Once the Slack for Zendesk Support integration has been installed and configured, users can create and comment on Zendesk Support tickets. To use the integration, you need to be on the Support Team, Professional, or Enterprise plan.
Related articles:
Viewing ticket notifications in Slack
When Zendesk ticket notification is enabled for a Slack channel, the integration posts a message to that channel with some basic information about the configuration:
After that, tickets matching the channel configuration appear in the channel:
In this notification, Slack users can see notifications when tickets are being created or updated. High-level ticket information is displayed in the nominated channel(s). Click the subject line or the ticket number (in the example above, the subject is Need help with my order) to open the ticket in the Zendesk Support interface.
Creating new Support tickets
Any user in your Slack workspace can create tickets in Zendesk Support. The ticket owner is automatically the Slack authenticated user.
You can create Support tickets directly from Slack, in two ways:
- Using the slash command
/zendesk create_ticket, which allows you to create a ticket without an originating Slack message. - Using a Slack action, which to converts a Slack message to a ticket
When a ticket is created by the Slack integration, the tag slack_integration is automatically added to the ticket. This tag can be used to create views or business rules to assist with ticket workflow. See Viewing tickets created in Slack for more information.
To create a new Support ticket using the slash command
- In the relevant channel, enter
/zendesk create_ticket. A Create new ticket form opens.Note: This command will only work in channels connected to the Zendesk app. -
- Enter the following information:
-
Subject: A brief, descriptive subject for the ticket.
-
Requester: By default, the user submitting the ticket is selected as the requester. However, you can click and type in this field to display a searchable list of existing Slack users. s. .
Note: If an unrecognized user creates a Zendesk Support ticket in Slack, a new Zendesk Support end-user is created and assigned to them. Similarly, when an agent creates a ticket on behalf of someone else, they can select a requester from a list of existing users, or choose to create a new end-user for them. -
Assignee (optional): The name of the Zendesk group you want to assign this ticket to. You can click this field to display a list of groups (
), or enter the name of the group you want to include as the assignee. As you type, you can select the assignee from the displayed list of matches.
- Description: A more detailed description of the ticket. The information in this field is viewable by anyone with access to the ticket.
-
- Click Submit. A ticket is created in Zendesk Support, and a notification is sent to the channel where it was created.
To create a Support ticket from a Slack message, using the Slack actions menu
When tickets are created using this method, there is currently no option to assign it to a group or agent.
- In the Slack channel, hover over the notification message to display the options.
- Click the More actions icon (
) to display the message actions.
- Select Create a ticket.
- In the Create new ticket form, enter a subject, requester, assignee (optional), and description for the ticket.
The Description field will be pre-populated with the text of the Slack message you're using to create the ticket. You can leave it as is, or edit the text.
- Click Submit. The ticket is created in Support, and is added as a reply to the Slack thread with the Zendesk metadata (ticket number, status, priority, and date/time) included.
Viewing tickets created in Slack
To filter tickets created by the Slack integration, you can leverage a tag that is automatically added to the ticket: created_from_slack.
To do that, a new view can be created in Zendesk Support that filters tickets based on tags.
For more information on creating views, see Adding views.
Commenting on existing tickets
You can add an internal note (also called a private comment) to an existing ticket in Slack, from the ticket's notification thread. Only other Zendesk agents can view a ticket's internal notes. By default, comments are attributed to the user who authenticated the integration.
You can add a comment directly from the original ticket notification, or by replying to the notification in Slack and converting that to a comment.
To add a comment to a ticket from the original notification
- In the channel where the notification was received, hover over the notification message to display the options.
- Click the More actions icon () to display the message actions.
- Click Add as internal note.
- In the Add as internal note form, enter a description for the ticket.
The Ticket number field is pre-populated with the ticket number. The Internal note field is pre-populated with the initial ticket description. You can add to this description, or delete and replace it.
- Click Submit. An internal note is added to the Zendesk Support ticket, and a new notification is added to the original notification thread.
To add a comment to a ticket from a reply
- Reply to the ticket notification in Slack.
- Hover over the reply to display the options.
- Click the More actions icon () to display the message actions.
- Click Add as internal note.
- In the Add as internal note form, enter the ticket number and description for the ticket.
The Internal note field is pre-populated with the text of the reply. You can add to this description, edit it, or delete and replace it.
- Click Submit. An internal note is added to the Zendesk Support ticket and attributed to the integration's authenticator, and a new notification is added to the original notification thread.
FAQ
This FAQ covers the following questions about using the Slack for Zendesk Support integration.
Why is the requester field on tickets created via the integration always set to the person who installed the integration?
Slack users are not required to be an agent in Zendesk Support. So, all Zendesk actions performed in Slack are attributed to the Zendesk user that authenticated to Zendesk during the installation process.
Can attachments be included in the ticket notification in Slack?
Comment attachments aren't currently included in the notification in Slack, but light agents can click on the ticket link to see them in Zendesk. Inline images and image links included in the comment are posted to Slack.
Can I close tickets from Slack?
You cannot currently close tickets using Slack.
Can I edit ticket fields in Slack?
You cannot currently edit ticket fields in Slack, but they can be edited from your Zendesk Support account.
If I create a new ticket from Slack, can other users on the channel see it?
Anyone on the channel can see the created tickets.
Can I create a ticket in a direct conversation with the Zendesk app and will other users see it?
Yes, you can. The notification is posted back to you. Other channels on your Slack account may be configured to receive ticket notifications and could also see your ticket notification.
Can I assign a ticket to a Zendesk User instead of a Group?
No, the integration only allows for tickets to be assigned to a Group.
136 Comments
Hey Neil,
I'm going to create a ticket on your behalf so our team can dig into this further.
You'll receive an email shortly stating your ticket has been created.
Cheers!
We use two different instances of Zendesk, one for our general customer facing support and one for our internal treasury/accounting support. Is there a way for the slack integration to ask whether this is related to support or to treasury when trying to submit a ticket via Slack?
We'd love to be able to submit tickets to the two different instances but aren't sure if that is possible.
Hi Miles, thanks for the question.
Connecting Slack with multiple Zendesk instances is not supported right now, but I've noted your request so it will be considered when we're planning our next updates.
Hi zendesk team
We also use multiple zendesk instances and would love to have a feature to connect the slack bot to multplie instances/subdomains.
Cheers,
Patrick
Thanks for the feedback Patrick, I'll note your +1 for that feature.
Hello,
Is it possible to remove 'Requester' and 'Assignee' fields when creating new tickets with the /zendesk create_ticket command?
Thanks!
Hi Claudia,
Unfortunately the current integration doesn't allow the configuring of fields for new tickets within Slack.
Thanks,
David
+1 to have the Requester = the person that sent the message on Slack. This will be very helpful.
Hello - is there some way that this integration can be used, but also not publish the requester's request to the channel itself? Like, make it only visible to the person who made the request, and not the whole channel?
Having the details of a request made public to all of the channel members is somewhat of a privacy issue, and could make people resistant to use the system if their issue is on display for everyone to see.
Iterable - iterable - thanks for the screenshot. We are having the same experience with our slack integration. The drop down for requestor is showing Slack users, not Zendesk users. Was Zendesk able to find a resolution for you here? Brett Bowser - could I have a ticket created for our instance as well as this seems to be the same issue as Neil described? Thank you!
Dan Gray - here is what I heard back:
"I just received an update from the team that the one you are experiencing is the correct feature. The reason for changing it is that as report alerts some security issues as it exposes the users in Zendesk. There are use cases by some companies which adds customers to their slack workspace than this customers have the ability to create tickets from slack exposes the Zendesk members data. As a resolution, our team keep the requester list to just the slack workspace members."
So basically they changed the feature without updating this support article. They did go on to then update the article. It still doesn't change the fact that I want to associate Slack posts with a Zendesk ticket, since we offer support to our premier customers via Slack.
Hi Iterable - iterable - thanks for the reply! We also interface with customer via Slack so it would be nice to be able to create a ticket directly from Slack. Having the list of Slack users (as we are both seeing) is not an issue for us if that is how it is intended to work.
What seems to be an issue is, every ticket created in Zendesk has one person's name associated to it as the requester. Basically even if an end user (or light agent) exists in our Zendesk account already and we assign them as the ticket requester in Slack, the ticket is still coming through under the name of the user who installed the integration.
Were you able to resolve this or is this still an issue for you? If this is "expected behavior" I would be curious (to Zendesk) as to what the point of having the requester field is at all if it is just going to change back to the user who installed the integration, thus leaving no record of who actually was requesting the ticket?
"Why is the requester field on tickets created via the integration always set to the person who installed the integration?
Slack users are not required to be an agent in Zendesk Support. So, all Zendesk actions performed in Slack are attributed to the Zendesk user that authenticated to Zendesk during the installation process."
Anybody else think it is odd that the "Slack Ticket Trigger" sends data to Slack whenever any ticket is created or updated?
I would think that should default to only tickets with the "created_from_slack" tag. Otherwise, you are sending every ticket comment to Slack. (I don't know what happens to that data on the Slack side if the ticket wasn't created there.)
Since we can't modify the trigger, I cloned it and added that tag requirement, and deactivated the original.
Dan Gray We didn't deploy the integration so I have no answer for your question. We have actually found a reasonably-priced third party solution that does exactly what I need, create a ticket from Slack and automatically associate it with the correct org and user in ZD.
Hi Yuri
following issues:
Thanks and cheers
Hi Daniel,
1. I cannot select a specific agent for some reason. Only groups. Is this for ticket notifications or when creating a ticket?
2. It should be possible to pre-fill ticket with a default value for all the fields. Unfortunately this feature isn't available in the current integration.
3. Can I somehow send parameters with the /zendesk create_ticket command? (something like /zendesk create_ticket title content). Unfortunately this feature isn't available in the current integration.
Thanks,
David
Thanks for the quick response.
1. When creating a ticket, I can only select a group, not a specific agent. I cannot seem to find any setting for this.
cheers
Daniel
Hi Daniel Ketelsen,
Thanks for highlighting.
The reason for not listing users is because of privacy considerations. If we listed users here, any one using Slack (including external users) could see the list of all users in Zendesk.
Hi David.
Thanks again for the quick response.
The instructions above show agents as well - this is actually pretty important to us. We can restrict channels in slack, so privacy control is on our side, which is totally fine.
How can I activate the view of users / agents?
Cheers
Daniel
Hi Daniel,
Just to clarify, the Requester can be selected from all the users in Slack, the Assignee is selected from the groups in Zendesk, not the individual users.
Unfortunately there isn't a feature to allow the selection of users for the Assignee, the only selection is at a Group level.
Thanks,
David
That's very unfortunate. Do you know of any third party tools that would allow for a workflow like:
- automatically create ticket from a message in a channel for predefined group or assignee
Note: The article still lists assignee as selection option. that's where the confusion came from.
cheers
Daniel
Hi Daniel,
Halp has an excellent integration with Slack, or you could also try Zapier, Workato or Automate.io.
Thanks,
David
We've started using Halp for their ZD/Slack integration. They were just acquired by Atlassian - not sure if that is good or bad...
Thanks for the shoutout David Gillespie.
Hi Iterable - iterable - I'm the cofounder and CEO of Halp. You're right, we did just acquired by Atlassian. They are big fans of our Zendesk integration and we plan to continue to fully support it and continue to improve it going forward. Atlassian and Zendesk have a great partnership and already work together in many ways.
Our Zendesk integration allows tickets to be created in Slack via emoji, slash command, App Home, or Slack shortcut. There's a full 2-way sync between Slack and comments, fields, and forms in Zendesk. The requester is automatically set based on the person that sent the message in Slack, and the assignee is customizable using Halp's powerful recipes or based on a custom tag and Zendesk trigger. Agents can also edit the assignee, fields, and add internal notes to the ticket from a private Triage Channel in Slack.
Daniel Ketelsen - we recently launched the ability to have tickets get automatically created from messages in a channel and have those requests be auto-resolved using Halp Answers when possible.
Is the Slack integration limited based on the subscription level? When we were doing the Zendesk trial, we set up the Slack integration and all new tickets created in Zendesk triggered a notification in the Slack channel we had configured. Now, that doesn't work and there is no option under the Zendesk Triggers to set up any Slack related triggers. I'm suspecting this is because we are on the basic Zendesk subscription, which says Slack integration is included but it appears to be only one way (we can create tickets from the Slack channel).
Hi Tim,
The integration is available to customers on Team plan or above.
You may still be able to use the integration to raise tickets from Slack because you installed it when you were on a trial, but the notifications may not work because the require a Team plan or above.
Thanks,
David
For the assignee, all we are getting is "Enter name of Zendesk group" Not seeing the option to assign it to an agent. Any idea?
Anyone can help?
I created an integration between Zendesk and Slack but I still don't get notifications. Everything was done correctly as mentioned in the article and the trigger appears to be working normally but no notification is coming to slack. Any idea on how can we resolve this?
Hi Bilgin Ozkan,
I've just confirmed with our engineers, we only allow assigning to Groups, not individual agents. Apologies for the confusion, I've updated the article to reflect the correct functionality.
Hi Hatem Zidan,
Are you able to get in contact with our support team? The quickest way to do this would be to jump on a chat with one of our agents. Click the "Get help" button on the bottom right of the screen and they'll be able to diagnose your specific issue.
Thanks,
David
Can someone explain how we can get the requestor's email address in our Slack Ticket Notifications? Right now it just has the requestor's name which isn't very helpful for our use case.
This is the current JSON for the undocumented "Slack Integration Endpoint" trigger:
{
"ticket_id": "{{ticket.id}}",
"status": "{{ticket.status}}",
"updated_at": "{{ticket.updated_at_with_timestamp}}",
"subdomain": "{{ticket.account}}",
"ticket_latest_comment": "{{ticket.latest_comment}}",
"updated_by": "{{current_user.name}}"
}
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