At this time, multi-select fields are not synced to Insights. To report on these fields, you will need to use tags instead.
Tags can be tricky to use in reports, since one ticket may have any number of tags at the same time. (For more information, check out this article on Insights tag reporting.) This is especially true for multi-select fields, since one ticket may have any number of tags from the same field at the same time.
Fortunately, as long as the field is set up effectively, you should be able to capture your field tags with one dynamic custom metric.
Skill level: Beginner
Time required: 20 minutes
Ingredients:
- Multi-select fields with consistent tag labels
- One custom metric
Procedure
To report on multi-select fields, you will need to complete the instructions included in the sections below.
Add consistent tag labels
This approach works best if the multi-select field has the same label at the start (or end) of each tag. For example, in this multi-select field called "Favorite Genres," each tag starts with the string "genre":

Create a tag metric using the label
Most of our documented recipes use attribute values. That allows them to be more precise, but they're limited to those values. This recipe uses attribute labels, which allows you to use text strings instead of specific values, making the metric more flexible.
Create the following metric in the metric editor:
- SELECT IFNULL((SELECT # Tickets WHERE Ticket Tag [Ticket Tag] ILIKE "your_field_label%"), 0)
This counts the number of tickets where the ticket tag starts with the string "your_field_label" and has any number of characters after that. The "ILIKE" part means the text is not case sensitive. For more information on this type of metric, check out GoodData's documentation on Filtering with the LIKE clause.
- # Tickets is under Metrics
- Ticket Tag [Ticket Tag] is under Attribute Labels > Ticket Tag
The your_field_label part is typed. It won't appear in the Elements list. You should use the same label that you used in the field.
For the "Favorite Genres" example above, the field label would be "genre":
The metric may not make much sense on its own; it's a lot easier to understand in the context of a report.
Build your report
To get started, use the new custom metric under WHAT and Ticket Tag under HOW. This is a simple way to see what the metric is doing.
Here is the "Favorite Genres" example:
The report only shows tags that start with "genre," even though there are plenty of other tags in this account. There aren't any extra filters or tag lists here.
As long as the "Favorite Genres" field continues to use consistent tags, they will all show up in this report without any changes to the metric.
This metric also allows you to use ranking filters. For example, here are the top five "genre" tags from the example above:
In this example, ticket 825 is counted twice, ticket 829 is counted once, and ticket 831 is counted three times. This means the total count on a multi-select tag report will usually be higher than the total number of tickets.
Restrictions
Ticket tag data is stored in a separate dataset. It is not directly connected to ticket events or properties. This means there are limits to this type of reporting.
Since tags are not connected to event data, there is no way to report on when tags are added or removed. You can only see whether tags are currently present on a ticket. This means you can't use Date (Event) to filter this report; you must use a ticket date like Date (Ticket Created) or Date (Ticket Solved).
The metric in this recipe works with ticket tags, because the # Tickets metric is correctly connected to the tags dataset. If you want to include other metrics in this chart, you would need to make sure those metrics connect to tag data as well. That can get complicated, and the details depend on the metric.
Using ticket tags does limit your reporting options a bit. However, this approach gives you the flexibility to report on multi-select fields with one dynamic metric.
25 Comments
Hi,
The custom metric returns the following error:-
Hi Nick! You can't just copy and paste in the metric editor. You need to select some elements from the picklist on the right.
I can see you're in the right place on your screenshot. Just double-click on "Ticket Tag" (or highlight it and choose "Add Selected" on the top right). That should make it appear purple in the metric editor.
# Tickets also needs to be selected from that list. It's under Metrics.
We have more information in this guide: Creating custom metrics.
I hope this helps! Happy reporting!
Hi Amy,
This has been typed not pasted, I cant assign any elements due to the error the code has created.
Hi Nick! You should be able to click the red X on the error code to clear it. Then, remove the "Ticket Tag [Ticket Tag]" text from the metric in the editor, leave your cursor in that spot, and double-click "Ticket Tag" from the list on the right:
You'll need to do the same thing with # Tickets as well. When you select it from under the Metrics list, it will appear green in the metric editor.
I hope this helps! Happy reporting!
Hi Amy, how do I combine multiple metrics so I can generate a table with # Tickets, First Reply Time, Full Resolution Time, Avg. Time Spent (Time Tracker)? When I generate multiple metrics I can't combine them like normal without errors.
"Metrics that are unavailable may lead to nonsensical results if used together with selected attribute(s) in this report. To select an unavailable metric anyway, hold Shift while clicking its name."
Hi Martijn! This particular recipe uses ticket tags. Tags are stored in their own dataset, so they only work with metrics that connect to tag data. Reply and resolution time metrics are connected to whole tickets, and time tracking metrics are connected to ticket events. That's why they don't natively work together in the same chart.
The main issue is that there can be multiple tags on a ticket at the same time. It's not clear how any one tag is connected to, say, the ticket's resolution time. You would need to define the relationship between resolution time and individual tags in a custom metric, which gets complicated quickly.
Generally speaking, I recommend keeping tags and tag metrics together in one report, and putting ticket metrics in a separate report. You can put the two reports side by side on a dashboard. You could also slice both reports by Ticket Id, export them to CSV, and combine the data outside Insights.
I hope this helps! Happy reporting!
I was able to create a report, but it only pulled in the 'your_field_label%' and not the trailing piece. Not really sure what I am missing?
Hi Lindsey! I don't see any obvious issues with the metric.
Just to confirm: do you have at least one ticket with each of these tags? Insights connects to tags through ticket data, so if the tags aren't on any tickets yet, Insights can't see them.
If the tags aren't in use yet, try adding the tags to a ticket and waiting for the ticket to sync. If they are, try reporting on those specific tickets (# Tickets under WHAT, Ticket Id and Ticket Tag under HOW, filtered to those tickets). Do the tags show up there?
I hope this helps! Happy reporting!
Hi Amy - not sure why but it is all showing up now! Thanks for your help!
I'm having an issue where this recipe is pulling an error -- when I double click "Ticket Type", it only pulls in the name once instead of "Ticket Type [Ticket Type]". I tried adding it twice, and it pulls a separate error. Any ideas on what I'm doing wrong?
Hi Kate! It looks like you're trying to select an attribute. You need to look under Attribute Labels > Ticket Tag instead. When you select it, it will add the whole Ticket Tag [Ticket Tag] piece as one element.
I hope this helps! Happy reporting!
Thanks so much, Amy!
Hi,
I don't catch up: do I have any option to understand - which agent have added a tag to the ticket or it's impossible?
Hi Evgeny! Welcome to the Community!
To make sure I understand your question: you want a report where you can see which agent added a tag to a ticket. Is that correct?
Hi,
What do you mean here: At this time, multi-select fields do not add these labels automatically. They need to be added manually.
When a multi-select field is filled, it doesn't automatically put the tag on the ticket? An agent has to add it manually for each ticket?
Jessie,
Yes, correct. I need to see a tickets which has a tags TAG_1 and Tag_2 (for example) which added by Agent 1 and Agent 5 ( for example)
Hello all! I can help with these questions!
To Evgeny - Ticket tags are not connected to events. That means there is no way to report on when a tag was added or removed. You can only see if the tag is currently present on the ticket.
You can report on changes to ticket fields (including who made them), so you may be able to get results with a different approach. You can read more in our article on the events model. (Please note: Multi-select fields do not sync as attributes, so you'd need a different type of field.)
To Chloe - Multi-select fields do automatically generate tags for their field values, and they add/remove those tags on tickets without needing any special steps.
The note in this article refers to the "genre_" label on each of the example tags. I had to add that label manually. By default, the field generated tags that matched the values - "action," "adventure," etc. If you want to use the reporting recipe in this article, you'll need to manually adjust the tags on your multi-select field, so they have a consistent label.
I hope this helps! Happy reporting!
To Amy,
Thank you. I see. But do in my case I need to understand what agent add this tag? Is it possible on not? I don't need to know when, but I need to know who did that.
I have purchased Zendesk to get a better tool that I currently have. I am so surprised that lots of people ask the same thing ( multi-select fields synced to Insights) and you did not improve it.
Multi select fields are provided so we should be able to get them into the Insight reports and we should not look for to get the data we want
To Evgeny - Since tags are not connected to events, there is no way to get details about how the tags were added. You'll need to use ticket fields to track this behavior, like a single-select dropdown field or checkbox.
To Olivier - Multi-select fields run into the same challenges we face with ticket tags. One ticket can have any number of multi-select field values at the same time, and you may need to report on any one of them.
At this time, the Insights model only supports 1:1 mapping between attributes and their values. Multi-select field data is not helpful in that model. (By default, it lumps all the selected values together, so "Action Adventure Drama" is treated like one value, and "Action Drama" is a completely different value; there's no good way to see that "Action" and "Drama" were used in both.)
All Zendesk accounts have the same ticket tag field, so the Insights model includes a separate dataset to capture it (which comes with its own restrictions). Multi-select fields are different in every account, so we can't use the same approach there.
Our Data team knows this is a pain point, and we do want to make this content available. It likely won't happen within Insights anytime soon, but it is definitely on the radar.
I hope this helps! Happy reporting!
Hola Gabriel, no puedo decir exactamente qué está pasando aquí, pero supongo que uno de tus filtros puede estar impidiendo que se incluyan varias etiquetas. ¿Podrías intentar eliminar el filtro de Categoria para probar esto por favor?
No hablo español, así que si todo lo anterior es un alboroto, le pido disculpas. El Traductor de Google me obligó a hacerlo. Lo de abajo es lo que quiero decir.
Hi Gabriel,
I can't tell exactly what is going on here, but I'm guessing one of your filters may be preventing multiple tags from being listed.
Could you try removing the Categoria filter to test this please?
"At this time, multi-select fields are not synced to Insights."
Will Zendesk Explore address this?
How will reporting work for multi-select fields in Zendesk Explore?
Hi Kevin and Pedro, great question!
We have some documentation on the functionality of Multi-Select Fields behave in Explore right here: Custom ticket field values The feature is also shown to be included in Explore Pro, confirmed here
I hope this offers some clarification! The quick answer is yes, Multi-Select is included in Explore Pro.
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