# Transfers & Takeovers

{% hint style="info" %}
Conversation transfers require the Lite plan or above.
{% endhint %}

{% hint style="warning" %}
Requires the **Transfer and takeover livechats/tickets they manage** permissions.
{% endhint %}

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## Purpose

Livechats and tickets are assigned to one user at a time, referred to as the Assignee. This helps with new message notifications, logs, and various filters throughout the platform.

It's common to transfer or takeover a conversation for reasons like escalations and shift changes, during which the Assignee is changed.

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## Background

All chats begin when a person speaks with an AI agent. See [Human Handoff](https://documentation.proto.cx/docs/modules/ai-agents/workflows-and-actions/human-handoff) and [Chat Assignment](https://documentation.proto.cx/docs/settings/teamspaces/chat-assignment) for details on how the AI agent transfers a chat to a live agent (the initial Assignee), after which the chat can be transferred or taken over between live agents.

All tickets are created by an AI agent or a user/live agent, who must assign it to someone (the initial Assignee). After creation, the ticket can be transferred to or taken over by other live agents.

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## Transfer to Live Agent

When you're the current Assignee, you can transfer a conversation to a new Assignee:

1. In the Inbox, open the **conversation** you wish to transfer.
2. In the **message editor**, select <img src="https://849782063-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FXEtIIGTPyKf3CFAsNTzZ%2Fuploads%2FGmVyiKjI5Hc8d3ZyEqFn%2FSize%3D48%2C%20Theme%3DRegular.png?alt=media&#x26;token=9633c5e9-9cb6-4ee2-9431-0d80e7015082" alt="" data-size="line"> and choose either:
   * **Transfer** — to any other permitted user.
   * **Transfer teams** — to a new team, where [Chat Assignment](https://documentation.proto.cx/docs/settings/teamspaces/chat-assignment) rules determine how the conversation is assigned to one of its members.
3. Select the new **Assignee** or **Team**.
4. Press **Transfer** to complete.

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## Takeover from Live Agent

When you're *not* the current Assignee and have takeover permissions, you can manually make yourself the Assignee:

1. In the Inbox, open the **conversation** you wish to takeover.
2. In the **message editor**, draft the next reply to the person in the conversation.
3. Press **Takeover & Send**. You are now the Assignee of the conversation, and will get notifications for its inbound messages.

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## Transfer Chat back to AI Agent

If the current Assignee sets the chat conversation's **status** to **Closed**, the chat thread is automatically assigned back to the AI agent [that it came from](https://documentation.proto.cx/docs/modules/ai-agents/workflows-and-actions/human-handoff).