How to Set Up Automatic Ticket Closing and Cleanup
Keep your ticket queue clean by automatically closing inactive tickets, trashing old closed tickets, and permanently deleting stale data. This is a Pro feature.
Overview
The Auto-Close system provides a three-stage automated lifecycle for tickets:
Active Ticket (no customer response)
|
X days pass
|
v
Auto-Closed
|
X days pass
|
v
Auto-Trashed
|
X days pass
|
v
Permanently Deleted
Each stage is independently configurable and can be enabled or disabled separately.
Configuration
Go to Support Genix > Settings > Auto Close.
Stage 1: Auto-Close Inactive Tickets
Automatically close tickets when the customer hasn’t responded for a specified number of days.
| Setting | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Enable Auto-Close | Turn the feature on/off | Off |
| Close After (days) | Number of days of inactivity before closing | 30 |
| Exclude Tags | Tickets with these tags will never be auto-closed | None |
How it works:
- The system checks the date of the last customer reply.
- If the customer hasn’t responded in X days, the ticket status changes to Closed.
- Only tickets in Active, In Progress, or Inactive status are affected.
- Already closed, trashed, or deleted tickets are not affected.
Tag Exclusion:
Select tags that should be exempt from auto-closing. This is useful for:
- VIP or priority tickets that should stay open indefinitely.
- Ongoing/recurring issues that don’t have a fixed resolution.
- Tickets tagged as “waiting-on-vendor” or similar.
Stage 2: Auto-Trash Closed Tickets
Automatically move closed tickets to trash after they’ve been closed for a specified number of days.
| Setting | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Enable Auto-Trash | Turn the feature on/off | Off |
| Trash After (days) | Number of days after closing before trashing | 30 |
How it works:
- The system checks how long a ticket has been in the Closed status.
- After X days, the ticket is moved to Trashed status.
- Trashed tickets can still be restored manually.
Stage 3: Auto-Delete Trashed Tickets
Permanently delete trashed tickets after they’ve been in the trash for a specified number of days.
| Setting | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Enable Auto-Delete | Turn the feature on/off | Off |
| Delete After (days) | Number of days in trash before permanent deletion | 30 |
How it works:
- The system checks how long a ticket has been in the Trashed status.
- After X days, the ticket and all associated data (replies, notes, attachments, logs) are permanently removed from the database.
- This action is irreversible.
Example Configurations
Conservative (Keep Data Longer)
| Stage | Days |
|---|---|
| Auto-Close | 60 days |
| Auto-Trash | 90 days |
| Auto-Delete | 180 days |
Total time before permanent deletion: 330 days (~11 months)
Standard
| Stage | Days |
|---|---|
| Auto-Close | 30 days |
| Auto-Trash | 30 days |
| Auto-Delete | 30 days |
Total time before permanent deletion: 90 days (~3 months)
Aggressive (Clean Queue Fast)
| Stage | Days |
|---|---|
| Auto-Close | 7 days |
| Auto-Trash | 14 days |
| Auto-Delete | 30 days |
Total time before permanent deletion: 51 days
Close Only (No Auto-Delete)
| Stage | Enabled |
|---|---|
| Auto-Close | Yes (30 days) |
| Auto-Trash | No |
| Auto-Delete | No |
Tickets are auto-closed but never automatically trashed or deleted. Manual cleanup required.
Important Notes
- Minimum interval: 1 day for all settings.
- Processing schedule: The cleanup runs periodically via WordPress cron tasks.
- Customer notifications: Customers are not specifically notified about auto-close. However, standard status change email notifications apply if configured.
- Excluded tags: Only apply to the auto-close stage. Auto-trash and auto-delete apply to all closed/trashed tickets regardless of tags.
- Reopening: If a customer replies to an auto-closed ticket (and the setting allows it), the ticket reopens normally and the auto-close timer resets.