**Yes, you can configure business hours and an automatic away message directly on the Papo platform (https://papo.global/). This feature allows you to define the days and times your team is available, ensuring that customers who contact you outside business hours receive an immediate response informing them of your absence and when they can expect a reply.**

Defining operating hours is crucial for managing customer expectations and your team's workload. When activated, the system stops assigning new conversations to agents outside the stipulated hours and sends a personalized automatic message, improving the customer experience and promoting a healthier work environment for your team.

| Feature | Description | Main Benefit |
| :--- | :--- | :--- |
| **Business Hours** | Allows you to define the days of the week and times your company offers active support. | Organizes workflow and prevents agents from receiving notifications outside business hours. |
| **Away Message** | Automatic text sent for any message received outside the configured business hours. | Manages customer expectations, informing them that the message has been received and will be answered soon. |
| **Assignment Control** | Conversations arriving outside business hours remain in the general queue, without being assigned to a specific agent. | Ensures that the response time (SLA) only starts counting when the team is online. |

## How Business Hours Work

The logic behind the feature is simple and effective. Upon receiving a new message on any of your connected channels (WhatsApp, Instagram, etc.), Papo checks the current time.

1.  **During Business Hours:** If the message arrives during the defined business hours, it follows the normal distribution flow of your inbox, being assigned to an available agent, either by round-robin rules or manually.
2.  **Outside Business Hours:** If the message arrives outside business hours, the system performs two main actions:
    *   **Sends the Away Message:** The contact immediately receives the automatic reply you configured.
    *   **Pauses Assignment:** The conversation is opened and marked as "unread" in the general inbox, but it is not assigned to any agent. It waits for the start of the next work shift to be distributed.

This ensures that no customer is left without a response and that your team is not overwhelmed with notifications during their time off.

## Step-by-Step Guide to Setting Up Your Hours and Message

Configuring your operating hours is a quick process done directly in your Papo account settings.

### 1. Access Account Settings
Navigate to the **Settings** panel on the platform. Generally, team or inbox availability options are found in this area.

### 2. Find the Business Hours Section
Look for an option called "Business Hours," "Working Hours," or similar. This setting can be at the account level (applying to everyone) or per inbox, if you have different hours for distinct teams (e.g., Sales and Support).

### 3. Define Your Schedule
On this screen, you can define the hours for each day of the week.
*   Check the days your company operates.
*   For each day, select the start and end times of business hours.
*   You can leave a day unchecked (like Saturday and Sunday) to indicate that there is no service.

### 4. Create Your Away Message
In the same location, there will be a field for you to write the message that will be sent to customers. A good away message includes:
*   A thank you for contacting.
*   Information that you are currently outside business hours.
*   Your operating hours (e.g., "Our service operates Monday to Friday, from 9 AM to 6 PM.").
*   A promise of return (e.g., "We will respond to your message as soon as our next business day begins.").

Example message:
> "Hello! Thank you for your contact. We are currently outside our business hours, which are Monday to Friday, from 9 AM to 6 PM. Your message has been received, and our team will respond as soon as we return. Thank you!"

After filling everything out, save the changes to activate the feature.

## Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

### What happens to conversations that arrive outside business hours?
They remain in the main inbox, waiting to be assigned to an agent as soon as the next business hours begin. The customer receives the away message, and the conversation does not negatively affect the agent's response time metrics.

### Is the away message sent every time the customer writes?
Typically, the away message is sent only on the customer's first interaction outside business hours within a certain period, to avoid overwhelming the conversation with repeated responses.

### Can I have different hours for the weekend?
Yes. The platform allows you to configure specific hours for each day of the week. For example, you can set shorter hours for Saturday or simply disable service on weekends by leaving the days unchecked.

### Does the business hours setting affect bots and AI?
It depends on your configuration. Generally, the away message takes priority over automation flows or conversational AI outside business hours. However, it is possible to configure the platform so that AI performs an initial response even outside hours, and the away message is only triggered if the AI cannot resolve the request. Consult your AI agent settings for more details.

### How to temporarily disable business hours?
For holidays or special events where you will have extended service, simply return to the Business Hours configuration screen and disable the feature or adjust the hours for that specific period. Remember to reactivate them afterward.

## Read also
*   [How to use the Appointments module to schedule services and times](/hc/papo/articles/how-to-use-appointments-module-to-schedule-services)
*   [Anatomy of the Conversation Screen: Sending messages, notes, and tags](/hc/papo/articles/anatomy-conversation-screen-sending-messages-notes-tags)

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