Move from Zendesk

Settings > Imports > From Zendesk copies a Zendesk account's people, tags, tickets and macros into your helpdesk. It reads Zendesk through its API with a token you create, changes nothing in Zendesk, and sends nothing to customers. Only admins can run it.

What comes across#

Ticket statuses map onto open and closed: New, Open, Pending and On-hold tickets arrive open; Solved and Closed tickets arrive closed. Zendesk's Urgent priority becomes Critical; low, normal and high stay as they are. Each ticket keeps its channel where there is a match: email stays email, web form tickets become contact form tickets, chat and messaging become chat. Deleted tickets are skipped. Attachments come across as links to Zendesk's copies.

Macros#

A macro keeps its reply text, internal note, tags, status, priority, subject and assignee. Any other action is left out. Common Zendesk placeholders, such as the requester's first name or the ticket id, are rewritten to this helpdesk's own variables. When a macro lost an action or still contains a placeholder nothing here fills in, the import lists it so you can fix it in Workflows > Macros. See Macro variables.

What stays in Zendesk#

Satisfaction ratings, views, triggers and automations are not copied. Groups and ticket fields are not copied either. Rebuild what you need:

• Views: Views

• Triggers and automations: How rules work

• Groups: Teams

• Ticket fields: Ticket fields

Before you start#

1. In Zendesk's Admin Center, open Apps and integrations > Zendesk API and create an API token.

2. Note the email address of a Zendesk admin. Only an admin can read the full ticket history.

3. Note your Zendesk subdomain: for acme.zendesk.com, it is acme.

Run the import#

1. Open Settings > Imports and choose From Zendesk.

2. Fill in Zendesk subdomain, Admin email and API token.

3. Under What to import, keep or untick End users, as customers, Tickets with replies and notes, Tags and Macros.

4. Choose Start import. It keeps going after you leave the page.

The token is stored encrypted, used only for this import and deleted when the import ends.

Zendesk lets an account export its full history ten pages a minute, so a large account takes hours. Follow it in the Imports list on the same page; Refresh updates the progress and Cancel stops it. When it ends, the row lists anything to check and anything that could not be copied.

Copied tickets never act: no email is sent, and no rule, HTTP integration or notification fires on them.

Switch your channels over#

Plan the day you stop answering in Zendesk:

1. Run the import ahead of time, rebuild your views, rules and fields, and invite your team.

2. Connect your support address here: Connect Gmail, or forward email from any other mail host.

3. In your mail provider, turn off the forwarding or filter that sends mail to Zendesk, so new mail stops going there.

4. Replace the Zendesk chat or messaging widget on your store with this helpdesk's chat. See Set up chat.

5. Run the import once more. A second run copies what changed since the first and adds nothing twice, so the last tickets answered in Zendesk come across.

Moving from Gorgias instead? See Move from Gorgias.