting queue message** | Enter the waiting queue message that is displayed to visitors when they are waiting to chat with an agent. | | **List of departments allowed for forwarding (Optional)** | Select the list of departments that can receive chats from this department. This list appears to the users if the **Show on the registration page** option is enabled for those departments. Note that agents must be assigned to the departments. | | **Fallback department for forwarding** | Select a fallback department for forwarding messages. | | **Unit** | Select business [units](/v1/docs/units) to associate with the department. This field is useful when monitors need to specify a unit for the departments. Keep the following points in mind: - Monitors can only select units that they are part of. - Once a department has been created, the **Unit** field cannot be modified. - This field is optional if the user creating or editing the department has the `manage-livechat-units` permission. - This field is optional if the user has no business units assigned to them. - This field is required if the user does not have the `manage-livechat-units` permission and they are assigned to business units. | | **Request tag(s) before closing the conversation** | Enable this option for your agents to set [tags](/v1/docs/tags) for the conversation for searching and tracking. | | **Allow department to receive forwarded inquiries even when there's no available agents** | Enable this setting to ensure that inquiries are forwarded to a department even when no agents are available within that department. This feature is specifically effective with [automatic assignment routing methods](/v1/docs/queue-types-routing-algorithm#auto-selection) and does not apply to [manual selection](/v1/docs/queue-types-routing-algorithm#manual-selection). | | **Business Hour** | The field is automatically populated according to the departments assigned to the [business hours](/v1/docs/business-hours). | | **Agents** | Assign [agents](/v1/docs/agents) to the department. When adding agents to a department, you can configure their **Order** to control how incoming chats are routed. The server also tracks an automated **Count** to help balance the workload. - **Count**: The number of chats in the department that are assigned to the agent. This value is maintained automatically by the server as chats are assigned, so you don’t need to edit it. When auto-assignment routing is used, new chats are assigned to the available agent with the lowest count, helping distribute chats evenly across the team. - **Order**: Determines which agent receives the next chat when multiple agents in the department have the same chat count. Agents with lower order values are assigned chats first. For example, if two agents each have 3 chats, the agent with Order 1 is selected before the agent with Order 2.. Use this if you want certain agents (e.g. senior staff) consistently prioritized, independent of how many chats they've handled. These settings do not override **Max. number of simultaneous chats limits**. An agent who has reached their maximum concurrent chats is treated as unavailable regardless of their count or order. | 1. Click **Save**. > [!NOTE] > - Community workspaces from version `6.0` and above can only create one department. The **multiple department** feature is exclusively available to workspaces subscribed to the [Enterprise plan](/v1/docs/our-plans). > - Workspaces with multiple departments on versions less than 6.0 can continue using their departments but can't create a new one until they're subscribed to the [Enterprise plan](/v1/docs/our-plans). --- ## Edit Omnichannel department To modify an existing department: 1. On the **Departments** screen, click the kebab menu (:) next to the department. 2. Then, select **Edit**. A panel displays all the current omnichannel department information you can modify. 3. Update the department details and click **Save**. --- ## Archive Omnichannel department If a department is no longer needed but you want to retain it for future use, you can archive it. To archive a department: - On the **Departments** screen, click the kebab menu (:) next to the department you want to archive. - Select **Archive**. The department will move to the **Archived** tab. To unarchive a department: - Navigate to the **Archived** tab. - From the list of archived departments, click the kebab menu right next to the department you want to unarchive. - Select **Unarchive**. The department will be moved back to the list of active departments. > [!NOTE] > For community workspaces below version `6.0` with multiple departments, archiving a department allows you to temporarily disable it without losing it, which helps you avoid exceeding your department limit. --- ## Delete Omnichannel department To delete a department: - On the **Departments** screen, click the kebab menu (:) next to the department. - Select **Delete**. > [!NOTE] > By default, the option to delete departments is disabled. To enable it and allow department deletion, workspace admins must enable the **Enable department removal** setting from **Manage** ![Screenshot 2025-12-23 130522.png](https://cdn.us.document360.io/6ae79a05-7252-45d0-96e8-8f375e07b1b2/Images/Documentation/Screenshot%202025-12-23%20130522.png) **> Settings > Omnichannel**. --- ## Chat routing behavior based on department The number of active departments in your workspace influences how incoming chats are assigned in Omnichannel: - **No departments**: All agents receive incoming chats using a round-robin rule. - **One department**: All incoming chats are only assigned to agents in that department using a round-robin rule. - **Multiple departments**: The visitor must select the department to handle their chat during registration. Rocket.Chat offers omnichannel departments to categorize conversations, enabling timely responses and improving visitor satisfaction and retention. ## Next steps Your departments are now ready. Optionally, the next step in building your Omnichannel structure is to set up [Units](/v1/docs/units) and define [Business Hours](/v1/docs/business-hours).