- Enable your registered or unregistered (anonymous) Zendesk Support users to submit support requests from within the WordPress administrator dashboard (see Setting up anonymous ticket submissions with Zendesk Support for WordPress).
- Convert blog comments into tickets and add a public comment that can also be posted as a reply in the blog post.
- View all of the tickets in the tickets widget, which is added to the administrator dashboard.
- View details for each ticket and then open them in Zendesk Support to make updates.
- Add a contact form to the administrator dashboard so that your site users can quickly make support requests.
- Set the visibility permissions for each type of registered WordPress site user (administrators, editors, authors, contributors, subscribers), allowing them to either see the tickets widget or the contact form.
- Add the Web Widget to your WordPress site.
- Enable your users to sign in to Zendesk Support using single sign-on (SSO) (see Setting up single sign-on (SS0) for WordPress).
Installing the Zendesk Support for WordPress plugin
The Zendesk Support for WordPress plugin can be added to your WordPress site just like any other plugin. Plugins are only supported in self-hosted WordPress sites (wordpress.org), not free hosted sites on wordpress.com.
- Download the plugin at http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/zendesk/.
- Log in to your WordPress site as an administrator.
Note: If you installed a beta version of the Zendesk Support for WordPress plugin, delete it in WordPress before installing the new version.
- In the dashboard, select Plugin > Add New.
- Select Upload.
- Click Browse to select the file you downloaded (zendesk.zip).
- Click Install Now.
- After the file is uploaded and installed, click Activate.
The next step is to configure the plugin with your account information and then select the features that you want to enable.
Configuring the plugin settings
Activating the plugin adds a new panel to the WordPress administrator dashboard, as shown here:
You need to configure your subdomain to access Zendesk Support in WordPress.
- Click the set up link and you'll be prompted to enter your subdomain.
- Enter your subdomain.
Note: If you use host mapping, this is automatically detected when you save the account settings.
- Click Save Settings.
You will next be prompted to optionally set the visibility permissions for your registered site users, customize the contact form, allow support requests from unregistered (anonymous) users, and to add the Web Widget to your WordPress site.
For information about allowing anonymous users to submit requests, see Setting up anonymous ticket submissions with Zendesk Support for WordPress.
You can set these options immediately or later by selecting the Zendesk Support settings from the Zendesk Support for WordPress panel, as shown here:
Setting the dashboard widget visibility by user type
You can add either the contact form or the Zendesk Support widget to the dashboards of the registered users (administrators, editors, authors, contributors, subscribers) of your WordPress site. The contact form allows them to submit support requests directly from WordPress and the ticket widget allows users who are also Zendesk Support agents to view tickets and quickly access Zendesk Support to make ticket updates. In other words, the contact form is for users who need to submit support requests and the tickets widget is for agents to manage tickets.
- When you initially set up the plugin, the settings page is displayed after you've configured Zendesk Support. You can otherwise access this page by selecting Settings from the Zendesk panel. Visibility permissions are set in the Dashboard Widget Visibility section.
- For each type of registered site user you can specify the following:
- Don't display anything
- Show a contact form
- Show the tickets widget
- Choose a visibility setting for all user types:
- Administrators
- Editors
- Authors
- Contributors
- Subscribers
- Click Save Changes.
Customizing the contact form
Using the contact form, your registered site users can submit support requests.
- Select Settings from the Zendesk Support panel.
- In the Contact Form Settings section, enter text for the form title, summary label, details label, and submit button label.
- Click Save Settings.
Adding the Web Widget to your WordPress site
Using the Zendesk Support for WordPress plugin, you can also easily add the Web Widget to your WordPress site. After integrate your WordPress site with Zendesk Support, the Web Widget code is automatically pulled into WordPress.
- If you haven't already done so, set up Zendesk Support Web Widget (see Using Web Widget to embed customer service in your website).
- In WordPress, select Settings from the Zendesk panel.
- Select one of the following Web Widget display settings:
- Do not display the Web Widget anywhere (this is the default)
- Display the Web Widget on all posts and pages
- I will decide where the Web Widget displays using a template tag
- If you selected to use a template tag, you can then place the Web Widget where you would like it on your site using the following template tag:
<?php if ( function_exists( 'the_zendesk_webwidget' ) ) the_zendesk_webwidget(); ?>
- Click Save Settings.
The Web Widget behaves as it would when added to any other web site. You can, for example, configure it to also allow users to chat with agents and to search your knowledge base.
Submitting a request from the dashboard
Registered site users who have been granted permission to see Zendesk Support contact form (shown above) on their dashboards, may submit support requests. These users can either be registered users in Zendesk Support or you can allow unregistered (anonymous) users to submit requests (see Setting up anonymous ticket submissions with Zendesk Support for WordPress).
Users simply fill out the contact form and click Submit. If you've configured the plugin to allow anonymous submissions, then the requester is not prompted to sign in to Zendesk Support; an agent acts as the delegate for anonymous requests. If not, all your users must sign in before submitting requests. After a request is submitted, the requester receives the usual email notification.
Using the ticket widget
Using the tickets widget, agents can view tickets using all of the shared views in Zendesk Support.
By selecting Change View you see and can switch to any of the shared views in Zendesk Support.
By clicking on a ticket, you see summary information about the ticket and make updates.
Converting a blog post comment into a ticket
You can convert blog comments into tickets in the dashboard. Only comments that have been submitted along with an email address can be converted into a ticket. The commenter's email address is used to add them to your instance of Zendesk Support and enable follow up communication about the ticket.
- In the WordPress administrator dashboard, select the Comments.
- Locate the comment you want to convert to a ticket and click Convert to Zendesk Ticket.
- You'll be prompted to enter a comment, which can be posted as a response in the post. Enter your comment and then optionally select either or both of these two options:
- Make this a public comment in the ticket
- Post as a reply on this blog post
- Click Create Ticket.
All follow up on the ticket occurs within Zendesk Support.
31 Comments
I've integrated my Wordpress and Zendesk accounts, and I enabled the Web Widget. When I click the button, I only see the Contact Form. I do not see the Help box first, where I can type search text and see a list of topics in Zendesk that match. I am linking to a sandbox version of Zendesk. I created a temporary Zendesk site, and when I configure my Wordpress site to work with that site, it works fine. Is there a setting in Zendesk that may be disabling the Web Widget? Thank you.
Hi Cheryl!
This sounds like you don't have the web widget configured to display Help Center articles. To turn that on, go to your Zendesk account, Admin (the cog) > Widget > Configuration.
Once there, make sure the Help Center button is switched on. Since you say you tested the same widget on a test account and it works, we may need to investigate further into what's specifically going on with your account. Feel free to open up a ticket with us if you continue to have problems!
Hi Shannon,
Thank you for the response. After some additional testing, I realized that I wasn't seeing the search results because our Zendesk site requires a login. Then I found that there is a beta version of the plugin that does support restricted sites. I sent a request for a download of the beta plugin, but I have not gotten a response yet.
Thank you!!
Hey Guys!
I am going to have my site ( https://bahargate.biz/ ) in other languages. Some of them are RTL such as Arabic and Farsi and some others are LTR.
As Enfold is a translation ready theme, could you guys let me know the steps (1- 2 – 3 …) I need to take to create my website in other languages. I’ll start with Farsi.
Thanks,
Mohammad
Hey Mohammad -
Welcome to the Zendesk Community! Here's our documentation on configuring your Help Center to support multiple languages.
Enfold is a Wordpress theme, so if your questions are specific to that, you may need to reach out to them directly. While we do offer localization (i.e. Zendesk can determine where you are in the world and serve up the proper language site) we do not provide the translation services.
Hopefully some other community members who have set up translated sites can jump in offer some help, too!
It would be really nice to have the option to add custom ticket fields to the contact form. Or, to redirect the user to the Help Center Submit a Request form instead of being stuck with the form above.
On my Wordpress site, the tickets widget on Admin cannot authenticate. I don't understand how manual authentication can be required if SSO is enabled? Notice also that there's an empty red error notification above the widget. I've deactivated all plugins...same result. I've changed themes...same result. SSO works...but this tickets widget won't authenticate. I've been communicating with Zendesk support agents for 2 days now.
Edited by Zendesk to remove screenshot with personal information in it.
Hey William!
I looked at your ticket and saw that you actually got this resolved by going to Channels > API and enabling Password Access. I'm glad you were able to get it figured out!
I'm going to go ahead and remove your screenshot, though...it's got your email address in there and we don't want anybody using it for nefarious purposes.
Let us know if you need anything else!
Hi,
I added the Zendesk plugin to my wordpress site and i am having issues logging in. When I log into zendesk directly, I use Gsuite however the plugin asks for a username and password but doesnt take my gsuite login. How can i log into the plugin since i do not have a login?
Thanks
@donny,
See below, you should be able to use a Zendesk username and password as long as you do not have this option selected. (Found under Security)
You may need to disable the gsuite to create a password? Can you then reset your password on Zendesk? Will this then allow you to log in?
Hey Andrew,
I was able to create a password but i keep getting this message when i try to log into the plugin:
"We could not authenticate you with Zendesk, please try again!"
I was able to log into zendesk with the same username and password so I am not sure what is going on. any help would be great.
Hello Donny, does it work with the Gsuite off? Or still not at all?
I havent tried this for quite a while. Are you an Admin?
Let me know - if I have a bit of spare time, I might try connecting my account to a WP install. You can contact me directly using https://bizstudio.co.nz
Hello,
Also is there an integration between Zendesk Guide and WordPress?
Hi Hale,
There's not integration between Guide and Wordpress at this time, however, you can embed the Web Widget into your Wordpress site and enable the Help Center within your widget. More information can be found in our Using Web Widget to embed customer service in your website article which I've attached.
Let us know if you have any other questions.
Cheers!
Why I cant see ”Convert to Zendesk Ticket“ in my wordpress comments tab?
That's the only function I need, but it seems nothing happened when I activate the plugin
Hi xx du,
The option should show up as long as the user that posted the comment has an email address associated with it. Is the option not showing up for any comments on your account? Have you tried uninstalling and re-installing the integration to see if that helps?
Let us know!
i use the code manually in head tag but the widget dosen't show in my site https://thegamersmall.com/ please help me
This article is about using the Zendesk-Wrodpress plugin, so I'm not sure what that code is you are embedding. It is not the Web widget code either. You actually have the code in the body.
Looks like your chat code is working though, possibly in the footer. Can you clarify what the problem is?
Does this integration also allow ZD KB search results to be delivered as part of the WP search results?
i.e. a Wordpress omnisearch across the WP site and the ZD KB.
Chad, no it doesn't do that. It would be a good WordPress modification. Perhaps there is a WordPress plugin that allows adding a custom Google search. For me it would not work though, as we are e-commerce and search surfaces products only. I link through to the ZDKB in my menu, and the ZD links back to the shop.
I've looked around in the past for another plugin for global/external search, but have been unable to find anything.
While I'm no developer, I think this would have to be handled a little more natively as a plugin by the 3rd party (like ZD) so they are able to more correctly connect into their own API. I would then love to have an empty WP page with a shortcode that would be used to populate the details of a single search result. This way it remains in the WP site, and the ZD result looks like a native search result.
We are a provider of training services and other related info (not just articles), but some of that info is relevant to our support team, hence a KB. I am looking for a way to bring KB articles into our other info as a larger central source.
Hello,
I'm looking to install this on my companies blog specifically for the 'turn comments into support tickets' feature, however when I look at comments I do not see an option to do that. Looking through earlier comments here, I've tried disabling and reenabling, and uninstalling and reinstalling the plugin files, but I do not see an option to turn comments into support tickets under comments in my wordpress install. Maybe I am looking in the wrong place? Do you have a screen shot or something that will show me exactly where to look? thanks so much!
Hi Ed,
There are 2 ways to convert comments to Zendesk ticket from within Wordpress
1. Convert comments from the Dashboard page. For video recording click here
2. Convert comments from the Comments page. For video recording click here
Thank you very much! As I suspected, I am not seeing the option to convert to zendesk ticket in either of those spots. I notice in your screen shot you are using an older version of Wordpress, and when I installed the Zendesk plugin it informed me that the plugin was not yet tested with the latest version 5.4.1, so maybe there is something with that?
Additionally, trying to log in to Zendesk support on the dashboard returns an error 'We could not authenticate you with Zendesk, please try again!', even though I'm using the same credentials to sign into the website.
Hi Ed,
Thanks for raising this, I'll have to get our engineers to have a look and confirm what the issue is.
Thanks,
David
Hi Ed,
We've just published a new version of the app which is compatible with the latest version of Wordpress. Are you able to download and install the latest version?
Another thing that might be causing this is if you're not logged in, there is a prerequisite step before we can use some of the plugin features that requires you to be logged in. Can you confirm you were logged in when you tried to use the features?
Thanks,
David Gillespie
Thank you, I've updated the plugin but it is still not authenticating my account credentials when trying to sign in through the dashboard using the same credentials I use to sign in to the Zendesk website. Is there another username/password its looking for?
I have not been able to sign in since attempting to get the 'convert wordpress comments to zendesk tickets' feature working, I suspect that once I am able to sign in, the options to convert will be available, but right now I am not able to sign in at all.
Update: Looking through comments again in this thread I see that I need to change a setting on my Zendesk account to 'Enable API authentication using an agent's email address and password.' under Zendesk API. Switching that to Enabled allows me to sign in to Zendesk from wordpress now. I wonder if that could be added to the documentation?
Also, I am still unable to see the option to convert comments to Zendesk tickets, even after signing in.
Hey Ed,
Do you happen to use SSO with your Zendesk account? Or are you using the native Zendesk login?
Let me know!
I cleared cookies and it appears that its working now, thanks so much for all your help with this!
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