Dynamics 365 Customer Service Queues: What They Are and How Agents Use Them
- Alfredo Iorio
- Jun 3
- 6 min read
Dynamics 365 Customer Service queues are shared containers that hold cases until an agent picks them up. Rather than cases being pushed directly to an individual, they sit in a queue where the team can see what needs attention.
That shared visibility is what separates queue-based work from case assignment. It keeps work moving when individuals are busy, absent, or handling high volumes.
What queues are in Dynamics 365 Customer Service
A queue organises pending work into a single, visible list that a group of agents can act on together. Cases can be routed into a queue automatically, through routing rules triggered by incoming email or other channels, or added manually by a team leader or agent. Once in the queue, items sit there until someone picks them up, routes them elsewhere, or removes them.
Routing also interacts with timing: the SLA clock on a case keeps running while the case sits in a queue, unless an SLA item is configured to pause it.
To learn more about how SLAs work in Dynamics 365 Customer Service, see this post: Dynamics 365 Customer Service SLA: How SLAs, KPIs, and Timers Work.
A queue shows everything that needs action and who, if anyone, is already handling each item. That shared view is what makes it possible for teams to cover for each other and for managers to monitor workload without chasing individuals.
Queues can reflect whatever structure makes sense operationally. A service team might run separate queues by support tier, each one gathering only the cases relevant to that group. Separate queues by product line, priority level, or geography follow the same principle.
Public queues vs private queues
The distinction between public and private queues determines which agents can see a queue and its items.
Queue type | Membership | Visibility |
|---|---|---|
Public | No member list, open to everyone | All users in the organisation can view the queue and its work items |
Private | Manually managed member list | Only members of that queue can view it and its work items |
Public queues are suited to shared workstreams where any available agent should be able to pick up incoming work. A general support queue, for example, benefits from being visible across the team so items don't stall if one person is busy.
Private queues are suited to situations where only a defined group should work on certain items, such as a specialist escalation team. Private queues control visibility, not record-level security. If an agent outside the queue has direct access to the underlying case record, they can still open it. Security over the data itself is a separate configuration matter handled through the organisation's security model.
New team members are not added to private queues automatically. If someone joins the team and needs access to a private queue, they must be added to that queue's member list manually.
How to pick items from a queue in Dynamics 365 Customer Service
Picking an item is how an agent takes ownership of a piece of work from a shared queue. In the Customer Service Hub or Copilot Service workspace, navigate to Queues, select the item you want to work on, and select Pick from the command bar.
A confirmation dialog appears, and once confirmed, the item is assigned to you.
During the Pick action, you are asked whether to also remove the item from the queue. Selecting Yes removes it from the queue list immediately. This is useful when you are the only person who should be working on it and you want it out of the shared view.
Selecting No leaves it in the queue while updating the Worked By field with your name, so colleagues can see it is in progress.
Picking is a manual action, so capacity does not block it. Capacity limits gate automatic assignment, not what an agent chooses to pick, which is what lets agents take on extra work during busy periods.
For advanced queues tracked through unified routing, picking still updates your consumed capacity, but it does not stop you.
Filtering queue items: choosing the right view
Before you pick anything, the view and queue filter you choose determines what you see.
View filter label | What it shows |
|---|---|
All Items in Selected Queues | Every case in the queue you have selected, regardless of status |
Cases Available to Work On | Cases not currently being worked on by anyone |
Cases I'm Working On | Cases you have already picked and are actively handling |
Items available to work on | Activities and cases with no one currently assigned |
Items I am working on | All item types you are currently working on |
The queue list filter alongside these views lets you narrow further: you can show items from a named queue or only from queues you are a member of.
For most agents, the most useful daily starting point is Cases Available to Work On or Items available to work on filtered to a relevant queue. This shows only the unclaimed work: the items that need someone to act. Switching to Items I am working on gives you a list of your active cases without the rest of the queue's items.
Queue actions in Dynamics 365 Customer Service: release, route, or remove
Once you have picked an item, you have three actions that look similar but behave differently: Release, Route, and Remove. Knowing which one to use keeps work flowing cleanly to the rest of the team.
Release sends the item back to the queue in an unclaimed state. Your name is cleared from the Worked By field, the item becomes visible to other agents as available, and ownership reverts to the queue owner. Use Release when you cannot continue working on an item and want someone else on the team to be able to pick it up.
Route moves the item to a different queue, or reassigns it to a user or team. This is the right action when you know the item belongs elsewhere, such as a case that needs escalation to a specialist queue, or a task that should go to a named colleague. When you route an item to another person, the Worked By field is updated to reflect them.
Remove takes the item out of the queue entirely. The case or activity still exists as a record, but it is no longer associated with the queue. Use Remove when the item should not be in the queue, for example if it was added in error, or if it has been resolved and no further queue tracking is needed.
Release vs Remove: the difference agents need to know
Release and Remove look similar in the command bar, but they produce opposite outcomes for the team.
The practical rule: if the work still needs doing and someone else might handle it, Release it. If the work is done or was added by mistake, Remove it.
How the Worked By field tracks queue activity
The Worked By field on a queue item is the team's signal for who currently has a piece of work in hand. When an agent picks an item, their user ID is written to this field. When they release it, the field is cleared. When they route it to a colleague, the field updates to that colleague's name.
For agents, the Worked By field answers the most common coordination question without needing to ask anyone: is someone already on this? If the field shows a name, the item is in progress. If it is blank, the item is available. This is what keeps agents from duplicating effort on the same case.
For team leaders, the Worked By field provides a live view of who is working on what across the queue. Rather than asking for status updates, a manager can look at the queue list filtered to active items and see the current distribution of work.
If an agent picks a case that was originally created by a different agent and then releases it, the case ownership reverts to the queue owner, not the original agent. This is by design, so agents who Release should expect the owner field to show the queue rather than the person who first worked the case.
Dynamics 365 Customer Service training for your team
If your team works with Dynamics 365 Customer Service, enquire about our Corporate Training Services that covers end-to-end workflows, built around how your organisation uses the system.
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