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Submitting and tracking requests in the Help Center customer portal (Guide Professional and Enterprise)

Jennifer Rowe
  • Edited
Zendesk Documentation Team

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Note: The ability to submit support requests is available on Guide Lite. All the other functionality described in this article is available on Guide Professional and Enterprise only.

Help Center, by default, offers the option for end-users to submit requests. If you have Guide Professional or Enterprise, end-users who submit requests can also manage their support requests in the customer portal.

The Help Center might not offer the option to submit support requests. It depends on how the Help Center is set up. This section describes the default options for submitting requests and tracking them in the customer portal, without any customization.

Topics covered in this section:

Submitting a support request

End-users can submit requests using the support request form (or web form) on your Help Center. Depending on how your Help Center is set up, users may or may not be required to signed in to submit support requests in Help Center.

The support request form might contain more fields than those described in this section. It depends on how the Help Center is set up. You cannot remove any of the default fields on the submit request form. However, you can set up single sign-on, so users will automatically be signed-in to Help Center and will not have to enter their email in the form. See Single sign-on options in Zendesk for more information on SSO.

Note: The ability to submit support requests is available on Guide Lite. All the other functionality described in this article is available on Guide Professional and Enterprise only.

To submit a support request in Help Center

  1. In the Help Center, click Submit a request at the top of the page.
  2. If the CC option is enabled for the Help Center and you are signed in, you can add an email address to copy a user on the ticket.

    To copy multiple users, use a comma to separate each email address.

  3. Enter a subject and description of the problem.

    As you enter a subject, a list of suggested articles in the knowledge base appears. You can click one of the articles instead of submitting the request. Encouraging end-users to look for answers in the knowledge base can deflect tickets.

  4. If you belong to multiple organizations, select the organization for this support request.
  5. Add any attachments.

    The file size limits are 1 MB for Essential, 7 MB for Team, and 20 MB for Professional and Enterprise.

  6. Click Submit.

Updating a support request by email

End-users can update an existing support request ticket with a comment by email.

Your email must reference an existing ticket ID, using the proper syntax, in plain text. You must have permission to update the ticket, either as the ticket requester, a CC on the ticket, or a member of a shared organization for the ticket.

To update an existing support request by email
  1. In your email client, create a new email message or forward an existing email.

    The email is to the support team. The subject can be anything you want.

  2. At the top of body of the email, enter the ticket ID for an existing support request using the following syntax: 
    #id ticketnumber

    For example:

    #id 123456
  3. Leave one blank line after the ticket ID.
  4. Enter the comment you want to add to the ticket after the blank line.

    Your email should look something like this.

  5. Send the email.

Updating a support request in My Activities with a comment, CC, or organization

You can update any existing support request that is not closed with a comment.

You can also add CCs (if enabled in the Help Center) to an existing support request. And if you belong to multiple organizations, you can also change the organization for a support request when you view it in Help Center.

To update an existing support request

  1. Click your profile icon on the upper-right side of any Help Center page, and then click My activities.

    By default, the My Activities page displays all requests that you have submitted.
  2. Click the link for the request you want to update.
  3. Add a comment to update the request.
  4. (Optional) If the CC option is enabled for the Help Center and you are signed in, you can add an email address to copy a user on the ticket

    When you add a CC to an existing ticket, you must also add a comment.

  5. (Optional) If you belong to multiple organizations, you can change the organization for the support request.
  6. Click Submit.

Tracking your support requests

You can use the Help Center to track your support requests.

If you belong to multiple organizations, you can also change the organization for a support request when you view it in Help Center.

To track your support requests

  1. Click your profile icon on the upper-right side of any Help Center page, and then click My activities.

    By default, the page displays all requests that you have submitted.

  2. To filter your requests by status, select a request status from the Status menu.
    • Open is a ticket that's been assigned to an agent who is working to resolve it.
    • Awaiting your reply is a ticket that's been assigned to an agent, but the agent is waiting for more information from you before resolving the ticket.
    • Solved is displayed when work on the ticket is complete.
  3. To search your requests, enter a search term in the Search Requests box.

    You can use ticket property keywords in your search, if you'd like.

  4. To see details about a request, click the request title.

    If you belong to multiple organizations, you can change the organization for a support request when you view details for that request.

Tracking your organization's support requests 

As an end-user you can be a member of one organization or multiple organizations. If you're a member of a shared organization, you can see tickets for all members of that organization.

Note: A shared organization must be set up by an administrator. For more information, see Setting up a shared organization for end-users.

To track your organization's support requests

  1. Click your profile icon on the upper-right side of any page, and then click My activities.

  2. Click the Organization Requests link on the My Activities page to see all the requests in your organizations.

    The link appears only if you're a member of a shared organization.

  3. To see details about a request, click the request title.

    You can add comments to a request if an administrator has set it up. For more information, see Setting up a shared organization for end-users.

To subscribe to requests for a shared organization
  1. Click your profile icon on the upper-right side of any page, and then click My activities.
  2. Click the Organization Requests link on the My Activities page to see all the requests in your organizations.

    The link appears only if you're a member of a shared organization in Zendesk.

  3. Click Follow.

    Note: If the Follow button is not available, you might need to ask your administrator to add it to your Help Center theme (see Add Follow/Unfollow for users in a shared organization).

    You will now receive notifications for new and updated request in your shared organization.

Marking a request as solved

You can withdraw a request by marking it as solved. The request must be assigned to an agent before you can mark it as solved.

To mark a request as solved

  1. Click your profile icon in the upper-right side of any page, and then click My activities.
  2. Click the title of an open request to open it.
  3. Select the option on the lower side of the request to mark it as solved.

    The request must be assigned to an agent. Otherwise, you do not have the option to mark it as solved.

  4. Enter any comment you want in the reply and click Add Reply.

Creating a follow-up to a solved request

You can reopen a solved request by creating a follow-up ticket.

To create a follow-up to a solved request

  1. Click your profile icon in the upper-right side of any page, and then click My activities.
  2. Click All my requests in the sidebar.
  3. Click the title of a solved request to open it.
    Tip: If you have a long list of requests, filter the view by selecting Solved from the Status menu.
  4. Click the link on the lower side of the request to create a follow-up request.
  5. Complete the follow-up request and click Submit.
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29 Comments

  • Erin

    Is there a place to find analytics tracking of the number of tickets that are generated via the form on the help center? I have found a location to view the number of tickets created as a result of a search, but we're currently tracking total volume generated via this channel by asocaiting a tag to it, and this tag is accidentally getting associated with other tickets.

    1
  • Daniel Yousaf

    Hi Erin!

    You can use Insights to report on tickets by how they were submitted.  Help Center tickets are submitted via "web form"  Here's an example report that shows how to track tickets by how they were submitted:

    Insights: Tickets by agent by channel

    Please let us know if you have questions :)

    0
  • Sergio Anarte

    You say "In Zendesk Support, an open request is a ticket that's been assigned to an agent who is working to resolve it." I think that's not correct when an end-user goes to "My activities", because for tickets they report and are not assigned yet, the end user will see the ticket in "open" status, but the agent will see the ticket in "new" status....

    it should be a way to show the end-user the tickets in "new" status, so they can trace when a ticket is assigned to somebody or not.

     

    0
  • Nicole S.
    Zendesk Community Team

    Thanks for that feedback, Sergio. We've passed your comment along to the documentation team. 

    1
  • Hervin Centeno

    Hi Sergio,

    Thanks for reaching out to regarding this issue. My name's Hervin from Zendesk Customer Advocacy and I'll be assisting you today.

    First and foremost, the behavior you had described regarding the end-users' experience looking at their tickets is expected. The reason why we have limited statuses showing to our end-users is that we felt that realistically they only needed to know if their ticket has been received and will be worked on or if it has already been solved.

    If you wish to give your customers more information to work with, that is something you are able to provide with custom ticket fields. I should note this is not information that will be visible from the My Activities page, however they can see that info. if they click on the specific ticket. If you wish to make this visible to your end-users, you may create a custom ticket field in the form of a drop-down field that has the various statuses you wish to convey and make sure that is "visible to end-users".

    I will make sure to flag this article for our Documentation team so that they will make this behavior more clear for our users. Please let us know if there is anything else we may assist you with, otherwise I hope you have a great day!

    0
  • Sergio Anarte

    Hi Nicole and Hervin,

    Super clear, thanks for the detailed explanation. Have a great day you too.

    0
  • Chris Thomassen

    Hi, 

    Yesterday we went live with Guide and we actively steer users towards using the 'submit a request' form.

    Unfortunately we are now experiencing major issues with our views & filters, because they filter for certain e-mail addresses on which the ticket was received.

    I cannot find any e-mail settings in guide, so I have no clue where the 'submit a request' form is actually mailed to. Hence tot able to filter in the views and tickets now showing up in their respective folders.

    This is causing major issues. Can somebody please advise how to make this work?

     

     

    1
  • Gail L
    Zendesk Community Team

    Hi Chris,

    Zendesk support here, I'd like to get some account specific information to help you with this, so I'll be creating a ticket and reaching out to you via email. 

    Cheers,

    1
  • Cosley Campbell

    Hi there!

    Is there any way to turn off the ability to mark a request as solved? Clients are doing this and agents are not notified.  This is creating issues since there is some back end follow up still required on many of these requests.

    Thanks,

    Cosley

    0
  • Ayal Kellman

    Hi - 

    When a user is browsing the Help Center and submits a request, is there a way to track what article they submitted the request from? Specifically asking for the mobile SDK...

    Thanks

    0
  • Simon Celen

    Hi Cosley Campbell,

    There is no setting for that as far as I'm aware. You could achieve what you want by customizing your Guide Theme.

    Edit the request_page.hbs file and look for

    {{#if request.can_be_marked_as_solved}}
    <a role="button" class="button-large button-secondary mark-as-solved"
    data-solve-translation="{{t 'mark_as_solved'}}"
    data-solve-and-submit-translation="{{t 'mark_as_solved_and_submit'}}">
    {{t 'mark_as_solved'}}
    </a>
    {{/if}} 

    We can hide it as follows:

    {{!-- 
    {{#if request.can_be_marked_as_solved}}
    <a role="button" class="button-large button-secondary mark-as-solved"
    data-solve-translation="{{t 'mark_as_solved'}}"
    data-solve-and-submit-translation="{{t 'mark_as_solved_and_submit'}}">
    {{t 'mark_as_solved'}}
    </a>
    {{/if}}
    --}}

     

    Publish the change and the mark a request as solved feature will be gone.

    Feel free to get in touch if you need anything else.

    1
  • Simon Celen

    Hi Ayal Kellman,

    You could achieve that by adding a Custom Ticket Field and customizing your Guide Theme.

    1. Add a Custom Ticket Field and name it f.e. "Last Guide article visited":
      Hit save and note its Field ID in the Ticket Fields list, f.e. 0123456789.
      Next add the Ticket Field to your Ticket Form(s).

    2. Edit the script.js file in your Theme. Near the top add the lines in bold (and replace the 0123456789 with your Field ID). 
      $(document).ready(function() {

        // CUSTOM: store the article URL when on article page
        if ($('#article-container').length) {
          localStorage.setItem('last_guide_article', location.href);
        }
        // CUSTOM: populate "Last Guide article visited" Custom Ticket Field when on new request page
        $('input#request_custom_fields_0123456789').val(localStorage.getItem('last_guide_article'));

      ...
    3. Edit the style.css file and at the very bottom add the lines in bold (and replace the 0123456789 with your Field ID).
      // CUSTOM: hide the "Last Guide article visited" Custom Ticket Field when on new request page
      div.request_custom_fields_0123456789 { display: none; }
    4. Optional: The Custom Ticket Field is also displayed on the user's My Activities. It's not classified information but you may want to hide it there. Edit the request_page.hbs article and look for:
      {{#each custom_fields}}
      <dt>{{title}}</dt>
      <dd>
        {{value}}
      </dd>
      {{/each}}
      ... and change that to:
      {{#each custom_fields}}
        {{#isnt title 'Last Guide article visited' }}
          <dt>{{title}}</dt>
          <dd>
            {{value}}
          </dd>
        {{/isnt}}
      {{/each}}

     

    Save and publish the theme and that should do it. Tickets should now be coming in with a URL to the "Last Guide article visited" by the user.

    Feel free to get in touch if you need help.

    0
  • Cosley Campbell

    Thank you!

    0
  • Drew Wasson

    Is there a way to display the last public comment on a ticket, instead of the last activity (which could be a internal update or internal comment)? 

    As an end-user, I only want to sort tickets by time when information is published for my consumption.  If I look at "My Activities" and a ticket has a recent updated time stamp but I don't see new information, then I may get confused.

    0
  • Ayal Kellman

    @... - Thanks!

    Just to clarify - when I implement all that you wrote, I will get the same results from the Help Center mobile SDK? Thanks

    0
  • Matt Faircloth

    I see that the file size limit is 20 MB for Professional and Enterprise. Are there any limitations on the type of files that can be uploaded as attachments?

     

    Thanks!

    0
  • Devan - Community Manager
    Zendesk Community Team

    Hello Matt Faircloth,

    This would also be 20 MB for upload attachments, as well. This article on Adding Attachments to Tickets breaks down this in further detail if you had any other questions.

    Best regards. 

    0
  • Matt Faircloth

    Hi Devan!

     

    I was actually wondering about limitations on file formats? Are all file types permitted?

     

    Thanks!

    Matt

    0
  • Brett Bowser
    Zendesk Community Team

    Hey Matt,

    I wasn't able to find any listed file type restrictions so it could depend on where the end-user is sending the file from. I know there are some limitations set on the email provider's side. If you're looking to set up attachment restrictions, you may want to take a look at the Attachment Manager app.

    Hope this helps!

    0
  • Zengel, Brian

    Is there a way to limit the amount of tickets that a customer can view?  We have been using Zendesk since 2014 and I'm planning to go live with the customer portal in 2020.  I would like to only show tickets starting in 2020.  

    Thanks.

    0
  • Brett Bowser
    Zendesk Community Team

    Hi Brian,

    You'd either have to delete the tickets in your Support account, or use custom code in your guide theme to only show tickets that are created after 2019. I wasn't able to track down in sample code on my end but perhaps the following articles will point you in the right direction:

    If you don't have the necessary resources available to assist with customizing your Help Center, we do have a Professional Services team that can assist at an additional cost. This is something you'll want to discuss with your account manager so if you're interested, I'm happy to get you in touch if needed.

    Let me know if you have any other questions for me.

    Cheers!

    0
  • Yamile Martinez

    Hi Jennifer,

    We work with the Airlines with thousands of Agencies, for this context the "My Activities" Search does not work.

    The search should not depend on the organization, it should show all tickets that it finds with the domain of the customer.  

    Our customers (airlines) are upset because when they just want to go to the ticket by searching the ticket#, it does not find it.  Now it becomes a process to find which organization submitted the ticket.

    Is there any way this can be solved?  We have many angry customers

    Thanks,

    Yami

    0
  • Dennis Sands

    We are a small organization and purchased the Lite version.  We come to find out (not what the sales person said) that you can User can enter a ticket, but can't view progress?  That seems ridiculous.  Why allow a User to enter a ticket and then never know what happens to it.

    Now we are being told we need to upgrade to provide our Users with a very common function.

    Is this correct??

    1
  • Devan - Community Manager
    Zendesk Community Team

    Hello Dennis Sands,

    Sorry to hear that you are having a less than optimal experience with the current plan you are on. You are correct, though, that you would need to upgrade to the next level of Guide Professional to have access to the Customer request portal. 

    Best regards. 

    0
  • Bansard International

    Dear,

    What means "Support request form" in Guide Lite ? Users only have a URL link to submit their requests, but without any User access to ticket status tracking ?

    Are you sure guys that "Customer request portal" has always been in Guide Professional ? Was it a free feature some time before ?

    Cheers,

    Zidong

    0
  • Devan - Community Manager
    Zendesk Community Team

    Hello Bansard International,

    So as Guide has stood as a product, the ability to utilize the Support request form has always been a professional and above feature. So you would need to upgrade to the next level of Guide Professional to have access to the Customer request portal,

    Best regards. 

    0
  • Julie Jenkins

    If we set up guide for the customer portal only option to view and submit tickets, will all customer tickets be viewable in this portal regardless if they called , emailed or submitted the ticket online?  

    0
  • Devan - Community Manager
    Zendesk Community Team

    Hello Julie Jenkins,

    You are technically correct, which is the best kind of correct! Let us know if you need help implementing this on your end.

    Best regards. 

    0
  • Julie Jenkins

    Thanks!!

     

    0

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