There may be times when you need to open a ticket on someone else's behalf. For example, you may be providing support to someone using a telephone (and not Zendesk Talk, which creates a ticket for you when you take the call) and you want to capture the support request in a ticket. You can create a new ticket and then set the person you're providing support to as the ticket requester.
Tickets created on behalf of an end-user can be public (the end-user for whom it was created can view the ticket), or private (the end-user cannot view the ticket, until the ticket is manually made public).
This article contains the following topics:
Creating a public ticket for an end-user
When an agent creates a public ticket for an end-user, the end-user is added to the ticket as the requester, and can view and update the ticket as described in Updating and solving tickets.
When you create a public ticket for an end-user, it triggers the following events:
- The end-user receives a notification that a ticket was created on their behalf.
- The ticket appears in the end-user's My Activities list.
- The ticket appears in the end-user's Help Center searches.
In most cases, a public ticket cannot be made private. However, in some cases it's possible. See Changing a ticket from public to private for information.
To create a ticket on an end-user's behalf
- Hover over the +Add tab in the top toolbar, then select Ticket.
- If private ticket creation is enabled, click Public Reply so the end-user can access the ticket immediately. If private ticket creation is not enabled, the ticket is accessible by default, and no action is necessary.
- If the requester is an existing user, begin entering the user's name, email domain, or organization name in the Requester field and the relevant results appear. Select a user.
Note: Alternatively, you can open the user's profile, then click User options in the bottom toolbar and select New ticket. The user's name automatically appears in the Requester field.
If the requester does not yet have an account, add them by clicking +Add user at the bottom of the search results.
- Enter the ticket data, then click Submit as New.
The requester receives the new ticket email notification.
Creating a private ticket for an end-user
Agents can open a ticket that is not visible to the end-user for whom they are creating it, and can choose when (or if) to allow the end-user to access the ticket.
Private ticket creation must be enabled before an agent can use it. You must have administrator privileges to enable this feature. See Enabling private ticket creation.
When a private ticket is created for an end-user, the end-user is included as the ticket requester; however, some notifications and other ticket-related events are not triggered. For instance:
- The end-user is not notified that a ticket has been created on their behalf.
- Private tickets do not show up in the end-user's My Activities list, or in Help Center searches.
These events are triggered when the ticket is made public.
Once your admin enables private ticket creation, you can create a new ticket on behalf of an end-user.
To create a private ticket on an end-user's behalf
- Hover over the +Add tab in the top toolbar, then select Ticket.
The Internal note option should be selected by default.
- If the requester is an existing user, begin entering the user's name, email domain, or organization name in the Requester field and the relevant results appear. Select a user.
Note: Alternatively, you can open the user's profile, then click User options in the bottom toolbar and select New ticket. The user's name automatically appears in the Requester field.
If the requester does not yet have an account, add them by clicking +Add user at the bottom of the search results.
- Enter the ticket data, then click Submit as New.
All comments default to Internal note (private) from then on, including comments added via email, voice recordings, and the like, until you make the ticket public.
Using private tickets internally
There a number of internal uses for private tickets. You can:
- Make records of calls and meetings with your customers. These can be stored as tickets, meaning you get a more accurate picture of your Support team's effort, without bothering your customer.
- Take action on issues that you can't share. Sometimes tasks need to be carried out on behalf of a customer account -- investigations or corrective actions -- that might be sensitive. With a private ticket, it can remain internal.
- Prepare for an interaction before communications open up. Because private tickets can be shared just by adding a public comment, you can use the ticket to gather materials, prepare, or take notes, then make the ticket public when you're ready to address it with the end-user.
- Send someone else a task. Throw together a private ticket, record some steps or actions that need to be taken, and assign it to someone else, or set it in a queue for the next available person.
You can associate a private ticket with a customer, meaning the record is there for future reference, and you get the value of reporting, whether that's accurate accounting of what your team is doing, or the amount of work you're doing on behalf of a particular customer or organization, without involving the end-user until you're ready.
Changing a ticket from private to public
Private tickets can be made accessible to the requester and any CC'd end-users. Once a ticket is made public, it cannot be made private again. However, Internal notes remain hidden from end-users, as usual.
To change a ticket from private to public
- Above the comment entry box, click Public reply.
- Enter your comment, then click Submit.
Changing a ticket from public to private
If a public ticket has only one comment, you can make the ticket private by changing the Public reply to an Internal comment. This works only on tickets where there is a single, public comment.
Note that when you change a Public reply to an Internal comment, you cannot make it public again.
To change a ticket from public to private
- In the comment stream, click the conversation drop-down and select Events.
- When the events detail list opens, click Make this comment an internal note.
- A warning pops up, verifying that you want to perform this action. Click Yes, convert to an internal note.
Comments
29 comments
I've created a ticket on behalf of my client, but {{ticket.comments_formatted}} shows my name and not the requester's name.
The thing is this: we are moving all our support emails to Zendesk through support@mycompany.... But still some clients write us to contact@mycompany.... So, in those cases, we copy the text received (the text written by the client), and we create a ticket on behalf of that client.
But then {{ticket.comments_formatted}} shows my name as the author of the comment. Is there a way to avoid that?
Hi Lisandro!
I think the easiest thing to do would be to add contact@yourcompany.com as a support address in your Zendesk so that emails received there are automatically created as tickets.
You can then create a custom "Notify requester of received request" trigger for tickets received via that address to inform customers that they need to submit future requests to your other support address.
Do you think that would work for you?
We also have been trying to improve the workflow for ticket creation.
We want to be able to get the ticket ID so that it can be provided to the customer while on the phone. Then when we submit the ticket, the email that they receive will have the ticket id and the ticket link in the body of that email.
We want the ability to do all of that when creating a ticket on behalf of the customer. Is this possible...?
Hi Nicholson!
If you're using Zendesk Voice, the ticket that is opened when the call is accepted will already have a ticket number assigned to it, so you can give that out at any time.
If you're using another voice service and manually creating a ticket when the call comes in, you will need to submit the ticket before a ticket ID will be assigned.
In order for that information to be sent out when the ticket is submitted, you just need to make sure that the appropriate placeholders are present in your notification triggers.
Please let me know if you have any further questions on this!
Sometimes, we need to reach out to our users first - we do this when addressing negative reviews from Google Play that cannot be solved in the character limit of the reply from the developer. We do this by opening a new ticket on behalf of the user.
I just found out yesterday that when we do this, the user gets an email with the subject "Welcome to Sygic support" with the link to their new ticket. However, I suspect most of our users never notice the link, or do not understand the email at all.
Is there a way to stop sending them these welcome emails, and send them the ticket itself, its text included?
Thanks!
Hi Tereza!
You should be able to take care of this by going into your Admin menu, scrolling down to the Settings section, and clicking on Customers. Scroll down to the Account emails section, and uncheck the box next to Also send a welcome email when a new user is created by an agent or administrator.
When this function is disabled, welcome emails will not be sent out when a user is created by an Agent or Administrator, and should take care of your issue.
In order to send the content of the ticket to the end-user, you'll want to make sure that your "Notify request of received request" trigger is set up to fire when the ticket is created internally. Alternatively, you can create a new trigger specifically for this purpose.
Please let me know if you have any other questions!
How would I set up a trigger that only runs on agent-created tickets?
Hi Patrick!
The following trigger would only fire on agent created tickets:
@rebecca - how would I add these conditions to an automation?
We're sending CSAT emails to end-users, 24 hours after their request. They can submit requests via ticket form or by email. I want to exclude any tickets that were created by agents.
Hey Giovanni!
Automations aren't going to have the same conditions as Triggers, since they automatically run on an hourly schedule rather than firing when a ticket is updated with matching conditions. This means you won't be able to re-create the exact thing pictured above.
I did a sanity check and was able to confirm that Automations don't have a Ticket: Creator condition either, so I think the only way to go here is going to be to set up a Trigger similar to what's pictured in Rebecca's comment, and have that add a tag to the ticket (ie: agent_created).
Then you just have to add one additional condition to your existing CSAT Automation: Ticket: Tags > Contain none of the following > agent_created (or whatever tag you specify for this).
Then, when your Automations run, they'll only run on tickets where that tag is NOT present.
Hey Scott! I am so, so sorry that this fell through the cracks!
Your agents can view all of the tickets they've submitted by doing a quick search in Support. By typing in the operator Submitter:me the search will return all tickets that were submitted by that agent, regardless of requester.
Apologies again! Let us know if you need anything else!
We create tickets for our customers in cases where we need to ask them questions about their order. Today I was told that they did not receive a notification for it. I tested with my test account and also did not receive a notification. Can someone advise as to where I may have a setup problem? I see from this thread, that it should be a default action by the system.
I have the same problem as Steve. The requester does not get a notification.
We can add the customer in the copy field, but then the agent become to be the requester, and get a copy in his own mailbox each time he as a agent updates the ticket.
Hey Steve and Charlotta -
I've pinged a few folks to look into this and someone should be by to help out shortly.
In the meantime, I see that you're both new here - welcome to the Zendesk Community! I encourage you to head over to the Welcome Thread in The Lounge to introduce yourself.
We look forward to seeing you around the Community. Happy Zendesking!
Hey Steve and Charlotta,
Steve, you're correct that this is a default function but it can be turned off and that is most likely what happened in this case. There is a default trigger called "Notify Requester of Received Request" -- this is the trigger that sends your customers an email whenever a ticket is created. This works both when they send in a ticket and when you create a ticket for them. If you disabled it because you did not want your customers being notified that you received their request it would also disable the trigger's other duty of notifying customers that you created a request for them.
You could either re-enable it or you can create a new trigger for this purpose. In case you deleted the trigger here are the original settings:
You can add a condition "Current user is (agent)" under Meet All the Following Conditions if you want this to only fire when you create a ticket for the customer.
This is likely what has happened in your case as well Charlotta. The only thing i'd make sure of is that you're reassigning the ticket correctly if your agent is getting the requester notifications. You can read up on how to change the requester here: Updating Ticket Requester
Hi! I was wondering if there is a way for a non-agent to submit a ticket on behalf of a customer? Here is the scenario. We have account managers within our organization who are not Zendesk agents. However, often times they need to submit requests for our customers. I need a way to allow them to submit tickets for a customer and those tickets come in with the requester being that customer/organization. Is this possible?
Hi Hope! Welcome to the Community!
Do you have an active Help Center? If your account managers aren't agents in Zendesk, they should be able to create a ticket on behalf of the customer using the Submit a Request form there. Depending on the plan you're on, you could even create a custom form specifically for the account managers to use if there's specific information they need to provide.
Do you think that would work for you?
Hi Jessie!
Yes! We have an active Help Center. So... On the form, you can have a field for "Requester"? I tried looking for that, but did not see it. How do they change the ticket to come in as the customer?
They can currently submit tickets for a customer, but they cannot submit a ticket AS a customer.
Thoughts?
Thanks!
Hey Hope!
In the default ticket form it asks for the user's email address. This is what is used to determine the requester of the ticket. :)
Ah, smart! What is the name of that field? I can't seem to find an email field to add to the form? I do not see it on our default form.
Hey Hope -
The field doesn't show up in your form builder, because it's one you cannot change. It should show up on your form, unless you entered some fancy Javascript to hide it or something.
Refresh your browser and check it from an incognito window. If it still doesn't show up let us know and we'll see if we can figure out what's going on.
Hola,
Si creo un ticket y pongo el solicitante por que no recibe el primer correo???
Hola David!
Si usted esta creando un ticket en nombre de otra persona, el usuario deberá recibir el ticker. Si tiene un ticket de ejemplo sugiero enviarnos esta solicitud a support@zendesk.com para poder tratar su caso mas a detalle y verificar los eventos ocurridos en ese ticket.
Es la mejor opción para poder encontrar la mejor solución a su caso especifico, espero su ticket!
Gracias!
I have created a ticket of behalf of a requester and submitted it as Pending or as Open with a public comment as I'm waiting for customer reply.
This did not activate any trigger, it only triggers when I submit as new.
Is there a way to identify this and trigger the same "Notify Requester" trigger?
Hi Eran,
I'm going to create a ticket so we can get some more details from you on this and we can troubleshoot further from there. See you in the ticket. :)
Hi,
we have a number of support addresses in each brand. Would it be ever possible to choose from which address the ticket will be sent to the customer? Currently it is sent from the default address of the particular brand.
Cheers
Hello,
Is there a way to check if a requester email address does not match a field?
In our example, we receive a ticket from a customer, but then we may need to use the connect a ticket app to open a 2nd ticket to reach our to our supplier for the product. However, we rely on our agents to manually type in the suppliers email address each time, so this can cause problems with emails not reaching the correct company.
We do capture a "supplier" drop down field, "product" in a drop down field, and use a "supplier/customer" forms to distinguish the difference between a "customer" ticket
The example would be that the agent logs ticket as
form: supplier
Supplier field: Company A
Product field: Android
The correct email address should be: Android@companyA.com
but then the agent puts the requester email address as: Iphone@companyA.com, adroid@companya.com, or even the customer's email address a 2nd time.
We are looking to find a trigger or a report that would tell us when the email address is entered incorrectly compared to the forms and fields.
Right now we have to build a view and manual scroll through the requester table column for errors.
I hope that someone is able to suggest a better process.
Thank you for your help!
Hi Jiri!
If the ticket comes in via email, the responses will come from whatever email address the user sent the ticket to.
However, if you're creating the ticket via another means, it will default to the primary support address in your Zendesk. There's no way to change this out of the box, but there is a Zendesk Labs app that will allow you to do it, called Select an Address.
Just bear in mind that Zendesk Labs apps aren't officially supported, so proceed with caution.
Hi Mike!
There aren't any business rules that test for a ticket requester, so I'm afraid there's nothing there that's going to help you with your QA on these tickets.
It might be best to streamline the process to make it more difficult for agents to make errors. For instance, you can set up a macro that must be applied to these linked tickets when they're created based on which company/product the user is contacting you about. You can include any instructions that will be helpful to your agents, and provide the email address for the to copy/paste into the Requester field to help avoid misspellings and misdirected tickets.
You can also make sure that a tag is added to these linked tickets, which would make it easy to put them in a QA View so admins/team leads/managers can go in and check on them to make sure that the requester information is correct. It's a manual process, but easier than what you're doing now, and will make it easy for you to identify who might need some coaching on the process.
Another option, if you're on the Professional or Enterprise plan, would be to use the Light Agents feature to add folks from your partner companies to your Zendesk. Light Agents can't be assigned to tickets, but they can be CC'd which will allow you to communicate with them directly in the original ticket via private note.
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