Send a reply on a case from the Service Console so the customer sees it, the case thread tracks it, and the agent productivity report counts it.
- Open the case
From the Service Console workspace, click the case row. The case detail loads in a primary tab and the activity feed loads on the right.
- Choose the reply type
Click the Email action for an outbound customer reply, or Post for an internal Chatter comment, or Log a Call for a phone-based reply. The pick determines who sees the reply and whether it threads with the customer email.
- Compose with merge fields and templates
Use the email template selector to load a pre-approved response. Personalize with merge fields for customer name, case number, and link to the self-service portal. Add attachments if the resolution includes a doc.
- Set visibility
Toggle Public or Internal Only on a Case Comment. Public replies show in the Experience Cloud portal; internal-only replies stay inside Salesforce. Email replies are always public to the recipient.
- Send and verify thread
Click Send. The reply appears in the case feed with a timestamp. Verify the outbound email shows the thread token in the subject so any customer reply lands back on the same case.
- Email replies sent from outside Salesforce (a personal Gmail draft pasted to the customer) bypass the case feed and break the SLA timestamps. Always reply from the Service Console.
- Marking a comment Public on a closed case can reopen the case automatically if the assignment rule is set to reopen on customer activity. Audit reopen logic before pushing closed-case comments.
- Feed Comments inherit sharing from the parent feed item. A reply you post on a private group is invisible to anyone outside that group, including the case owner if they are not a member.
- Auto-Reply rules can fire twice if both Web-to-Case and Email-to-Case match the same intake. Test new auto-reply rules in a sandbox before activating in production.