> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.clearfeed.ai/clearfeed-help-center/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.clearfeed.ai/clearfeed-help-center/clearfeed-helpdesk/merging-and-split.md).

# Merging & Split

## Merging & Split

Handling support requests in Slack can quickly become overwhelming. Customers often:

* Send messages in rapid bursts
* Change topics mid-thread
* Follow up without clear context

This fragmentation makes it difficult for support teams to track issues, prioritize responses, and maintain continuity in conversations. To tackle this issue - ClearFeed offers powerful primitives to autmatically merge messages in Slack using AI and also enables users to manually Split and Merge requests to manage customer conversations better.

## Automatic Merging

ClearFeed offers **two powerful automatic merging capabilities** to merge related adjacent conversations:

* **Rule-Based Merging**
* **AI-Based Merging**

Note that whether automatic merging of messages is enabled for your account depends on the product edition and ticketing configuration as [listed here](#status).

### Rule-Based Automatic Merging

{% hint style="warning" %}
**Important:** Rule-Based Merging is not the default and (unless specifically opted-in) applies to some Slack Channel Collections created before March, 2025
{% endhint %}

Rule-Based Merging uses a set of deterministic rules to decide when consecutive messages should be grouped into a single request. This ensures related updates stay together, improving context and reducing clutter. Messages are grouped if they meet these conditions:

* **Same Author**: Consecutive messages from the same person within a short window (default: 5 minutes)
* **Continuation Cues**: Phrases like “but,” “otherwise,” or “on the other hand” in the beginning of a message

**Example** A customer might write in 3 different messages on a Slack Request Channel in rapid succession:

> “Unable to access your application.” “We’re getting a 503 error.” “Any update on this?”

Without merging, these could appear as separate requests. With Rule-Based Merging, they’re automatically grouped into one Request. Because Rule-based merging uses a small set of continuation cues and timing heuristics - it applies less often in real-life usage (but is highly accurate when it does). Users can select Rule-Based merging by contacting ClearFeed Support if they feel AI-Based merging is too aggressive for their use case.

### AI-Based Automatic Merging

While Rule-Based Merging handles straightforward cases well, it can miss the subtle ways users continue conversations. ClearFeed’s **AI-Based Merging** enhances context tracking by applying an intelligent model on top of existing rules.

The AI model identifies when messages are contextually related—even if they're delayed, or don't match continuation cues described previously.

Key capabilities include:

1. **Pronoun & Entity References:** Understands vague continuations like
   * “Let me check that.”
   * “Any update on this?
   * “Still investigating it.”
2. **Indirect Continuity:** Detects when a new participant joins but continues the same topic:
   * “Looking into this now.”
3. **Follow-Up & Resolution Cues:** Recognizes acknowledgments and contextual replies:
   * “Got it, that solved the issue.”
   * “Here’s the version: v2.1.0”
   * “Uploading the screenshot now.”
4. **Urgency & Escalation Detection:** Identifies urgency even when the issue isn’t restated:
   * Original: “We’re facing some issues with our prod cluster.”
   * Follow-up: “This is quite urgent, could someone please check!!!”

{% hint style="warning" %}
**Important:** To prevent reviving old threads unnecessarily, AI-Based automatic merging applies a **3-day cutoff**. Any message sent more than three days after the last activity will start a new request, even if it seems related.
{% endhint %}

<figure><img src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXcDMtbkNZRJOpPOUDgH0qO7DbGsqTL1DCzd_dJ_-7raaVEy2M5rxeLeow_h5YeKD-npRogDZLsLnm8GFAPm2L-Omoz2vvum3snMd1zLJmv_Mr71XraYOcJ8r9sdpwJDa7egMsa7Gg?key=jzIa2uA9Kp-v7lbWeVJ-TGai" alt="" width="563"><figcaption><p>Messages in Request channel</p></figcaption></figure>

### Automatic Merge Settings in Your ClearFeed Account <a href="#status" id="status"></a>

* **Rule-Based Merging** maybe active for older collections created before March, 2025.
* **AI-Based Merging** follows the default behavior outlined below. If you'd like to override these defaults, please contact the ClearFeed support team.
  * For **Internal Helpdesk** and **Integrations** product editions, AI-based merging is **turned off by default**.
  * For **External Helpdesks**
    * **With automatic ticketing** (whether filing Tickets to ClearFeed or External systems like Zendesk, Freshdesk et al), AI-based merging is **turned off by default**.
    * **If ticketing is disabled, or manual ticketing is enabled** – AI-based merging is **turned on by default**.

{% hint style="info" %}
UI configuration is not yet available; all changes are managed by ClearFeed team. If you'd like to switch merging modes or disable merging to ensure a 1:1 mapping between Slack threads and ClearFeed tickets, contact the ClearFeed support team.
{% endhint %}

### Splitting Unrelated Messages

Merging helps keep context together, but sometimes, customers report **unrelated issues** in a single burst. Automatically merging such messages could create confusion.

To solve this, ClearFeed supports **Request Splitting**. With **Request Splitting**, agents can manually separate unrelated messages into distinct requests. This ensures each issue:

* Has its own clear thread
* Can be assigned and resolved independently
* Is tracked without context bleed

#### **When You Can Split a Message**

* You can split a merged parent message into a new request.
* A linked ticket or task does not prevent a split unless the request has been transferred into a helpdesk ticket.
* When you split a message, any linked ticket or task associated with that message moves to the new request. Linked items associated with the original request message stay with the original request.

#### **When You Cannot Split a Message**

* A request that has been transferred into a helpdesk ticket cannot be split.
* Once a story is marked **Not a Request**, older DMs cannot be split—even if the story is later converted into a request.
* You can split a message into a new request **only if it is a parent message** (not a reply).

#### How to Use the Split Functionality

**From Slack**

1. Open the request thread in the triage channel.
2. On the merged customer message, look for the note and the **Split** button.
3. Click **Split**.
4. ClearFeed will create a new independent request for the messages in that thread.

The image below shows an example of request with merged messages. The Split button is shown next to the first merged message. Click on it would create a separate request out of the merged message - which would show up separately on Triage channels and ClearFeed WebApp dashboards.

<figure><img src="https://3455705434-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FE2O2wTaNovd6fXpEuLKz%2Fuploads%2Fgit-blob-87345f728803d5a36c705ab4d85a4e21ca75631e%2Fsplit.png?alt=media" alt="" width="563"><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

**From ClearFeed WebApp**

1. Open the request in the ClearFeed WebApp.
2. On the merged customer message, look for the note and the **Split** button.
3. Click **Split**.
4. ClearFeed will create a new independent request for the messages in that thread.

The image below shows an example of request with merged messages. The Split button is shown next to the merged message. Click on it would create a separate request out of the merged message - which would show up separately on Triage channels and ClearFeed WebApp dashboard.\\

<figure><img src="https://3455705434-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FE2O2wTaNovd6fXpEuLKz%2Fuploads%2Fgit-blob-31a0cd61079fdc874b9515b9c0d5318ba4c92d04%2Fimage.png?alt=media" alt="" width="541"><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

### Manually merge requests or tickets

Manual merging combines one source request or ticket with another target request or ticket. Automatic merging settings do not affect this action.

| Product edition       | Supported merge                                                                                                                                   |
| --------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **External Helpdesk** | Merge one request into another request. Neither request can have a public ticket or linked task.                                                  |
| **Internal Helpdesk** | Merge one ClearFeed ticket into another ClearFeed ticket. Each side must contain exactly one ClearFeed ticket and no other linked ticket or task. |

#### Requirements

The source and target must meet all of these requirements:

* Both must belong to the same account and Collection.
* Both must come from the same supported source. For Slack, they must be in the same channel. For Telegram, they must be in the same forum topic.
* Neither can be a parent or child ticket.
* Neither can have an active Virtual Agent session.
* Neither can have a split operation in progress.

Manual merging is not available for web chat, email, portal, or other sources. Start the merge from the parent message, not a reply.

{% hint style="info" %}
The action and dialog use the word **request**, including when you merge Internal Helpdesk tickets.
{% endhint %}

#### Merge from a Slack Triage channel

1. Open the source request or ticket in Triage.
2. Select **More Actions** > **Other actions** > **Merge into another request**.
3. Select the target request or ticket. You can search by its CF ID.
4. Select **Merge**.

<figure><img src="https://3455705434-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FE2O2wTaNovd6fXpEuLKz%2Fuploads%2Fgit-blob-cd78782ba16285adb72467bda0596a9e595ef2c0%2FSS2.png?alt=media" alt="" width="563"><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

<figure><img src="https://3455705434-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FE2O2wTaNovd6fXpEuLKz%2Fuploads%2Fgit-blob-1561182e9adb11aba710634f16a682223fe875e0%2FSS3.png?alt=media" alt="" width="563"><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

<figure><img src="https://3455705434-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FE2O2wTaNovd6fXpEuLKz%2Fuploads%2Fgit-blob-7479c92b4c86973235f5cecd53c7c6e19b69a3d4%2FSS4.png?alt=media" alt="" width="563"><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

#### Merge from the ClearFeed WebApp

1. Open the source request or ticket in the ClearFeed WebApp.
2. On the right panel, select the three-dot menu beside **Copy link**.
3. Select **Merge into another request**.
4. Select the target request or ticket. You can search by its CF ID.
5. Select **Merge**.

<figure><img src="https://3455705434-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FE2O2wTaNovd6fXpEuLKz%2Fuploads%2Fgit-blob-bedd174004506db5b201a79ccdc1cf6e24349d6f%2FSS1.png?alt=media" alt="" width="563"><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

<figure><img src="https://3455705434-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FE2O2wTaNovd6fXpEuLKz%2Fuploads%2Fgit-blob-d66a7333ec54e0379e0d151f91bed7bb7debeebd%2FSS5.png?alt=media" alt="" width="563"><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

#### What happens after a merge

* Reactions from the source and its messages do not sync to the target.
* The target's assignment does not change. If the source had an assignee and the target is unassigned, the target remains unassigned.
* The source is no longer a separate request or ticket. New replies in the source thread appear in the target thread.