Auto-Assign Idea Owner

Every idea deserves a clear next step. With Auto-Assign Idea Owner, new ideas go straight to the right person on your team when they’re submitted. You don’t have to sort them by hand, and nothing gets lost in the shuffle.

You can set a default owner for a whole forum, then override it for specific categories. Each product area or team then gets the feedback that belongs to it.

Steps to Configure Auto-Assign

1. Open the forum editor. Go to the forum you want to configure and click Edit Forum.
2. Go to the idea management settings. Continue through the forum editor to Step 3, where the idea management settings are.
3. Open the configuration panel. Find Auto-Assign Idea Owner and click Configure.
   
4. Choose a default forum owner (optional). Pick a team member from the Default Forum Owner dropdown. They’ll be assigned any new idea in this forum that isn’t in a category with its own owner.
5. Set category owners (optional). Under the default owner, you’ll see your forum’s categories. Choose an owner from the dropdown next to any category that should go to someone else.
6. Save. Click Save. New ideas in this forum will now be assigned automatically.

How It Works

When a new idea comes in, UserVoice first checks whether its category has an owner. If it does, that person is assigned. If not, the idea goes to the forum’s default owner. If neither is set, the idea stays unassigned.

Auto-assignment applies to new ideas from any source: your portal, the admin console, the browser extension, Slack, and CSV imports.

Auto-assign fills in the built-in Assigned Owner field, the same field you set when you assign an idea by hand. The owner shows in the idea sidebar and in the Assigned Owner grid column, and you can filter by it.

Get Notified

Auto-assignment is silent: owners aren’t notified when an idea is assigned to them automatically. This keeps inboxes quiet when lots of ideas come in at once. To stay on top of new assignments, set up a view:

1. Create a Grid View with the Assigned Owner filter set to your name.
2. Turn on notifications for that view.

You’ll get updates on new ideas, feedback, comments, and more. We recommend every auto-assigned owner sets this up.

Using a Custom “Idea Owner” field?

Some workspaces track ownership in a custom idea field instead of the built-in Assigned Owner field. Auto-assign doesn’t read or update custom fields, so it won’t populate a custom owner field.

If your team currently watches a custom owner field, we recommend switching to Assigned Owner so auto-assigned ideas don’t slip by. Contact our support team if you’d like help moving existing owners from a custom field into Assigned Owner.

Best Practices

• Always set a default forum owner. It catches ideas in categories you haven’t assigned, so nothing goes unassigned.
• Match category owners to the people who make decisions in that area. Ideas move fastest when the owner can actually prioritize them.
• Review assignments when your team changes. When someone switches roles or leaves, update their categories in Step 3 of the forum editor. Owner changes aren’t tracked, so if you need a record of who owned what, note it before you make the change.
• Keep categories focused. Clear, well-defined categories make routing more accurate.
• Pair auto-assignment with a notification view (see above) so owners know when new ideas arrive.