--- title: "Ferry Desk: the helpdesk inside your Shopify admin" description: "Ferry Desk is a customer support helpdesk for Shopify stores. Email and storefront chat land in one shared inbox inside the Shopify admin, next to the customer’s orders, so your team can refund, cancel or add tracking without leaving the conversation." url: "https://ferrydesk.io" --- # Ferry Desk: Answer customers with the order already open. > Ferry Desk is a customer support helpdesk for Shopify stores. Email and storefront chat land in one shared inbox inside the Shopify admin, next to the customer’s orders, so your team can refund, cancel or add tracking without leaving the conversation. Ferry Desk is a helpdesk that runs inside your Shopify admin. Email and storefront chat land in one shared inbox, right next to the customer’s orders, so your team can refund, cancel or add tracking without switching tabs. ## Features ### Email and chat in one shared inbox Every customer email and storefront chat becomes a conversation your whole team can see, assign and resolve from the Shopify admin. Details: [Shared inbox](https://ferrydesk.io/features/shared-inbox.md) ### Every conversation becomes a task on one board Switch the inbox to a board and see all support work in one screen, from new to done, with who owns each conversation and how long the customer has waited. Details: [Board](https://ferrydesk.io/features/board.md) ### Live chat that looks like your store Add a chat bubble to your Online Store theme with an app embed, styled from the theme editor with no code. Details: [Storefront chat](https://ferrydesk.io/features/storefront-chat.md) ### Refund, cancel and add tracking without leaving the thread Attach the order a customer is writing about, then act on it from the order panel beside the conversation. Details: [Orders in the conversation](https://ferrydesk.io/features/orders.md) ### Answer common questions the moment they arrive Describe the questions customers ask most and write your answer once. The assistant recognizes them in context and replies right away, using the customer's real order details. Details: [Automatic replies](https://ferrydesk.io/features/auto-replies.md) ### Saved replies, suggested at the right moment Keep your best answers as saved replies with customer and order variables, and let Ferry Desk suggest the right one as each new message comes in. Details: [Saved replies](https://ferrydesk.io/features/saved-replies.md) ### Reply time SLAs your team can see at a glance Set how long a customer can wait before a conversation needs attention, is in danger or is critical. Waiting times change color across the inbox and board as each threshold passes. Details: [Reply time SLAs](https://ferrydesk.io/features/reply-time-alerts.md) ### Drafts, priorities and answers that read the room Optional AI help that drafts replies in your tones, flags urgent messages and suggests tags, while your team stays in control. Details: [AI assistance](https://ferrydesk.io/features/ai-assist.md) ### Support customers in their language Ferry Desk detects the language of each customer message and translates it into the language your team works in. Details: [Translation](https://ferrydesk.io/features/translation.md) ### Stay on top of support from anywhere in Shopify Notifications for mentions, assignments and watched conversations, and a Sidekick that can search and report on your inbox. Details: [Notifications and Sidekick](https://ferrydesk.io/features/team.md) ## Also included - **Tags that survive renames.** Tag conversations from the inbox or the thread, filter by tag, and rename a tag without breaking saved views. - **Saved views and full-text search.** Save the filters you use every day and search every message, including the translated text. - **Undo send.** Every reply waits a few seconds before it goes out, so a typo or the wrong attachment can be pulled back. - **Attachments both ways.** Customers attach photos in email or chat, and your team attaches files to replies and internal notes. - **Privacy requests handled.** Shopify customer data and redaction requests are handled automatically, without manual cleanup. - **Desktop notifications.** Get a browser notification for mentions, assignments and replies on the conversations you watch. ## Getting started 1. **Install Ferry Desk in your Shopify admin.** It opens as an embedded app, so your staff sign in with the Shopify accounts they already have. 2. **Forward your support email.** Settings shows a private forwarding address. Forward your support mailbox to it and new emails become conversations. Replies go out under your store’s name. 3. **Turn on the chat in your theme.** Enable the Ferry Desk chat app embed in the theme editor, then pick light or dark, colors, corner roundness and position to match your store. ## Frequently asked questions ### What is Ferry Desk? Ferry Desk is a customer support helpdesk built for Shopify merchants. It runs inside the Shopify admin and puts email and live chat conversations in one shared inbox, with each customer’s orders shown beside the conversation. ### Which channels does Ferry Desk support? Email and storefront live chat. Email arrives by forwarding your existing support address. Chat is added to your Online Store theme as an app embed, with no code changes. ### Can my team refund or cancel an order from a conversation? Yes. Attach the order to the conversation and the order panel lets your team refund, cancel with a note, or add tracking information, all from the conversation. ### Can we track conversations like tasks? Yes. Switch the inbox to a board and every conversation becomes a card. Drag cards between columns you define, assign them, set due dates and see how long each customer has waited, all on one screen. Moving a card to Done resolves the conversation. ### Can Ferry Desk answer customers automatically? Yes, for the topics you choose. Describe a common question in one sentence and write your answer with order variables. The assistant replies right away when a new conversation matches, once per conversation and never after a teammate has replied. ### Can we set response time targets? Yes. Reply time SLAs let you choose when a waiting conversation needs attention, is in danger and is critical. Waiting times change color in the inbox and on the board as each threshold passes. ### Do customers need an account to chat? No. Signed-in customers are recognized automatically. Guests can start a chat right away, or you can require an email address first in Settings. If a chat reply goes unseen and the customer left an email, Ferry Desk follows up by email. ### Does Ferry Desk use AI? Optionally. It can draft replies in tones you define, set priority from the customer’s tone, suggest tags and saved replies, answer common questions automatically and translate messages. Each feature can be turned off in Settings, and automatic priority never overrides a priority your team set by hand. ### Can I support customers who write in other languages? Yes. Ferry Desk detects the language of each customer message and translates it into the language your team works in. Search also finds conversations by their translated text. ### Does Ferry Desk work with Shopify Sidekick? Yes. Ask Sidekick to find conversations by customer, order, status or tag, read recent messages, or report on open, unassigned and overdue work. ### How do I get started? Ferry Desk is in early access. Email hello@ferrydesk.io and we will set up your store. ## Contact Email hello@ferrydesk.io to get early access.