Sending the same reply to a dozen tickets a week — an initial acknowledgement, a step-by-step password-reset walkthrough, a "we'll need more information" message — is slow and inconsistent. Canned responses let you write those replies once and insert them into any ticket reply with a single keystroke.

What is a canned response

A canned response is a saved reply snippet: a name, an optional category, and a body that can include merge fields that AlgaPSA fills in when you insert the response. The body can be anything from one line to several paragraphs.

Merge fields use double-brace syntax. AlgaPSA recognizes:

Merge field	Inserts
`{{contact.first_name}}`	The ticket contact's first name
`{{contact.last_name}}`	The contact's last name
`{{contact.name}}`	The contact's full name
`{{agent.name}}`	Your name (the agent replying)
`{{client.name}}`	The client's name
`{{ticket.number}}`	The ticket number
`{{ticket.title}}`	The ticket title

Fields are filled in when the response is inserted into a reply. A recognized field with no value becomes empty — on a ticket with no contact, the contact fields simply disappear. An unrecognized field, such as a typo, is left exactly as written so you can spot it before sending.

Browse and insert responses in a ticket

While composing a reply, press Ctrl+J (Cmd+J on a Mac), type /, or click the Canned responses button to open the picker. Favorites are listed first. The rest of the picker groups responses under Recently used and by category.

Type a few words to filter the list, then select a response to insert its body at the cursor. Merge fields are resolved as the text is inserted, so you can review the actual contact name or ticket number before sending.

The picker is available in the ticket conversation reply box and in the bento-layout timeline tile.

Manage your response library

Go to Tickets > Canned Responses in the sidebar to open the library. From there you can:

Create a new response with a Name, an optional Category (used to group responses in the picker), the Available to scope, and the Response text.
Edit an existing response to refine the wording or add merge fields.
Deactivate a response to hide it from the picker without deleting it. Toggle Show inactive to see hidden responses, and use Activate to restore one.
Add to favorites to list a response first in the picker.
Delete a response you no longer need. Replies that already used it are not changed.

Scopes

Every response has an Available to scope. Choose exactly one:

Scope	Visible to
Personal	Only you
Team	Members of the chosen team. You can only manage team responses for teams you belong to.
Board	Anyone replying to tickets on the chosen board
Client portal	Reserved for client portal replies. It is not offered when replying from the MSP portal.

The library lists every shared response so managers can maintain them, but another user's personal responses are never visible to anyone else.

Permissions

Using and viewing canned responses requires the canned_response:read permission. Creating, updating, and deleting responses requires canned_response:create, canned_response:update, and canned_response:delete respectively. Admins can review and adjust these under Settings > Security > Roles.

Tips

Keep response names short and scannable — they appear in the picker as you type, so a name like "Initial acknowledgement" is faster to find than "Standard first-reply template v3".
Use merge fields for anything that changes by ticket, but keep static details static. A greeting that says "Hi {{contact.first_name}}" reads naturally.
If you regularly edit an inserted response before sending, split it into two shorter responses or move the varying phrase into a merge field.

Navigation

3.12. Reply Faster with Canned Ticket Responses