Installing and configuring the Salesforce app for Zendesk Support

The Salesforce app for Zendesk enables agents to see Salesforce user information in a Support ticket. User information might include subscription level, whether a particular account has an open opportunity, or additional customer notes.

This article contains the following sections:

• Installing and enabling the Salesforce app in Zendesk
• Connecting Zendesk Support to Salesforce
• Configuring the Salesforce app
  • Adding Salesforce objects to the app
  • Configuring the Salesforce data caching setting
  • Filtering the returned objects
• Viewing Salesforce information from a Zendesk Support ticket

Related articles:

• Salesforce integration resources

Installing and enabling the Salesforce app in Zendesk

The Salesforce app can be downloaded and installed from the Zendesk Marketplace.

To install the Salesforce app

1. In Zendesk Support, click the Admin icon () in the sidebar, then select Apps > Marketplace.
2. In the search box, enter Salesforce to locate the Salesforce app.
3. Click the Salesforce app, then click Install.
4. Use the drop-down menu to select the account where you want to install Salesforce, then click Install. The Salesforce app is installed, but not enabled, on your Zendesk Support account.
5. Select Apps > Manage, and click the Salesforce app.
6. Use the toggle switch to enable the Salesforce app.

   

Connecting Zendesk Support to Salesforce

After installing the Salesforce app, you need to connect Zendesk to Salesforce. You must have administrator credentials in Salesforce to perform this task.

To connect the Salesforce app to Zendesk

1. Follow the steps in Setting up your Zendesk for Salesforce Integration to create a connected app and authenticate to Salesforce. If you have already set up the integration, go to the next step.
2. In your Zendesk Admin Center, select the Integrations icon () in the left navigation pane.
3. In Salesforce Integration, click Configure.
4. Click the Support app side tab, and Enable Salesforce data caching.
   
5. Click Save.

Configuring the Salesforce app

You can customize the data displayed in the Salesforce app, and how often the data is refreshed, by configuring the app settings discussed in this section. These settings are applied when viewing Salesforce information from a ticket, and are configured as part of a single process.

Note: The app does not currently support Salesforce account hierarchy.

A Zendesk administrator can configure these settings from the configuration link in the app, by opening up a ticket in Support, finding the Salesforce app in the sidebar, and clicking the Configuration link. The ticket must have a requester attached to it to access the Salesforce app.

Note: You can configure app settings in any web browser except Firefox, due to a CSS handling issue. 

Adding Salesforce objects to the app

This process allows you to define which Salesforce objects appear in the app in Support.

Only users with Zendesk administrator privileges, or users in custom roles with Manage extensions and channels privileges are able to configure the app. Configuration can be accessed by clicking the Configure Settings link in the app.

To add Salesforce objects to the Salesforce app

1. Open an existing ticket in the Support ticket view. In the Apps sidebar, locate the Salesforce app.
2. Click Configuration Settings, then click the Add object button.

   

3. In the Select Salesforce object to display section, use the drop-down to select a Salesforce object (or record type) that you want to appear in your app:

   

   The Select Salesforce fields to display section displays all fields available on the Salesforce object you selected.

4. In the Salesforce fields window, click Add (+) beside each field that you want to display in the Salesforce app for that object. One of the fields you select must contain data that matches a field in Zendesk.

   

5. Scroll down the list of Salesforce fields and expand one of the related objects to see its fields, then add fields from the expanded object.

   

   You can drag and drop fields within each object you have selected to change their order. The order represented in the configuration will determine order of fields displayed in the Salesforce app.

   

6. In the Map fields to enable record lookup section, use the Selected Salesforce Fields drop-down to select a Salesforce field, then use the Zendesk field drop-down to map fields to enable record lookup.

   

   For any given Zendesk ticket, Zendesk attempts to find a record in Salesforce whose data in the selected Object and field exactly matches the data contained in the specified Zendesk field. In the case of a drop-down field, this uses the field tag value instead of the title.

   Note: It is possible to add a lookup record that does not return any records. This is where the Record ID in Salesforce is returned instead of the actual value of the field. For more information, see Salesforce Syncing lookup field information to Zendesk Support.
7. Click Add object again if you want to add another object to your Salesforce app.
8. Click the Finish button to close the configuration window. When the window is closed, CRM data on the current ticket will be retrieved using the new configuration. It might take a while (depending on number of active CRM data) for the rest of ticket’s CRM data to be retrieved using the new configuration.

Configuring the Salesforce data caching setting

When you open a Zendesk ticket, the app fetches and displays Salesforce data you selected in the procedure Adding Salesforce objects to the app. By default, data is refreshed every 60 minutes.

The data refresh setting allows you to define how long Salesforce data is cached in the Zendesk database — 60 minutes, 45 minutes, 30 minutes, or 15 minutes.

• A shorter refresh rate means data is collected from Salesforce more often, and is more likely to be up to date. However, this can impact the Salesforce API limits.
• A longer refresh rate means data is collected less often, but reduces the risk of reaching the Salesforce API limits.

You can request permission to access the data refresh setting by contacting Zendesk Customer Support. Permission is granted on a per account basis.

To configure the Salesforce app data refresh setting

1. In your Zendesk Admin Center, selectIntegrations icon in the left navigation pane.
2. In Salesforce Integration, click Configure.
3. Click the Support app side tab, and under Enable Salesforce data caching, select the data refresh setting from the drop-down list.
   
4. Click Save.

Filtering the returned objects

You can filter the returned objects in the app.

The option to filter these objects is only available for objects with a one-to-many relationship. In the example below, the Contact object does not have a one-to-many relationship, but the Account object does.

To filter returned objects

1. In the object list, click Filter next to the object you want to work with.
2. In the Filter Records dialog, select the number of returned objects (up to five), and set conditions to filter the results. For example, if you're filtering Opportunities, you could set Closed is false, then only open Opportunities would display. Or you could show Opportunities that have been closed and were won by setting Won is true.

   

3. Click Save.

Viewing Salesforce information from a Zendesk Support ticket

After you have installed the Zendesk for Salesforce app you can easily view Salesforce information from a ticket in Zendesk.

Note: It can take up to 60 minutes for recently viewed tickets to appear updated in the Salesforce app after you make a change to the ticket or to the app configuration. For information on changing this rate, see Configuring the data refresh setting, above.

To view Salesforce information from a Zendesk ticket

With a ticket open in Zendesk, click the Apps button on the upper-right side of the ticket page. The Salesforce app is displayed in the right sidebar.