How can a user be created in Zendesk?

Question

I noticed an end user in Zendesk Support that I do not recognize. How can a user be created in Zendesk?

Answer

There are several ways that a user record can be created in Zendesk. See the information in this table:

Method	Details
Email to a support address*	When you receive an email at one of your support addresses, Support automatically creates a user record if one does not exist already.
Chat	When a customer initiates a chat or fills out the offline message form, Zendesk Chat creates a new user record, either using the email address the user provided or creating a generic Visitor record.
Incoming call	When you receive a call from a new number, Zendesk Talk creates a Caller [Number] user record.
Facebook/X Corp	If you have a social media integration with Facebook or X Corp, a message or tweet from a customer creates a new user record if one doesn't exist already.
Manual registration via Help Center*	A user can manually create an account by going to your Help Center and signing up or submitting a request.
Manual addition by an agent in Zendesk	An agent with the appropriate role can manually create a new user via the agent interface.
User import	You can bulk import users via a CSV file.
CC on an email	If one of your users replies to a ticket or creates a ticket and CCs another email address, Support creates a new user for that email identity if one does not exist already. This happens provided the "Anybody can submit tickets" setting is enabled.
API request	A user can be created either via a direct request to the users API endpoint, or via a ticket creation API call that includes a new user.
SSO user provisioning	Depending on your SSO solution, a user record is created the first time a user visits or attempts to sign into your Help Center.
Salesforce integration	If you have configured Salesforce Contact/Lead to Zendesk user sync, Salesforce automatically creates user records whenever a sync is triggered.
Ticket sharing	When an agent at a sharing partner site shares a ticket to your Zendesk instance for the first time, Support creates a dummy user record for any users who have commented on that ticket.

*Note: This is possible if you allow anybody to submit tickets in your account.

For more information about creating end users, see the article: Adding and managing end users.