Automating the Creation of Google Calendar Events From “Task” Tickets Using a Zapier Trigger

Let's say you want to have a reminder about a ticket in your Google Calendar...well now you can!

Currently when a ticket type is selected as "Task" this adds the ticket to your "Current Tasks" view Zendesk Support. You can also create Views and Automations based on the number of hours remaining before a task is about to come due by utilizing the "hours until due date" condition. More information here:

https://support.zendesk.com/entries/22232383-How-due-date-automations-work

Note: Currently Zapier does not have a trigger that integrates Outlook with Zendesk Support.

From this point you may want to also have a reminder in your Google Calendar. Creating an event in your Google Calendar from a ticket is possible by leveraging what's called a "Zap" within Zapier. This will allow you to sync data between Zendesk Support and Google Calendar.

Make your Zap

First off you will need a free Zapier account. You can sign up for that here.

1. To get started you will need to head over to your Zapier Dashboard and click "Make A Zap" to get started.

2. Choose "Zendesk" and "New Ticket" in your trigger options.

3. Next, you'll be asked to connect to your Zendesk account. Simply click the "Connect a New Account" button.

4. A pop-up will appear asking for your Account URL, Agent Email and API Token. You can read how to find those here.

5. Next you will want to choose your "Current Tasks" view. This will then only pull in new task tickets for your automation.

6. Then you will need to test your trigger. This stage will pull in a recent task ticket from Zendesk Support, which you'll be able to use later in the Zap set up. If you haven't had a recent ticket in this view in a while, you should go and create a new one first in Zendesk Support. Once that's tested it will show as successful.

7. Now you can set up the action step. Choose "Google Calendar" as your action app and "Create Detailed Event" as your action.

8. A pop up will appear. If you are already logged into Google in your browser, it will automatically connect you, if not you will be asked to login. You will also need to 'allow" Zapier access to your account.

9. Now you will be at the template stage of your Zap creation. This is where you can choose what data you sent from your ticket to pass on to your Google Calendar event. First you will need to choose the Calendar you want.

10. Then you can use the "Insert Fields" buttons to choose which part of your ticket you want to use to create your Calendar Event. In the example below we'll make the ticket subject the summary of the event and the ticket description the description of the event. There's more info on how to set up the template stage of your Zap here.

11. Finally you will want to test your Zap action. This will create an event on your calendar based on your trigger test ticket so that you can check to see the Zap is working correctly.

12. All that's left to do after that, is name your Zap and turn it on.

That's it! Now each time you get a new task ticket in Zendesk Support, it will automatically create an event in your Google Calendar. This is yet another way to create a workflow that is beautifully simple with Zendesk Support.

You can get an idea of what else is possible between Zendesk Support and Google Calendar on Zapier here.

Note: You can also download an .ics file for use in, for example, Outlook or Google. Just hover over the "Due Date" ticket field and click Add to calendar to download the .ics file. For more information on importing an .ics file:

Outlook: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook-help/import-a-file-HP003073738.aspx# Toc278198845 Google: http://support.google.com/calendar/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=37118