Business hours say when your organization is open. Inbox auto-replies use this schedule to choose between the during-hours message and the outside-hours message.

If you have not saved business hours, initdesk treats the organization as open at all times. Nights, weekends, and holidays are still open. The page reads Open all week. Outside-hours auto-replies do not send until a schedule is saved. Only the during-hours message can send.

The schedule does not assign tickets, limit who can reply, or start a response timer. Your team can still reply at any time.

Any member can open the page and read the hours. Account owners and admins can change them.

Open the page

Go to Settings → Business hours.

The line at the top is the current state:

Times use the schedule’s time zone, including daylight saving. The clock text in Next opening and Closed until follows the organization’s Working language (Settings → General). The words around that time follow the language in your profile.

Weekly hours

1. Go to Settings → Business hours.
2. Choose a Time zone. Weekly hours and date exceptions both use it.
3. Turn each day on or off. A day that is off is Closed.
4. For an open day, set Opens and Closes. One range per day. The two times must be different.
5. Click Save business hours.

If Closes is earlier than Opens, that day stays open past midnight and closes the next morning.

Saving a schedule is what makes nights, weekends, or a closed day count as closed. Before that first save, the organization stays open at all times.

No schedule yet

Until you save a schedule, the organization is open at all times. The status line says Open all week. Outside-hours auto-replies do not send. Only the during-hours message can send. See Auto-reply to new tickets.

Every day closed

If you save a schedule and turn every day off, the organization is always closed. That is not the same as leaving business hours unset. Outside-hours auto-replies can send at any time. During-hours auto-replies do not.

To count as open at all times again, remove the schedule.

Remove the schedule

Open all week instead appears after a schedule has been saved.

1. Click Open all week instead.
2. Click Remove schedule.

The organization is open at all times again, and every date exception is deleted. Keep schedule leaves the hours as they are.

Date exceptions

A date exception replaces the weekly hours on that date. Use one for a holiday or a one-day change. Each exception is either closed, or one custom range.

Save weekly hours before you add an exception. With no schedule saved, there is nothing for an exception to replace, because the organization is already open at all times.

1. Under Date exceptions, set Date.
2. Add a Name if you want one (64 characters or fewer). A blank name shows as Untitled exception.
3. Turn on Repeats every year when the same month and day should repeat, such as a holiday. Leave it off for a single year.
4. Leave Closed that day on to close the whole day. Turn it off to set Opens and Closes. Those times must differ, and a close earlier than the open stays open past midnight.
5. Click Add exception.

To change an exception, open Edit, then click Save exception. Delete removes it.

A yearly exception repeats. When a one-off exception falls on the same month and day, the one-off wins that year.

Example. A yearly exception closes 25 December every year. A one-off exception sets shorter hours on 25 December 2026. In 2026, the one-off wins. Other years use the yearly exception.

Who can change this

Related articles

• Auto-reply to new tickets — the messages that use this schedule
• Creating new inboxes — where each inbox’s auto-reply is set

Questions?

If the open and closed times do not match what a customer received, note the time zone, the day, and any exception on that date, then contact us via Open a ticket at the bottom of this page.