Back up your Help Center articles at the click of a button!
Welcome
Let me introduce you to kBackup! This little app will allow you to back up your help centre content at the click of a button to your local hard drive.
Using this app makes backing up your help centre content a breeze.
Features
The app currently has a number of features and may be expanded to include additional features if the demand is there.
- The app will back up your help centres or web portals content to a specified folder as HTML pages in the format of [ArticleId].html. The app will first verify that the user exists in the given Zendesk domain. This is included for security reasons so only users who exist in the domain can back up the content.
- The app will work for any Zendesk help centre or web portal even if you chose to use the Host Mapping feature as the original Zendesk subdomain will still exist, regardless of what you have currently set as your hostname.
- Using the app to back up your help centre or web portal content is completely safe and will not affect any existing data, it will simply take a copy of it so there is no possibility for data loss during the process.
Requirements
There are some requirements for using this app that need to be met in order for it to function correctly. I've included these requirements below:
- This program is compatible with Windows only.
- Please note that SSO sign-in and 2FA is not currently supported. A Zendesk account that was created and is managed within Zendesk is required.
- Your user must have ‘Password Access’ to the API enabled in Zendesk. You can do this by going to Settings > Channels (Subsection) > API and enabling ‘Password Access’.
- The app requires Microsoft.Net Framework 4.6 or higher to be installed on the Windows PC or Laptop where it’s being run, this version of the .NET Framework can be downloaded here.
- I recommend running the app as Administrator to avoid any permission issues backing up to your selected backup location. This can be done by right-clicking the kBackup.exe and selecting ‘Run as administrator’.
Getting Started
To get started with backing up your help centre content ensure that you have met the requirements above, then go ahead and follow the steps below:
- Download a copy of the app here
- Extract the downloaded kBackup.zip file to your Desktop
- Right click the app and select 'Run as administrator’
- Enter your Zendesk subdomain into the Domain field
- Enter your Zendesk users email into the Email field
- Enter your Zendesk users’ password into the Password field
- Select your Portal Type from the drop-down
- Select the Backup button
- Browse for a folder where you would like to back up your content and select Ok
After you have selected a folder and clicked Ok the backup process will begin and you will receive a notification letting you know when the backup is complete.
Download kBackup here!
Release Notes
Release notes have been moved into ReleaseNotes.txt which is now included in the download package.
Giving Feedback & Reporting Bugs
For any feedback, feature & functionality requests or bugs you may have come across please leave a reply here or email me at felix.stubner(at)gmail(dot)com and I will get back to you as soon as possible.
If kBackup has helped you and you want to show your appreciation feel free to click on the little up arrow on this post to up vote it. Thanks for your support!
Disclaimer
THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.
If kBackup has helped you, please consider up-voting this post by clicking the up arrow below. This will help other users to find the post more easily. Thank you!
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@Marci - Thanks for reaching out! At the moment I haven't been actively developing kBackup as other projects have taken up most of my time. Mostly fixing bugs that users had come across. At some point, I would like for the app to be cross-platform but no specific timeline on that yet. Lemme know if you have any other questions, you can also drop me an email at felix.stubner(@)gmail.com. Have a good evening!
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HI Felix, Great tool, seems to be downloading ATM so I hope it all works out!
I wonder if you have a similar tool for uploading?
Im looking to upload to a sandbox so would love to be able to do this with minimal fuss - just as kBackup appears to achieve!
thanks
Howie
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@Howie - Thanks for getting in touch, glad to hear all is well with kBackup. At the moment I don't have a tool available for easily reuploading all the data. Should something like that be available in the future I'll keep the post updated. If you have any other questions lemme know, have a lovely week!
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I just downloaded and installed. When I plug in my creds, it continues to tell me my user and password are incorrect.
That is not the case. I tested with ZD. I cannot figure out why my credentials are not working for this app. Am I missing something in the setup?
Brian
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@Brian - Thanks for giving kBackup a try. Before downloading the app had you reviewed the requirements to ensure your account has access to the API?
If that all checks out I can debug the issue. Feel free to reach out to me by email to felix.stubner(at)gmail.com and I can review the issue further. Have a great weekend!
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@Felix - Yes, I believe I have done all the checks.
In ZD settings, Channels, API... the setting is "Password Access" - Enable API authentication using user and password.
That is on. I am also an admin.
I also confirmed that at least 4.6 .net is running. When I tried to install from your link, the system told me it was already installed.
I don't think I missed anything. Anything you can do would be super appreciated.
brian
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@Brian - Thanks for confirming. The only thing I can do is debug the issue. To do this I'd require a test account that meets the requirements. Please feel free to drop me an email on felix.stubner(at)gmail.com with the info and I can check it out.
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@Felix,
the only thing i have left is to figure out the .net requirement. I am running win10, with preinstalled .net versions, so when i try to install the version 4.6 that you require, the system does not allow me. It states that a later version of .net is installed and does not allow for 4.6 install.
i am trying to figure out how to get 4.6 on my machine. outside of that, i cannot think of anything else i am missing.
there are not a lot of steps.
b
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@Brian - If you cannot install .NET 4.6 because you have a newer version, then that's fine. It meets the minimum of 4.6.
Outside of checking the requirements, there isn't a whole lot more you can try. I can't really troubleshoot the issue either unless I can debug it. So if this is something you'd like to pursue please send me an email with the details and we can go from there. Thanks again!
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@Felix
I'm having the same issue as Brian, where I get the error message "The username or password you have entered is incorrect."
It appears the Settings > Channels section doesn't exist. I looked in both my account and our primary Zendesk admin's account. Neither one had any kind of Channels section. Is there another name for this section?
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@Sarah - Thanks for getting in touch. Could you please verify if you have the Password Access setting set as outlined in steps 1-4 on the screenshot below (Settings > Channels > API > Password Access.
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@Felix
Thanks for responding - I had to go to a different admin's account to find this section. The way you've written your instructions, it looks like Channels should be a button to press, not a subsection of Settings. Thanks!
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@Sarah - I appreciate the feedback. Let me know if you run into any further troubles.
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Hi Felix,
Thank you for developing this useful application.
However, it seems doesn't support articles with multiple languages as it shared the same number code on URL.
As a result, only one of the language will be backed up. Much appreciated if this can be improved. Thanks.
Cheers,Louis Tan.
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@Louis - Thanks for getting in touch and providing feedback. Indeed it is something that is not currently possible and would be a good addition. Thanks again for your feedback!
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Thanks for the response, Felix!
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Hey Felix! Just wanted to say THANK YOU for this app! Wow, you saved my butt. Your instructions were so clear and easy to follow, it only took a few seconds from start to finish to download our HC articles. I appreciate your contribution to making all our lives easier :)
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@Erica - You are very welcome and I am glad to hear that the app helped to make your life a little easier. Have a lovely weekend! :)
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@Felix Stubner This looks like a fantastic tool, you did a really great job, and I would love to use. Any timeline or insight into availability for a potential Mac-friendly or unix/linux version of this?
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@Jeremy - Thanks for getting in touch, unfortunately at this time I do not have an ETA for a Mac-friendly or Unix/Linux option. I was working on one at one point but unfortunately I no longer have access to an OSX environment to do so. Possibly in the future I may review the option again. Let me know if there's anything else I can help with.
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It's telling me my username and password are incorrect, but it's the same account I login to my support and guide with. Thoughts?
I have password API access, ran as administrator, verified higher than .NET 4.6 --- still nothing. -
@Jason - Another user has reported a similar issue recently. This was due to having 2FA enabled on their account. Is this something that could apply in your case too? Let me know!
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It doesn't look like that option is available for me to turn off in my profile.
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@Jason - Thanks for including the screenshot. Unfortunately it looks like you use an SSO account to sign into Zendesk. This is not something kBackup currently supports. If you would like to use kBackup, a native Zendesk account ist required i.e. one that is created and managed through Zendesk Your Zendesk account administrator should be able to provide you with one or very likely one already exists that is used for other administrative purposes. Hope that helps but let me know if you run into any further issues.
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Works awesome, but seems to stop downloading when it hits about 320 articles. We have around 745.
Error message says 'The general exception was hit: StartIndex cannot be less than zero. Parameter name: startIndex"
When i cancel out of that screen it tells me Backup complete!
I get a good sampling of our articles, and it looks like it is downloading the articles most recently worked on.
Any guesses as to what could be the issue?
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@Meg it may be worth uninstalling and re-installing the app to see if that resolves the issue. Otherwise if you don't hear anything back on this post you can try reach out to the listed email address: felix.stubner@gmail.com
Felix has been very responsive so you shouldn't experience too much of a delay :)
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thanks @Brett . Tried the reinstall and validated that i had all the prereq's taken care of. And ran another test. Got that same error at 320 articles.
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@Meg - Hey there, welcome. Indeed I try to respond within 24 hours usually. Regarding the issue you are facing, are all articles you have accessible to your user and published? Usually if it states that the download has completed it means all available KBs have been downloaded. Let me know!
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@Felix I am using my user log in. In theory, I have access to all 740 published articles. But when i run the backup i only get 318 or 322. i will try again today.
still getting this
and only 322 articles. Is there a quick way to test what i can download using the zendesk API?
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@Meg - Thanks for getting back to me. The screenshot is pretty helpful and I think we are onto something here. Could you have a look in the directory where you attempted to save your backup and see if there are some files in there by the names of urlLog.txt, BackupLog.txt and kBackupError.txt. If you see any of these files there, could you send these on to my email felix.stubner(at)gmail.com and I will have a look. Thanks!
PS. If you want to see all the articles that get returned for your account using the API you can open this link in your browser but replacing {DOMAIN} with your own Zendesk domain.
https://{DOMAIN}.zendesk.com/api/v2/help_center/en-us/sections/articles.json
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