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Set Up Facebook Messenger

This guide takes you from an empty Daktela instance to answering your Facebook page's Messenger chats in Daktela. It builds the pieces in the order they depend on each other.

If you haven't yet, read How Facebook Messenger Works first β€” it explains what each piece does and how a chat travels through them.

The whole setup:

  1. Create the Messenger queue
  2. Add agents to the queue
  3. Define your business hours
  4. Create a terminate target for offline chats
  5. Create the time condition
  6. Create the connector and authorise your page
  7. Apply the configuration and test

1. Create the Messenger Queue

  1. Go to Settings β†’ Routings β†’ Queues and click Add new, then select Facebook Messenger.
  2. Fill out the Unique queue number (Daktela suggests the next available number automatically) and the Title (e.g. "Messenger – Support").
  3. Click Save.

The default settings are fine for a first working setup β€” every field is described in the Facebook Messenger Queue reference.

2. Add Agents to the Queue

Info

Agents get queues only through their user rights: this dialog and the Queues tab of a set of rights are two views of the same setting β€” see How Users & Rights Work. If you have already given the queue a log-in type in your rights, this step is done. Setting up Daktela for the first time? Set Up Your Contact Centre shows where queues, rights and users fit in.

  1. In the queue list (Settings β†’ Routings β†’ Queues), find your new queue and click Change in the Agents column.
  2. Check (tick) the user rights that should have access to the queue.
  3. Select a Priority for each set of rights (0 – highest, 10 – lowest) and a Login type β€” Automatic is a good default.

See Queue Basics – Assign Agents to a Queue for all the options, and Distribution Strategies for how priorities drive who rings when.

3. Define Your Business Hours

  1. Go to Settings β†’ Workflows β†’ Time groups and click Add new.
  2. Fill out the Title (e.g. "Business hours") and add an Open definition for each working period β€” e.g. 9:00–17:00, Monday–Friday.
  3. Click Save.

See Time Groups for holidays, linked groups and common pitfalls.

4. Create a Terminate Target for Offline Chats

  1. Go to Settings β†’ Routings β†’ Facebook β†’ Terminate and click Add new.
  2. Fill out the Title (e.g. "Offline – outside business hours") and select the Disconnection cause (internal only).
  3. In Queue, select the Messenger queue from step 1 β€” this is what makes missed chat notifications work.
  4. Optionally select an Auto response template and set Answered.
  5. Click Save.

The full field reference is in Terminate.

5. Create the Time Condition

  1. Go to Settings β†’ Routings β†’ Facebook β†’ Time conditions and click Add new.
  2. Fill out the Title, select the Time group from step 3.
  3. In If time matches, select Queue and choose the Messenger queue from step 1.
  4. In If time does not match, select Terminate and choose the target from step 4.
  5. Click Save.

See Time Conditions for the other routing targets you can use here.

6. Create the Connector and Authorise Your Page

  1. Go to Settings β†’ Routings β†’ Facebook and click Add new.
  2. Fill out the Title, Description, Next destination β†’ the time condition from step 5, and Allow attachments.
  3. Click Save, then reopen the connector β€” the Authorise FB page button only works on a saved connector.
  4. Click Authorise FB page and follow the Facebook wizard: log in, select your page(s), grant permissions and pick the page to use. The whole flow with screenshots is described in Facebook Connector – Authorise Your Facebook Page.

Warning

Once you link a connector to a Facebook page, you will not be able to link the page to any other connectors.

7. Apply the Configuration and Test

  1. Back in Settings β†’ Routings β†’ Facebook, click Apply configuration changes in the top right corner.
  2. Test the online path: with an agent logged in to the queue and in the Ready state during business hours, send a Messenger message to your Facebook page and check that it rings the agent.
  3. Test the offline path: outside business hours, check that the chat ends via your terminate target and shows up as a missed activity in the queue.

Warning

Every later change to connectors, time conditions, automessages, decision trees, chatbots or terminate targets needs Apply configuration changes again.

Go Further

Not Working?

  1. Nothing arrives? Click Apply configuration changes in Settings β†’ Routings β†’ Facebook β€” routing changes stay in a working copy until you do.
  2. Always the offline path? Check the time condition has a time group selected and that the time group covers the current time.
  3. Conversations don't ring? In Realtime, check an agent is logged in to the queue, Ready and not on a pause.
  4. No missed conversations to follow up? The terminate target must have your queue selected, and Missed activities must be on in the queue.
  5. Messages stopped arriving? The connector may have lost its authorisation β€” click Authorise FB page again. Set a System notification email address in Global Settings to be warned next time.

More checks, by symptom, are in Troubleshooting.