Setting up the Zendesk for Salesforce integration

The Zendesk for Salesforce integration connects your Salesforce accounts to Zendesk accounts. It allows Zendesk tickets to be viewed in Salesforce from an Account, Contact, Lead, or Opportunity page. You can also create and edit Zendesk tickets, and sync Salesforce accounts to Zendesk organization data.

The Zendesk for Salesforce integration is available if you are using Salesforce edition: Performance, Unlimited, Enterprise, Developer Edition (or other editions with Salesforce API rights, such as Professional with the API add-on).

You must be a Zendesk Support administrator and Salesforce administrator to set up your integration. The setup process requires performing a series of tasks:

1. Checking your Salesforce session settings
2. Connecting Zendesk to Salesforce
3. Setting up user access to Zendesk tickets in Salesforce

Note: The integration will work in both Salesforce Lightning and Classic. However, this article only provides instructions for Lightning, which is the newer interface recommended by Salesforce.

If you are using the Salesforce for Zendesk app in Zendesk Support, following the procedures described below also sets up the app's connection.

If you need to disconnect your integration, see Disconnecting the integration.

Related information:

• Salesforce integration resources
• Troubleshooting steps for the Salesforce integration

Checking your Salesforce session settings

The integration requires your Salesforce session settings to be not set to a locked IP address. If your session settings remain locked, your integration will be disconnected once a session expires.

To disable Salesforce sessions being locked to an IP address

1. Log in to your Salesforce account.
2. Click on the cog in the upper right pane, and click Setup.
3. In the left navigation pane under SETTINGS > Security, select Session Settings.
4. Review and ensure the Lock sessions to the IP address from which they originated checkbox is not selected.
   

Connecting Zendesk to Salesforce

The Admin Center is where you set up and configure your integration including the integration location. It is recommended to test the integration with your Zendesk sandbox account and Salesforce sandbox account first.

To connect Zendesk to Salesforce

1. In your Zendesk Admin Center,  click the Integrations icon () in the left sidebar.
2. Click Connect next to the Salesforce integration.
3. Select the Salesforce instance to set up the integration.
   
   
   Note: You can only connect one Salesforce account to one Zendesk account. So if you test the integration on a sandbox account, you need to disconnect the integration and reconnect to your production account.
4. Click Install managed package. This opens Salesforce in a new web browser tab. The package installs a Lightning component and Visualforce component which is used for the Ticket View feature. You will be asked to log in to Salesforce if you are not already logged in. Do this in a private web browser window to ensure that there is only one active Salesforce session.
   
   
   
   Note: We recommend selecting Install for All Users. Users who are not granted access cannot view Zendesk tickets in Salesforce.
5. Click Install . When the package has finished installing, click Done.
6. Return to the Admin Center, accept the Built by Zendesk Terms of Use, and click Connect.
7. On the Allow Access? screen, click Allow.

Setting up user access to Zendesk tickets in Salesforce

After setting up your connection between Zendesk and Salesforce, you need to define which user profiles in Salesforce can view Zendesk tickets.

To select user profiles to view Zendesk tickets

1. In Salesforce, click on the cog () in the upper right pane, and click Setup.
2. In the left navigation pane under Platform Tools, select Manage Connected Apps and click the Salesforce Integration for Zendesk app.
   
3. Click Edit Policies.
4. Under OAuth Policies, set Permitted Users to "Admin approved users are pre-authorized" and click Save. This is a required setting.
   
5. Return to the Manage Connected Apps page, and click the Salesforce Integration for Zendesk app.
6. Under Profiles, select Manage Profiles.
7. Select the user profiles in Salesforce which can view Zendesk tickets. You must select the System Administrator profile. User profiles that are not selected will not be able to view Zendesk tickets.
   
8. Click Save.

Your setup is now complete! Next, you can continue with:

• Setting up a Ticket View in Salesforce
• Configuring Data Sync from Salesforce to Zendesk

Note: If the Zendesk admin who connected the integration has their role downgraded, the integration will cease to function. It requires the integration to be disconnected, then reconnected in Admin Center by another Zendesk admin.

Disconnecting the integration

The Zendesk for Salesforce integration can be disconnected in the Admin Center. Once disconnected, your configuration settings are still retained if you decide to set it up again. If you are setting up the integration again, you will need to enable syncing and activate the Salesforce trigger again.

To disconnect the integration

1. Go to your Zendesk Admin Center and click the Integrations icon () in the left sidebar.
2. In Salesforce integration, click Configure.
3. Click Disconnect in the upper right. Confirmation of the disconnection is displayed.