Slack for Zendesk Support is a Built-by-Zendesk integration that connects a Zendesk subdomain to one or more Slack workspaces. It allows you to interact with Zendesk Support tickets in your Slack channels.
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About the Slack for Zendesk Support integration
The Slack for Zendesk Support integration includes the following features:
- Ticket event notifications in Slack: Slack users can see information about Zendesk Support ticket events in specified Slack channels. Using triggers, Zendesk administrators can configure which conditions will send notifications, the Slack channels to send them to, and the information included in the notification message.
- Creating new tickets directly from Slack: This feature is designed to cater to an internal use case where Slack users want to raise a new Support ticket directly from Slack. See Creating tickets in Slack for more information.
- Side conversations: Agents can use side conversations in a ticket to initiate and participate in Slack threads.
- Answer Bot for Slack: The Answer Bot for Slack integration is included in the Slack for Zendesk Support integration and utilizes Answer Bot to listen on selected Slack channels. It resolves questions by providing article suggestions from your Guide knowledge base.
Installing the integration
To install the integration, you must have administrative privileges in Zendesk Support and have permission to install apps in the Slack workspace. Additionally, the integration cannot be installed on a shared Slack workspace (a workspace you don't own but have been invited to as an external user).
To connect Zendesk and Slack
- Log in to your company Slack workspace.
- Go to the Slack for Zendesk Support Integration page: http://slack.zendesk-integrations.com/slack/install.
- Click Allow.
- Enter your Zendesk subdomain, accept the terms and conditions, and click
Next.
The installation is complete.
- In Admin Center, click
Apps and integrations in the sidebar, then select Integrations >
Integrations. - In the Slack section, click View to access your workspace configuration
settings.
Adding the app to a Slack channel
After the integration is installed, tickets can be created from any Slack channel, but the app needs to be invited to each channel that requires notifications and Answer Bot.
- In Slack, browse to the channel where you’d like to invite the Zendesk app.
- In the message bar, enter
/invite @Zendesk, and then press return.
You can now configure notifications and Answer Bot settings for the channel. It may take 10-15 minutes for a channel to appear in the Slack for Zendesk Support app.
Removing the app from a Slack channel
When the app is removed, Zendesk will no longer be able to post notifications, provide side conversations, or support Answer Bot in that channel.
- In Slack, browse to the channel where you'd like to remove the Zendesk app.
- In the message bar, enter
/remove @Zendesk, and then press return. - On the confirmation window, click Remove.
Disconnecting a Slack workspace from Zendesk
If you no longer want to use the Zendesk app in a Slack workspace, disconnect the integration for that workspace. You won’t receive ticket notifications in your channels for that workspace or be able to create tickets from Slack. Your configuration settings will be lost even if you reinstall the app.
To disconnect a Slack workspace from Zendesk
- In Admin Center, click
Apps and integrations in the sidebar, then select Integrations >
Integrations.
- In the Slack section, click View.
- Click Configure under the name of the Slack workspace to disconnect.
- Click Actions, then click Disconnect from the drop-down menu.
- Click Disconnect in the confirmation message.
132 Comments
Vlad Shlosberg, Where I need help is slack. I want to consider who the message is coming from in Zendesk before sending it to slack OR I want slack to stop posting anything but the original message to the channel and only threading all of the replies.
Background: We are using Zendesk for external support. Customer emails in, we respond in Zendesk. The only reason slack is involved, is this is low volume and the employees working the queue are not in Zendesk normally. They only go there as needed, so they need to know when new messages or new replies are sent. The current setup with integration from Zendesk to Slack is too cluttered because every new message posts to the channel (this is good and wanted), but also every reply posts to the original slack thread (this is good and wanted), but it also posts to the channel (this is bad and causes confusion).
Kelli Acosta - Option 1 around considering who the message is coming from is possible. I believe Zendesk uses a trigger to send updates to Slack. I believe you can modify that trigger and add additional conditions to check the author of the comment based on your criteria. However, i believe both options 1 and 2 are possible with Zapier - do you use that at all?
Is it expected that the Slack notifications for updated tickets would post in a thread, but ALSO to the channel?
Is there a way for it to only post updates in the thread?
I just updated the integration a few days ago, and it seems to work with a small problem. All updates to existing tickets are put in a thread in Slack, and it makes the updates look quite confusing.
The "title", if I can call it that, of each update sent to Slack has therefore two lines - something like this:
replied to a thread: An Open ticket has been updated by Agent A
A Pending ticket has been updated by Agent B
My successor owner of this support system is quite unhappy at the unclearness of it, and I am now being asked to "fix" this behaviour.
So the difference I notice from the old behaviour to the new one is that, in the new one, all new messages are put into these threads in Slack. And this is new. Can it be changed to the old behaviour in some way, so all messages in Slack are independent from each other?
Kind of a different question for this thread, but which company would be responsible in a data breach? Our legal team is concerned since this is a bit of a gray area with this app.
I see comment notes referring to "To add the app to a private channel" however I didn't see any reference to this in the article. Are there currently separate steps needed to add a private slack channel?
Envoy The steps to add the app to a channel are the same for all channels (public or private). See Adding the app to a Slack channel. Sometimes comments refer to or link to procedures that have since been updated.
We have created a ticket on your behalf to further check your query about the slack notification. Kindly check your inbox, and we'll assist you from there.
Similar request to Perla in 2021: Our organization has a need to connect two Zendesk accounts to one Slack for two separate groups for notifications and ticket collaboration.
Hey Tom, many are using Foqal for this - https://www.foqal.io/integrations/zendesk you can set up one Zendesk account with the native Zendesk Slack bot, and any additional ones with Foqal. Probably depends on what you are trying to do, but Foqal has a really deep integration with Zendesk and is very flexible, so you can configure it to your use case. Happy to help you walk through it (you can book a quick demo on foqal.io)
Hello,
Is there a way to have Zendesk send Slack notifications for SLA targets or violations? Currently there are no SLA selections in triggers, and no Slack for Zendesk Support integrations in Automations so I'm unsure how to set this up.
Binh Du - This page outlines what you need to do to get set up for that use case.
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