Installing and configuring the Salesforce app for Zendesk Support

What's my plan?

The Salesforce app for Zendesk allows agents to see customer information from Salesforce directly in the sidebar of an existing Zendesk Support ticket. Zendesk administrators can customize the app by adding, filtering, and rearranging the Salesforce data to ensure it is relevant and easily accessible for agents.

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

This article contains the following topics:

• About the Salesforce app for Zendesk Support
• Switching to the new Salesforce app
• Installing, connecting, and turning on the Salesforce app
• Configuring the Salesforce app
  • Configuring the Salesforce data cache refresh rate
  • Allowing agents to refresh the cache manually
  • Adding Salesforce objects to the app
  • Matching fields
  • Filtering the related objects
  • Reordering, editing, or removing objects

About the Salesforce app for Zendesk Support

The Zendesk for Salesforce app allows agents to view Salesforce information from a ticket in Zendesk. For agents to see the app in the sidebar, you need to install the app, connect your Zendesk account to Salesforce, and then turn on the app. See Installing and connecting the Salesforce app.

Two versions of the app are currently supported:

• The new app is available to new installations and existing customers who have switched to the new app.
• The legacy app is available to existing customers who have not yet switched to the new app.

If you’re using the legacy app, we recommend switching to the new app at your earliest convenience. All accounts will be migrated to the new version of the app on February 15, 2025.

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. The app is visible only on existing tickets.

Switching to the new Salesforce app

A new version of the Salesforce app was released on October 15, 2024. You can switch to the new app now if you have a previous version. This makes the new app immediately visible to agents.

If you don’t switch, you’ll be automatically upgraded to the new version on February 15, 2025.

The new app has a refreshed design with improved user experience, data visibility, and performance. It also provides many benefits over the legacy app, including:

• A record last fetched timestamp
• Informative error messages to enhance troubleshooting
• Improved navigation from primary objects to related objects
• Increased display of related object records from 5 to 10 for better visibility
• The ability to refresh cached data manually without having to wait for the cache to clear

To switch to the new Salesforce app

1. In Admin Center, click Apps and integrations in the sidebar, then select Integrations > Integrations.
2. Click the Salesforce link.
3. Click the Support app tab.
4. Select Switch to new and improved app.

   This option is only visible to customers who have the legacy app installed but have not yet switched.

5. Click Save.

The new app is now visible to agents in the sidebar of existing tickets.

Installing, connecting, and turning on the Salesforce app

Follow the procedures in this section if you’re installing the Salesforce app in Zendesk for the first time or re-installing the app.

There are three steps to installing and turning on the app:

1. Install the Salesforce app from Zendesk Marketplace.
2. Connect your Zendesk Support instance to Salesforce.
3. Turn the app on so it's visible to agents.

Installing the app

Install the app from Zendesk Marketplace.

To install the Salesforce app in Zendesk Support

1. In Admin Center, click Apps and integrations in the sidebar, then select Apps > Zendesk Support apps.
2. Click Marketplace, and 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.

   You are directed to the app installation settings page in Admin Center.

   

5. If required, select and configure role restrictions and group restrictions.
   • To restrict access to the app by role, select Enable role restrictions, then select the roles that should have access.
   • To restrict access to the app by group, select Enable group restrictions, then select the groups that should have access.
6. Click Install.

The app is installed but not yet turned on. To change the settings shown above, disable the app, or uninstall the app, click the drop-down menu on the app to access these options.

Connecting your Zendesk Support instance to Salesforce

After installing the Salesforce app, you need to connect Zendesk to Salesforce. You must have appropriate Salesforce credentials 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, continue to the next step.
2. In Admin Center, click Apps and integrations in the sidebar, then select Integrations > Integrations.
3. Click the Salesforce link.

   The Salesforce integration setup page displays.

   

4. Select whether you are setting up the integration in your Salesforce Production or Salesforce Sandbox instance.
5. After reading the terms of use, select the By connecting to this integration you agree to the Built by Zendesk Terms of Use checkbox.
6. Click Connect.
7. Log in to Salesforce with your username and password.
8. Click Allow to allow the Salesforce Integration for Zendesk to access your Salesforce account.

You are directed back to the Integrations > Salesforce page in Admin Center.

Turning on the Salesforce app

Turning on the Salesforce app makes it visible to agents in existing tickets. If you still have yet to configure the app, return to this step when you're ready. You can also turn off the app if you need to hide it temporarily.

To turn on the Salesforce app

1. In Admin Center, click Apps and integrations in the sidebar, then select Integrations > Integrations.
2. Click the Salesforce link.
3. Click the Support app tab.
4. Select Turn on Salesforce app for Zendesk Support to make the app visible to agents. Deselect this option to hide the app.

   

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. Only Zendesk admins and team members in a custom role with permission can configure the app.

After changing the ticket or app configuration, it can take up to 60 minutes for recently viewed tickets to appear updated in the Salesforce app. For information on changing this rate, see Configuring the Salesforce data cache refresh rate.

Configuring the Salesforce data cache refresh rate

When you open a Zendesk ticket, the app fetches and displays Salesforce data you selected in the procedure Adding Salesforce objects to the app. The app uses the Salesforce API to pull records. To reduce the API load, data is refreshed every 60 minutes by default.

The data refresh setting allows you to define how long Salesforce data is cached in the Zendesk database. During the caching window, changes in Salesforce will not be reflected in the app. After the caching period, the data will be fetched the next time an agent visits the ticket.

• 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.

To configure the Salesforce app data refresh setting

1. In Admin Center, click Apps and integrations in the sidebar, then select Integrations > Integrations.
2. Click the Salesforce link.
3. Click the Support app tab.
4. Under Set data caching duration, select the data refresh setting from the drop-down list.
   
   
5. Click Save.

Allowing agents to refresh the cache manually

Note: This feature is not available to customers using the legacy Salesforce app. To use these features, legacy app customers must switch to the new version of the app.

You can allow agents to refresh the cache manually so they can instantly fetch updated customer details from Salesforce to Zendesk Support.

To allow agents to refresh cached data from Salesforce

1. In Admin Center, click Apps and integrations in the sidebar, then select Integrations > Integrations.
2. Click the Salesforce link.
3. Click the Support app tab.
4. Select Manually update the cached data from Salesforce as needed.
5. Click Save.

Adding Salesforce objects to the app

Initially, the Salesforce app displays no data. Zendesk admins must configure the app to show the Salesforce data agents want to see when working on tickets. This process entails adding the Salesforce data objects to the app and filtering and arranging them so they display how they'd like.

To add Salesforce objects to the app

1. In Admin Center, click Apps and integrations in the sidebar, then select Integrations > Integrations.
2. Click the Salesforce link.
3. Click the Support app tab.
4. In the Manage data section, click Add Salesforce object.

   

5. In the Select object field, select the name of the object (or record type) you'd like to add from the drop-down list, then click Next.

   

6. In the Map fields section, select the Zendesk and Salesforce fields the app should use to find matching records, then click Next. See Matching fields.
7. In the Select fields to display section, select the Salesforce fields you’d like to display in the app. Begin typing to display available fields, and select them from the drop-down list as they appear. You can reorder them later. When you’re done adding fields, click Next.
   Note: Adding more than five fields may slow data retrieval and cause timeouts or errors.

   

8. In the Apply filters step, select the fields for each object you’d like to filter results for, then click Next. See Filtering the returned objects.
9. Click Add.

Matching fields

The purpose of the Match fields section is to specify the Zendesk and Salesforce fields that the app should use to find matching records. Select fields that make sense for your use case.

For any Zendesk ticket, Zendesk attempts to find a record in Salesforce with data in the selected object and field that exactly matches the data in the specified Zendesk field. In the case of a drop-down field, the field tag value is used instead of the title.

When you’re finished mapping fields, click Save (if you’re editing the Salesforce object) or Next (if you’re adding a new Salesforce object).

Note: You can't map a Salesforce field to a custom user field or a custom organization field for record lookup. Additionally, mapping numeric fields is not supported. It's possible to add a lookup record that returns no 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.

Filtering the related objects

You can filter the related objects in the app by date and value. Filters can be helpful if you'd like to narrow results by specific values and provide agents with better visibility into the correct records. For example, if a customer has purchased 100 products, applying a filter for products valued over $1000 and purchased after a specific date will narrow the results, allowing the agent to find the most relevant information.

To filter related objects

1. In Admin Center, click Apps and integrations in the sidebar, then select Integrations > Integrations.
2. Click the Salesforce link.
3. Click the Support app tab.
4. Click the options menu icon () next to the object you want to filter, then click Edit.
5. In the Apply filters step, expand the related object you want to filter, then set the filtering conditions. For example, if you filter opportunities, you could show opportunities won by setting Won is true.

   

6. Click Save.

Reordering, editing, or removing objects

You can reorder, edit, and remove objects within the app configuration. Make sure you click Save after making changes.

• Click the grabber icon () to drag and drop objects and fields within objects to reorder them. The order represented in the configuration will determine the order of fields displayed in the Salesforce app.
• To delete an object from the app, click Delete from the drop-down menu, then click Delete object to confirm.
• To edit an object, click Edit. The name of the object will be read only, but all other fields can be modified, including field matching and filters.