CAPTCHAs are automated tests which require users to recognize an image or audio to check that your helpdesk is receiving input from a human and not an automatic spam-posting program.

A CAPTCHA is displayed when a user goes over the rate limits defined in the Portal rate limiting section.

To reduce abuse/spam, you can also choose to always display a CAPTCHA for certain actions.

Choosing a CAPTCHA system

You can choose whether to use Deskpro’s built-in CAPTCHA system, or Google’s reCAPTCHA system.

Go to Admin > Setup > CAPTCHA Settings to select which system you want to use.

The built-in image-based system is suitable for most helpdesks. reCAPTCHA is more advanced: it offers an audio test for accessibility to visually-impaired people, and may be more effective at preventing spam. Your helpdesk will need to be able to connect to Google’s servers for reCAPTCHA to work.

To set up reCAPTCHA for your On-Premise helpdesk:

1. Go to https://www.google.com/recaptcha/admin while you are logged in with your Google account.
2. Register your heldpesk as a new site for use with reCAPTCHA.
3. In the Adding reCAPTCHA to your site section, you will need the Site key and Secret key. You do not need to follow the rest of the instructions from Google.
4. In Deskpro admin, go to Setup > Anti-Abuse > CAPTCHA Settings and select Use reCAPTCHA. Paste the Site key and Secret key into the fields there.
5. Click Save.

Always displaying CAPTCHAs

You can choose to always display CAPTCHAs for certain actions, instead of waiting for the user to hit a rate limit.

Go to Admin > Setup > CAPTCHA Settings to change this.

You can choose to always enable CAPTCHAs for:

• new tickets
• new comments
• new feedback
• registering a new account

You can select whether to always display the CAPTCHA for everyone (logged-in users and logged-out users), or just for guests (logged-out users).

CAPTCHAs are also displayed after multiple failed login attempts from the same IP address. This applies to both the portal and agent/admin interfaces and is controlled from the Portal Rate Limiting section. See Portal rate limiting for details.