NS Helpdesk for WooCommerce User Guide

Set up NS Helpdesk for WooCommerce, let customers open tickets, and organize support in one place. This guide covers the free Lite edition first, followed by the extra setup available in Pro.

Choose your edition: Lite quick start · Pro setup · Customer experience · Troubleshooting

Before you start

• Use WordPress 7.0 or newer, PHP 8.3 or newer, and an active WooCommerce installation.
• Make sure your store can deliver email. A successful WordPress send result does not guarantee that a message reached the inbox.
• Use a customer account and an inbox you control for the first end-to-end test.

Lite quick start

Lite provides one shared staff inbox, customer tickets and replies, a customer portal in WooCommerce My Account, and a searchable knowledge base. It does not need a license key.

1. Install and activate NS Helpdesk Lite for WooCommerce from its ZIP in Plugins → Add Plugin → Upload Plugin. Confirm that WooCommerce is active.
2. Open Helpdesk Lite → Settings. Set the Inbox notification email to the address that should receive new ticket and customer reply alerts.
3. Customers can open and manage tickets from My Account → Support Tickets. To add a separate support page, create a page containing the NS Helpdesk Portal block or the ns_helpdesk shortcode, publish it, then choose it as the Support center page in Settings.
4. Add product or service categories under Helpdesk Lite → Product categories. Publish knowledge base articles and assign their categories so customers can find relevant answers.
5. Sign in as a customer and create a test ticket. In the shared staff inbox, open it and send a reply. Confirm the customer can read the reply in My Account and receives the notification email.

Pro setup

Pro adds departments and multiple agents, workflows and reports, saved replies, optional reply-by-email, and optional AI assisted drafts. If you are upgrading from Lite, deactivate Lite before activating Pro. Your existing Helpdesk data is retained.

1. Install and activate the Pro ZIP. Open Helpdesk → License and enter the license key and token sent in the License Credentials email after a completed purchase. Keep those credentials private.
2. In Helpdesk → Settings, choose a published support page containing the NS Helpdesk Portal block or the ns_helpdesk shortcode. Customers can also use My Account → Support Tickets.
3. Set the support notification address. Use the outbound Send test email action, then check that the message actually arrives in the inbox.
4. Create product or service categories in Helpdesk → KB Categories and publish articles in Helpdesk → Knowledge Base. Assign categories to articles to help customers find product-specific information.
5. For a team, create departments in Helpdesk → Departments, add WordPress users with the Support Agent role, and assign agents to the departments they handle. Work tickets in Helpdesk → Agent Inbox.
6. Run a customer test: create a ticket, assign it, send a public staff reply, and confirm that the customer sees it and receives the email.

Optional Pro features

• Reply by email: Configure the inbound IMAP mailbox under Helpdesk → Settings → Reply by email and test its connection. This imports customer email replies into matching tickets. It is separate from outgoing ticket notifications and requires a working WordPress scheduler and PHP IMAP support.
• AI drafts: Add your OpenAI API key in Helpdesk settings or the WPHD_OPENAI_API_KEY configuration constant, choose a model, test the connection, and enable agent reply drafting. An agent reviews and edits every draft before sending. OpenAI usage is billed separately by OpenAI.
• Team workflow: Configure custom fields and workflows, saved replies, and ticket templates as needed. Review workload in Helpdesk → Reports.

What customers see

Signed-in customers can open a ticket, choose a product or service, and manage their own conversations in WooCommerce My Account → Support Tickets. A separate support center page can show ticket access and knowledge base search. Staff-only internal notes stay out of customer replies.

Troubleshooting

• Support page is empty: Check that it is published, contains the NS Helpdesk Portal block or the ns_helpdesk shortcode, and is selected in Helpdesk settings.
• No ticket emails arrive: Check the notification address, spam folder, and your site’s mail delivery service. In Pro, send a test email from Settings and verify inbox receipt.
• Email replies do not appear in tickets: Outbound notifications alone do not import replies. In Pro, enable Reply by email, verify the IMAP connection, and confirm WordPress scheduled tasks are running.
• AI cannot answer a product question: Add accurate product information to the knowledge base or give the agent relevant facts when drafting. Review the draft before sending.
• Moving from Lite to Pro: Deactivate Lite, activate Pro, and check the existing tickets and articles. Do not run both editions at the same time.

Need help? Open the NSPlug Help Center. For plans and Pro downloads, see NS Helpdesk for WooCommerce.