How do you handle IT requests that never become tickets?

For routine requests, ask for the ticket before you start. Keep it friendly: tell them you'll take a look once it comes through the helpdesk. If you solve it first, there's not much incentive left for them to submit anything.

That also gives everyone a place to check status instead of relying on someone remembering a message from two weeks ago.

Reduce the friction if your tools allow it. A message-to-ticket integration can turn a chat request into a ticket, and some helpdesks accept forwarded emails. You still need enough detail in the ticket to make it useful, but you don't have to retype the whole exchange.

I'd separate genuinely urgent issues from ordinary interruptions. Help with the urgent one first if waiting would cause trouble, then make sure a ticket gets created afterward. For everything else, point people to the queue before taking it on.

Agree with your manager on what counts as urgent and who records it. Otherwise every request can suddenly become urgent, or the paperwork all lands on you.

This needs management backing, not just a rule at your desk. If leadership wants the ticket history but also expects immediate help through private messages, those expectations conflict. Ask them to confirm the intake process and support it when someone complains about being redirected.

For tiny one-offs, a standing miscellaneous ticket might be enough to record time and a brief note, if your team's reporting rules allow it. It won't give you the same separate history for each issue, but it can at least make that work visible.