The Outlook integration allows Outlook users with or without a Zendesk account to copy email contents to a new ticket in Zendesk without leaving the Outlook application.
In this article, we discuss:
- Requirements for setting up the integration
- Installing and configuring the integration
- Deleting the integration
- Frequently asked questions
Requirements for setting up the integration
The integration setup should be done in the Exchange Center admin by the administrator of your Microsoft organization, to ensure that any tickets created are sent to the correct Zendesk subdomain for your organization. Additionally, to set up the integration, you must:
- Have an Office 365
- Have permissions to install Outlook add-ins.
- Be a Zendesk administrator.
- *If you are using an on-premise exchange server, please consult with Microsoft support to configure the server to ensure that the add-in will work
Installing and configuring the integration
Before you can use the Outlook integration, you must perform the following tasks:
- Install the Zendesk add-in to Outlook.
- Configure the Zendesk add-in.
- Set up the integration.
To install the Zendesk add-in
- Open Office 365, and click on the Admin panel.
- In the left sidebar menu, select Admin and click Exchange.
- In the Organization section, click on add-ins.
- Click on the plus symbol and select Add from the Office Store.
- Click on Zendesk to select the add-in, then click Add.
- Return to the add-in list and double-click Zendesk Add-in.
This installs the Zendesk add-in from the Microsoft Store.
To configure the Zendesk add-in
- Open Outlook and select an email.
- Click the Zendesk add-in.
- Make sure the following options are selected:
- Make this add-in available to users in your organization
- Mandatory, always enabled. Users can't disable this add-in
- Go to your Outlook desktop application and click the Zendesk button on the upper-right part of the screen.
- Click Create Ticket.
You should see and error message with a link to set up the integration
To set up the integration
- In the error message described above, click the Set Up Now link. You will be redirected to the integration setup page.
- Enter your subdomain, then click Authorize.
- Complete the setup and return to Outlook
- Close the add-in and reopen it again
- Click the Create Ticket Button. You should see that a ticket is successfully created in Zendesk
Deleting the integration
Go to https://outlook.zendesk-integrations.com/account, enter your Zendesk subdomain and click delete.
Frequently Asked Questions
I successfully completed the integration setup but it still shows setup now in the add-in window?
Close the add-in window by clicking on the add-in and reopen it by clicking it again. This will refresh the add-in and will enable you to create a ticket successfully.
The add-in is integrated with the wrong Zendesk subdomain. How can I change it?
Go to https://outlook.zendesk-integrations.com/account, enter your Zendesk subdomain and click delete. Once deleted, you can setup the integration again with the new subdomain
When I click "View in Zendesk" I’m asked to log in but I don’t have credentials. How can I view the ticket in Zendesk?
Only employees in your organization with a Zendesk account can view tickets inside Zendesk. Request a Zendesk account from your organization’s Zendesk admin to view the ticket inside Zendesk.
How many Zendesk accounts can be connected to Outlook?
There is a 1:1 limitation for this integration.
65 Comments
Hi,
Seems to work like charm and was easy to setup in less than ten minutes. Noted that cc-receivers are not included correctly from the original email, which would be nice, and in our case adding the ticket added original sender also in the cc-field in Zendesk. Still, does not affect processing the ticket.
Hi Arno! I'm glad it's working well for you!
This plugin has great potential... It'd be even better if forms could be added!
We just set it up today for testing.
Calendar integration would be exceptional for tasks.
This does not appear to work with Group Mailboxes. When we attempt to utilize from a Group mailbox we receive the following message:
You cannot perform this action. Add-ins are not supported in this folder.
Contacted Microsoft but they were no help.
Austin, that's a limitation in Outlook - you can't load addins in a shared mailbox. See here https://officespdev.uservoice.com/forums/224641-general/suggestions/11634318-support-for-shared-mailboxes
Hi Austin,
Julie here from Zendesk. In order to perform this action, feel free to use the Zendesk integration with Office 365 Groups. You will be able to:
Here is the link to the apps marketplace page : https://www.zendesk.com/apps/outlook-groups/
Hope it helps!
Julie
Gavin,
Thank you, this is the answer I could not locate anywhere.
Hi Julie,
Thanks. We are using this integration as well but we are specifically looking to create a ticket from within an Outlook Group mailbox.
We initially had this connected to trial "playground" subdomain, and now we cannot reconnect it to our "real" production subdomain. Zendesk support has had this issue open for days; last time they updated the case was on May 6th and it has been 4 days and no update from them - I am little bit disappointed.
Just setup this plug-in.... works great from O365, but when attempting to use it from Outlook directly, we receive the following error:
Could not create a Zendesk Ticket. Error: "Record validation errors"
Any idea what could possibly be wrong?
Set this up in my own Outlook client; it installed, and I received no errors, but the tickets never arrived in Zendesk.
I removed it locally and logged into my admin account in 365 and set it up there, but now the add-in isn't available in my client; so I'm not certain the instructions provided apply to on-premise Exchange installations.
Is it possible my first attempt was valid, but set-up to the wrong subdomain? I guess I don't see where that get's configured. (Subdomain != our email domain.) Also just to confirm, - on first use I didn't get the error message and link to "Set-up Now".
@Mika
Kindly reply to the support ticket created. We asked a few questions regarding your Outlook account.
Thanks.
@Jeremy
This error occurs when you have set certain conditions that has to be fullfilled before a ticket is created in your Zendesk account. You may have some fields that should be required to be filled up before creating a ticket.
Thanks!
@ Brian
It looks like there's been a support ticket created to help with this issue. I will follow up with Ian on that ticket to keep an eye on this.
When forwarding a ticket from Outlook to Zendesk with this App, it seems that setting an Assignee agent or group is not possible and ticket is forwarded to default ticket view. Is there are a workaround or a solution to set right the Assignee (group or agent)?
@Sandra
I see you submitted a ticket to and Chad was able to assist you. Outside of the Outlook integration, we have our Mail API that can be used as a workaround - through the use of syntax tags you can set assignee, group and other fields :) Here's the doc!
Dan, thank you for your response. Mail API is cool, but in practice it doesn't bring much help when we noticed that it is too difficult for normal users to remember the syntax or group names or id's, for instance.
That's why this Outlook integration could be pure awesomeness if we could have the assignee group / agent added. We are aiming to move more and more customer discussions from Outlook to Zendesk, and the integration could help us to do it.
@Sandra
Thank you for your feedback. As of the moment, the Outlook integration is very simple. Once we get more data to work on then we can work on enhancing it further.
Thanks!
Thank you, we will look forward to it :)
Installation is very easy. But somehow my users in Office365 need to set up the integration for themselves?
This cannot be good. When my users try to create a ticket they get the message: "Outlook integration has not been setup. Setup now"
Whats am I doing wrong?
As an admin in both Office365 and Zendesk I conpleted the integrations setup and I am able to create a ticket from within my OWA environment.
Richard
Hi Richard,
Just to confirm.
Did you install the add-in by going to Admin-Exchange section? Did you ensure that the add-in is made available to all users in your organization and is mandatory?
Thanks!
We added the add-in through the Exchange Admin Center to our Exchange 2013 server. We then activated it in the OWA for the 2 users in the organization who need it. We can see the app correctly in Outlook 2016 and in the OWA, but we are never prompted for credentials to authenticate our Zendesk account (hitting Create ticket does nothing). Am I missing something?
Thanks,
Chris
Hi Chris,
I've created a support ticket for your issue. We'll try to troubleshoot it from there.
Thanks!
Ian
Is there a way to get a plugin for Outlook 2010 (or any other version) to work with hosted Microsoft Exchange as opposed to Office365? Is there a download link I am missing?
Hi Jim,
Sorry as much as we would like to enable other versions of Outlook to use the add-in, we wont be able to do so. Adding compatibility to each version will add more complexity in maintaining the add-in and may introduce issues.
Thank you.
Never mind! Solved
If the user can just email directly to the helpdesk box what purpose does the addin accomplish?
An add in for the helpdesk team would be better, accept ticket, close ticket, etc.
In the 'Add-on' , I see only 3 fields enabled for accepting inputs - Status, type and Priority. Can e bring in more fields from Zendesk to show up here? How do I?
Hi Laitha,
Adding more fields is currently not possible. We are exploring how to allow customers to add more fields including custom fields to this add-in.
Unfortunately, we don't have a timeline for this yet.
Thanks.
Ian
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