Support & Messages
SeqDesk includes a built-in messaging system that lets researchers communicate with facility administrators. Messages are organized as support tickets with status tracking and priority levels.
Creating a Ticket
Navigate to Messages (/messages) and click the button to create a new
ticket. Fill in:
- Subject — a short summary of your request
- Priority — Low, Normal, High, or Urgent
- Message — describe your question or issue
- Related order or study (optional) — link the ticket to one of your orders or one study (you can reference one, not both), so facility staff have the right context. This option appears when ticket references are enabled for the installation.
The ticket is created with OPEN status and is visible to all facility admins.
Ticket Statuses
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
OPEN | New or reopened ticket — awaiting response |
IN_PROGRESS | A facility admin is working on it |
RESOLVED | The issue has been addressed |
CLOSED | Ticket is closed — no further replies allowed |
Automatic Status Updates
- When an admin replies to an OPEN ticket, it moves to IN_PROGRESS automatically
- When a researcher replies to a RESOLVED ticket, it reopens to OPEN
Who Can Change Status
You can close your own ticket at any time. Setting a ticket to IN_PROGRESS or RESOLVED, and changing priority, is restricted to facility admins.
Replying
Open a ticket to view the conversation thread. Messages appear as chat bubbles — your messages on the right, facility staff on the left. Admin messages are labeled with a staff badge.
Type your reply at the bottom and send. The other party will see an unread indicator on their messages list.
Priority Levels
| Priority | When to Use |
|---|---|
| Low | General questions, non-urgent requests |
| Normal | Standard support requests |
| High | Time-sensitive issues affecting your work |
| Urgent | Critical problems blocking your research |
Facility admins can adjust the priority of any ticket.
For Facility Admins
As a facility admin, you see all tickets from all researchers. The messages list shows:
- Unread indicators — blue dot for tickets with new messages since your last read
- Search — filter by subject, user name, or email
- Sort — by last updated, subject, status, message count, or priority
- Status filter — view tickets by status
You can change a ticket’s status and priority from the ticket detail page. Setting IN_PROGRESS or RESOLVED and changing priority are admin-only; both researchers and admins can close a ticket.
Other Support Touchpoints
Support tickets are not the only way to communicate:
- Help & Guide (
/help) — an in-app orientation page covering the typical ordering → study → analysis → publishing workflow, who does what, and where to perform common tasks. It links straight to Support for anything unclear. - Entity notes — orders and studies each have a notes panel for shared, context-specific discussion (for example, clarifying a sample issue or a metadata gap right where the work happens), keeping that conversation attached to the order or study instead of a separate ticket.
Email Notifications
You can manage your profile and email-notification preferences at Settings
(/settings):
- First name and last name
- Phone number
- Institution / organization
- Email Notifications — independent toggles for Orders (order submissions and facility status updates) and Support (support ticket replies). These appear when the installation has outbound email configured.
Your email address is read-only — contact support if you need to change it.