A new, Freshdesk-inspired interface for FreeScout. Refresh reworks the whole agent interface of FreeScout: a left navigation bar, ticket views with SLA badges, a dashboard, a properties panel next to each ticket, a Freshdesk-style reply editor, ajax actions everywhere, a phone version, an installable app and Web Push notifications. It borrows Freshdesk's ergonomics, with a look of its own (slate and indigo, light borders, small radii), also applied to FreeScout's own pages: settings, profiles, customers, users, mailboxes and modules.
It is a single module: no core file is modified, nothing depends on the Customization module, and switching it off brings the stock FreeScout interface back.
- Left bar with icons: Dashboard, Tickets, Contacts, Saved replies, Tags (when the Tags module is active), plus the entries of other modules (see For module developers). Your logo on top.
- Views panel: switching views, filters, sorting and pages happens in place (ajax), with browser history support.
- Search in the top bar with instant suggestions; Enter searches all tickets.
- Views, in the same order as Freshdesk: tickets I created, my new and open tickets, tickets I'm watching, undelivered messages, all tickets, all unresolved tickets; then unassigned, new, overdue, due today, open, pending, starred; trash and spam. Live counters.
- Saved views: save the current filters as a shared view.
- Filters panel: agents, statuses, priorities, types, tags, customer, created / closed period, resolution and first response due dates. Sort by date created, last modified, last customer response, due date, priority or status.
- Card layout with SLA badges (New, First response overdue, Overdue, Customer responded, Pending), a status line ("Customer responded 2 hours ago • Resolution due in 5 hours"), and priority / agent / status drop-downs you can change right from the list.
- Bulk actions bar (assign, status, tags, merge, delete) and CSV export of the current view.
- FreeScout's own folder pages (Unassigned, Mine, Starred…) open the equivalent view.
- Freshdesk-like conversation: "Name replied • 3 days ago (Mon 21 Sep 2026 13:43)", round avatars, notes in yellow, quoted history folded behind a "•••" button.
- Properties panel on the right: type, status, priority, agent, tags, resolution due date (editable), SLA summary, customer details and the customer's recent tickets. Update saves in place; closing a ticket takes you to the next one.
- Reply editor restyled after Freshdesk: tabs Reply / Note / Forward, recipients as chips, formatting toolbar, canned responses, attachments, drafts with edit / discard icons, and a send button with "Send and set as Pending / Closed / Open".
- Toolbar: reply, note, forward, close / reopen (ajax), star, merge, print, delete.
- Split ticket: move a message to a new ticket, with a note left in the original one.
- Inline tags field with suggestions and "Create …" (Tags module).
- Toasts instead of the green banners, with close button, "View" and "Undo".
- Dashboard: tiles (unresolved, overdue, due today, open, pending, unassigned), today's figures compared with yesterday (received, resolved, average first response time, resolved within SLA), unresolved tickets per agent, undelivered e-mails, tickets created per hour of the day.
- Contacts page: searchable list of customers with their phones, links to their tickets, CSV export.
- Phone version (under 768 px), modelled on the Freshdesk Android app: title bar, views drawer, sort and filter sheets, ticket cards, infinite scroll, long press to select, bottom tab bar, full-screen editor and properties.
- Installable app (PWA): on a phone, "Install app" / "Add to Home Screen" opens FreeScout full screen, with its own name and icon. No store, no closed-source app.
- Web Push notifications on phones and desktops, even when FreeScout is closed. They use FreeScout's own notification settings (the Mobile column of Profile › Notifications). Pure PHP implementation (VAPID + aes128gcm), no external service and no Composer dependency.
English and French. Other languages can be added with a Resources/lang/<locale>.json file (English key =>
translation), plus Resources/lang/<locale>/labels.php for the few words FreeScout translates with another meaning,
and optionally Resources/lang/overrides/<locale>.php to reword FreeScout's own strings (the French file turns
"conversation" into "ticket", like Freshdesk).
- FreeScout 1.8 or newer. Web Push needs PHP 7.3+ with the
opensslextension. - HTTPS for the installable app and push notifications (browsers require it).
- Tested with the Tags module; the Freshdesk-style Type and Priority fields are stored in the conversation data and filled by the Freshdesk Import module.
- Download the latest release and unzip it into the
Modulesfolder of FreeScout: you getModules/Refresh(the folder must have this name). - In FreeScout, Manage › Modules: activate Refresh.
- Optional: Manage › Settings › Refresh to set your SLA, logo and app name.
To go back to the stock interface, deactivate the module. Its settings are kept.
Upgrading from Modern UI 1.x (this module's former name): deactivate Modern UI, delete Modules/ModernUi, install
Refresh as above. Its settings, shared views and push notification keys are taken over automatically.
Manage › Settings › Refresh
| Setting | |
|---|---|
| First response | Hours to the first agent reply (default 24). Used by badges, views and the dashboard. Calendar hours, paused while a ticket is Pending. |
| Resolution | Hours to resolve a ticket (default 72). The due date of a ticket can also be changed by hand. |
| Logo | Image shown at the top of the left bar. Empty: the header logo (Customization module or FreeScout's own). |
| App name / Short name | Name of the installable app, and the one shown under its icon. |
| App icon | Square PNG, 512 px recommended. Empty: FreeScout's icons. |
| Contact e-mail | Given to the push services as the sender of the notifications. Empty: the first administrator. |
Push notifications, per agent: install the app (or allow notifications in the desktop browser when asked), then tick the Mobile column in Profile › Notifications.
The push keys are created on first use in storage/app/refresh/. Keep this folder when moving servers: new keys
would silently cut every existing subscription.
Other modules can add an entry with their own icon to the left bar:
\Eventy::addFilter('refresh.rail_items', function ($items) {
$items[] = [
'url' => route('mymodule.page'),
'label' => __('My module'),
'icon' => asset(\Module::getPublicPath('mymodule').'/icons/mymodule.svg'), // SVG, drawn in the bar's color
'active' => \Route::is('mymodule.*'),
'order' => 500, // optional, default 100
];
return $items;
});Links a module adds to FreeScout's top menu also appear in the bar, with a generic icon, when they are not declared this way. The Cobrowse module is an example.
Icons: Crayons (MIT), Tabler Icons (MIT) and Lucide (ISC, partly derived from Feather, MIT). Full notices in THIRD-PARTY-NOTICES.md. No fonts are bundled.
Refresh is not affiliated with or endorsed by Freshworks. "Freshdesk" is a trademark of Freshworks Inc., used here only to describe the look the interface is inspired by.
GNU AGPL v3, like FreeScout.