You can edit custom ticket fields to update the title and description, configure access permissions and display information, and configure and organize ticket field values. You can also activate or deactivate ticket fields as needed or delete them entirely. For standard or other protected ticket fields, some of these tasks might not be allowed.
You must be an administrator or an agent in a custom role with permission to update ticket fields.
This article contains the following topics:
Related articles:
Editing ticket fields
You can edit some or all of the details in both custom and standard fields. Not all ticket fields can be edited.
To edit a ticket field
- In Admin Center, click
Objects and rules in the sidebar, then select Tickets > Fields.
- Hover over the row of the field you want to edit, then click the option menu icon
(
) and select Edit.
- Update the options as needed.
If you are editing a drop-down field, see Altering drop-down fields to understand how changing or removing field values affects tickets.
Non-editable options are either dimmed or will not respond to mouse clicks. - When your changes are complete, click Save.
Reordering ticket fields
The order of your custom ticket fields on the Fields page determines the order in which they're displayed in several places. This includes the business rules pages in Admin Center and when tickets are bulk updated in the Agent Workspace.
For example, let’s say you have a custom field named "US region" and you reorder your ticket fields so that this field appears at the top of the Ticket fields page.
On the Triggers page, this field will appear first in the list of custom fields in the Conditions drop-down.
The position of this field is also affected on other business rules pages in Admin Center, such as automations. Additionally, if you bulk update tickets in the Agent Workspace, the position of this field is affected.
To change the order of custom ticket fields
- In Admin Center, click
Objects and rules in the sidebar, then select Tickets > Fields.
- Click Actions and select Edit order.
- Click and drag the rows into the order you want or use the arrows on each row to move them up or down in the list.
- Click Save.
Deactivating and reactivating ticket fields
Deactivated ticket fields no longer appear in ticket forms, including those on Closed and Archived tickets. Any data lost from the deactivated field can be recovered again by reactivating the ticket field.
If you want to delete a custom ticket field, you must deactivate it first.
To deactivate a custom ticket field
- In Admin Center, click
Objects and rules in the sidebar, then select Tickets > Fields.
- Hover over the field you want to deactivate, then click the options menu icon (
) and select Deactivate.
- Click Deactivate to confirm you want to deactivate the custom field.
The custom ticket field no longer appears in your ticket forms. The deactivated ticket field is also removed from Closed and Archived tickets.
To reactivate a custom ticket field
- In Admin Center, click
Objects and rules in the sidebar, then select Tickets > Fields.
- Click the Show and hide columns icon (
), then select Status.
- Find the inactive custom ticket field, click its option menu icon (
) and select Activate.
Deleting ticket fields
You can delete any custom ticket fields you've created. Standard ticket fields can't be deleted and those created via business rules can only be deleted by editing the business rule. Additionally, you can't delete an active ticket field; you must deactivate it first.
If a ticket field is being used as a conditional field on a ticket form, you must remove it from the form before deactivating and deleting the field.
Deleted ticket fields no longer appear in ticket forms, including those on Closed and Archived tickets. If you delete a custom ticket field, you will not be able to recreate or recover the field or its data. If you want to preserve the field data, it is recommended that you deactivate the field instead.
To delete a custom ticket field
- In Admin Center, click
Objects and rules in the sidebar, then select Tickets > Fields.
- Hover over the row of the field you want to edit, then click its option menu icon
(
) and select Edit.
If your ticket field is active, you must deactivate it first.
- Click the option menu icon (
) at the top of the page, then select Delete.
- Click Delete to confirm the deletion.
The field is removed from your ticket fields list.
49 comments
Zsa Trias
Hello Jeremy,
There must be an update that has removed the field value from a ticket field. I would suggest viewing the events of the ticket to see who/what removed the value.
For reference: Viewing all events for ticket updates
-1
Jeremy Chapin
Zsa Trias thank you for just assuming it's user error and taking zero ownership on troubleshooting the issue I've reported. This is what I've come to expect from Zendesk Support. Believe it or not I actually do tech support for a living, and have been using Zendesk for almost 10 years. I know how to update and save a list without removing a name I just added, and how to update a ticket. No one else updates my tickets. The ticket history shows the Customer Name field being updated as BLANK, which shouldn't be possible, because it's a required field (and one that I added a value to, saved it, and then saved that value in the ticket).
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0
Zsa Trias
Hello Jeremy,
This might be something that we'd need to investigate a bit deeper than we can here in the community. I will create a private ticket for this issue. Please expect an email shortly!
0
Martin St-Onge
Hello
Is there a way to create a "Category" field and a Sub-Category field that the choices would be different based on what I would choose in the Category field? Does it make sense?
Category
A
1
2
3
B
1
2
3
I really hope so
Martin
0
Zsa Trias
Hello Martin,
This seems to be attainable using nested fields.
Please refer to this article for more info: Organizing drop-down list options
0
Mark Oliver Manalo
Will this feature able to help us identify call/chat/email drivers? I have used zendesk before (2020-2022), and able to add disposition, and call driver, not sure if this is the right way to follow. Can someone help. Audrey Ann Cipriano,
0
Christine
Yes, you can utilize custom ticket fields to identify your call/chat/email drivers. Using the custom fields, you can also create a reporting. See Explore recipe: Reporting on custom ticket fields.
You just have to educate your agents to use the correct fields on their tickets as part of their workflow, and you can make the field mandatory/required to make sure that the field values are added before agents can mark tickets as solved.
Hope this clarifies!
0
Mark Oliver Manalo
Hi, this is difficult to follow. Where do we start? lol @Christine.
0
Christine
You need to create your custom fields first, then you can create the report.
Our articles have a video available on creating custom fields and step-by-step instructions with screenshots for reference when you create the Explore recipe.
1. Adding a custom ticket field for agents and end users
2. Creating the report
0
Tamar Livble
Hi, is there a way to edit a field of a ticket after the ticket has been marked as solved? Currently, I am unable to edit the fields once the ticket is closed. I would like to be able to change this field even after the ticket has been closed, for example:
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0
Destiny
I appreciate you getting in touch. I wanted to let you know that the ticket field can be edited as long as the ticket's status is 'solved' but not 'closed'. However, if the field appears greyed out—as illustrated in your screenshot—it indicates that the ticket has been closed. Unfortunately, in this case, it is not possible to make edits, and currently, there are no available workarounds.
We hope for your understanding regarding this matter.
0
Adem
Hello everyone,
I want to add sub questions under the ones in help page. Like when the user choose
- I have a question about my account
I want them choose sub category under this.
Is there any chance you can tell me how I can do this?
0
Elaine Foster-Jones
Adem You can probably use Conditional Fields for what you're trying to do: https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408834799770-Creating-conditional-ticket-fields
0
Brandon (729)
Hey Adem,
Elaine is correct! Make sure that you are selecting end-user conditions for them to show up on our Help Center Form
Brandon
0
Curt Martin
Is there a way to increase the NUMBER of entries in the drop down list fields? We use it to track customers in one of our brands but the 2000 entry cutoff means we can't add new ones without deleting old ones. That means we lose a search function for history.
0
Audrey Ann Cipriano
Hi Curt Martin
Field values that are beyond these numbers may cause performance issues on your account. A workaround for this is either use custom objects or conditional fields :)
More info here: Can I create a dropdown field with more than 2000 values?
I hope this helps!
0
Rachel Leffel
I see another user mentioned this in 2022 - are there any plans to make the “Default” field selection work? It doesn't matter what we set the Default to, if an agent doesn't set a value in the field, the field value is NULL, not the Default value we set.
0
Nehemiah Dacres
I like being able to put links in the “Description shown to customers” field but the link opens in the same page. there's no good case for this, it should open in a new field.
0
Tobin Fulton
I'm unable to add a custom field to the Ask for Details section of my AI Chatbot. I created the Field, but I'm not seeing it as an option. What am I doing wrong? Or is this a known issue?
0