Zendesk recommends using thedata importerto import organization data instead of the legacy Bulk actions page described in this article. However, if you prefer, you can still use the Bulk actions page to import new or updated organization information.

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Summary: ◀▼

You can bulk import organization data using a CSV file with specific fields like name, external ID, notes, and tags. Imports support up to 2,000 rows per file and require organizations to be imported before users. Limitations include no support for some data types and one file import at a time. Admins must enable data imports, and updates overwrite existing data if fields are left blank.

Zendesk recommends using the data importer to import organization data instead of the legacy Bulk actions page described in this article. However, if you prefer, you can still use the Bulk actions page to import new or updated organization information.

Important:
  • To protect the data in your Zendesk account, data imports are not enabled by default. The account owner or an admin must contact Zendesk Customer Support to enable data exports and access to the imports page.
  • If you want to bulk import both users and organizations, you must import organizations first.

This article includes the following topics:

  • Considerations for bulk importing organizations (legacy)
  • Creating the CSV organization data file (legacy)
  • Using a bulk actions import to import organization data (legacy)

Considerations for bulk importing organizations (legacy)

There are several limitations and considerations you should review before bulk importing organizations.

Limitations for bulk importing users and organizations (legacy)

You can import a core set of data about users and organizations. For example, you can import the data described in the table below. However, you can't import time zones, photos, language preferences, and other data. To import data not listed in the table below, you must use the Zendesk REST API instead. See Importing users with the Zendesk API or Importing organizations with the Zendesk API.

  • When using the Bulk actions pages, the import CSV data file can contain a maximum of 2,000 rows. That is, one header row and up to 1,999 rows of data.
  • Don't include the same user or organization more than once within a CSV file. Doing so can cause your import to fail.
  • There's no guarantee that records are created or updated in the order they appear in the CSV file.
  • You can only import one CSV file at a time. Therefore, if you have more data than the maximum number of rows supported for the CSV file, you must create separate files for each batch and import them one after another. When you're not using the data importer, up to two batches are queued and run in the background. If you want to import more than two batches, you need to wait until the first batches are finished importing to add more.
  • You cannot use bulk importing to import contact information from end-user Facebook or X (formerly Twitter) accounts. Instead, use the Zendesk REST API. See Importing users with the Zendesk API.

Creating the CSV organization data file (legacy)

To bulk import organizations, use a CSV organization data file. This section explains how to set up your CSV data file.

Here are some important things to keep in mind when creating your file:
  • The file must be properly formatted CSV and saved using UTF-8 character encoding.
  • The first row of the CSV file is the header row.
  • The header row must contain any required fields in the table below, plus any other fields listed in the table below that you want to include.
  • In your header row, use either domain_names or default, depending on your import method. They can't be used together.
  • If you are not importing data for a field, do not list it in the header row.
  • Empty columns of data in the file will overwrite any existing data for that organization.
  • Add line breaks to notes or multiline custom fields by pressing ALT+ENTER on Windows or CTRL+OPTION+RETURN on macOS.
The following table lists the fields that you can include in the file.
Table 1. Organization import data
Field Description
name Required. The organization name.
external_id Optional, but recommended; required if you intend to use the data importer to update these records in the future. A uniquely identifying value, such as an employee or customer identifying number in an external system.
notes Notes about the organization. Notes are visible to agents only, not to end users.
default This is for mapping users to an organization. Enter one or more email domains, separated with spaces (for example, organization1.com organization2.com).

See Automatically adding users to organizations based on their email domain.

shared True or False. Sets the organization as a shared organization.

See Setting up a shared organization for end users.

shared_comments True or False. Allows all users in the organization to add comments to each other's tickets. The shared field must also be set to true.

See Setting up a shared organization for end users.

group Enter a default group for the organization. See Mapping a group to an organization.
tags When user and organization tagging has been enabled for Zendesk Support (see Adding tags and users to organizations), you can set tags for the organization. Separate each tag with spaces.

When you bulk import organizations, the tags in your CSV file replace the existing org tags. To avoid this from happening, consider using the Tags API to update tags instead.
custom_fields.<field key> When you perform a bulk organization import, you can import a custom organization field by specifying the custom_fields. prefix and the field key. 

For example, for the field key subscription_date, use the following to set the imported values for this field.

custom_fields.subscription_date

To locate the field key for a custom org field, see Finding the field key or field ID for a custom field.

If a field value is not formatted correctly, the import will fail, and you will be emailed an error report specifying which records failed to save. For custom date fields, use either the YY/MM/DD or YYYY-MM-DD format. For checkbox fields, use either True or False. To set the value of drop-down list options, use the tag you added when you created the drop-down list.

Note: If the custom organization field you're importing is a lookup relationship field, enter the ID of the related object as the value for this field. For example, for an organization, enter the organization's ID; for a user, enter the user's ID; for a custom object record, enter the record's ID. To find an organization, user, or custom object record ID, you can export data from your account or use the Organizations API, Users API, or Custom Object Records API.

Lookup relationship fields aren't supported when importing organizations on the data importer page.

See Adding custom fields to organizations.

Using a bulk actions import to import organization data (legacy)

We recommend using the data importer, but you can still use the Bulk actions pages to import new and updated organization data. Your import is added to the queue, and the organizations are added to Zendesk Support when the import process is complete. This should take around an hour per file to complete, but it does depend on file size and queue size.

You'll receive an email when your imports from this page are complete.

To create or update organizations with a CSV import
  1. In Admin Center, click People in the sidebar, then select Bulk actions > Import organizations.
  2. Choose the type of import you want to perform:

    • Create new organizations

    • Update existing organizations: Use this type of import to replace existing data for the organizations listed in your CSV file.

      Organizations' external_id or name must be included in the CSV so that they can be identified. Other than an organization identifier field, you only need to include the fields that you want to update in the file. If an organization's row has a blank field, it will overwrite the existing data for that organization.

  3. Either click Choose File or the Let me paste in data instead link.
  4. Click Import.

    After the import starts, the imported changes can't be reverted.

  5. (Optional) View the status of in-progress imports on the Admin Center > Objects and rules > Tools > Data importer page. After an import completes, it's captured in the Import history log there.
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