A saved set of actions — set status, assign, tag, send a canned reply — applied to a ticket in one click.
Macros bundle the reply with its housekeeping. Where they end and automation begins is covered in macros, canned replies, and automations.
How it works
A macro packages several actions an agent would otherwise do by hand into a single named shortcut. A "Refund approved" macro might insert the reply text, set the status to pending, tag the ticket refund, and assign it to the billing queue — all at once. The agent stays in control: a macro runs only when someone applies it, and they can edit the inserted reply before sending.
Macro vs canned response vs automation
- A canned response is just saved text — it types the reply for you and nothing else.
- A macro is a canned response plus housekeeping: status, tags, assignment, and the reply together, run on demand.
- Automation is the same idea without a human — rules that fire on an event or condition with no one clicking.
The line that matters: a macro is agent-triggered, automation is event-triggered. If you find a macro being applied to nearly every ticket of a type, that's a signal to promote it into an automation.
Common pitfalls
Macros drift. A team that builds a "Shipping delay" macro and then changes its return policy can leave the macro quoting the old terms for months. Review them on a schedule, keep the library small enough that agents can find the right one, and avoid near-duplicates that send subtly different answers to the same question.
How Cherryrise handles it
In Cherryrise, macros bundle a reply with status, tag, and assignment changes applied in one click, and they share an engine with rule-based automation — so a macro you run by hand today can become a rule that runs itself tomorrow.