Set your business hours
Tell Pengo when your team is available. Business hours decide when the widget shows you as away, when Intelligence covers and how response targets count.
On this page
Business hours tell Pengo when visitors can expect a live reply. Outside them, the widget shows your team as away, even if someone happens to be online.
#Set your hours
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Go to Settings Conversations Business hours .
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Turn on Enable business hours.
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Choose your Timezone. All the hours on the page use it.
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Under Weekly schedule, tick each day you’re open and set its start and end times. Unticked days show as Closed.
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To use the same hours every day, set Monday and click Copy Monday to all.
Your changes save automatically. The page header shows Saved when they’re stored.
New websites start with Monday to Friday, 09:00 to 17:00, and the weekend closed. The default timezone is Eastern Time (ET).
#Overnight shifts
If a day’s end time is earlier than its start time, the shift runs past midnight. For example, 22:00 to 06:00 on Friday covers Friday night into Saturday morning. Pengo shows next day beside those times.
#What changes for visitors
| When | The widget shows |
|---|---|
| Inside your hours, someone on your team is online | You as Online, or your response time if you show one on the home screen. |
| Outside your hours | You as Away, with when you’re back, for example “Back tomorrow 9:00 AM”. |
While you’re away, the widget follows your Offline behavior: ask visitors to leave a message, show a message only, or hide the launcher. Set it in the Forms tab. See Pre-chat, offline and rating forms.
Visitors who already have a conversation open can always keep writing.
#Where else Pengo uses your hours
- Pengo Intelligence. With When to answer set to After hours in Intelligence Behavior Channels , Pengo Intelligence takes new conversations outside your hours. Until you set business hours, it won’t take any. See Hand off to your team.
- Response targets. With Count business hours only on, response target clocks pause outside your hours, so a chat that arrives on Friday evening doesn’t breach over the weekend. See Set response targets.
#Turn business hours off
Turn off Enable business hours. Visitors then see your team as available whenever someone is online, and response target clocks run around the clock. Your schedule is kept, so you can turn it back on later.
Common questions
Can teammates still get chats outside business hours?
Yes. A teammate who is Online outside your hours can still be assigned chats. Business hours change what visitors see, not who can work.
Can I set hours that run past midnight?
Yes. Set an end time earlier than the start time, for example 22:00 to 06:00. Pengo shows "next day" beside it, and the shift runs into the following morning.
Do I need business hours at all?
No. With business hours off, visitors see your team as available whenever someone is online. You only need them for after-hours behaviour, the After hours mode of Pengo Intelligence, or response targets that pause overnight.
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