Adding support email addresses for users to submit tickets

When you set up Zendesk Support, you have one related email address: [e-mail]. Emails received at this address become tickets.

You can provide your users with alternative email addresses for submitting tickets. These addresses are known as support addresses. You can add as many support addresses as you need. Support addresses can be either variations of your Zendesk email address or external email addresses. Any email address you want to use to receive support requests as tickets (whether it's a Zendesk address or an external address) must be added to your Zendesk as a support address.

Note: If you are adding support addresses for external email addresses, additional steps are required to set up forwarding from your email server to your Zendesk (see Forwarding incoming email to Zendesk Support).

For each support address you add, the from address will match the support address the ticket is sent to. For example, tickets sent to [e-mail] will reply from [e-mail].

This article contains the following sections:

• Understanding the end-user experience
• Adding support addresses
• Accepting wildcard email addresses for support requests
• Removing a support address
• Setting a default support address
• Editing support addresses
• Receiving email at your support addresses

Understanding the end-user experience

When you add a support address, a preview pane shows you exactly what end-users will see in their email in-boxes so you understand the end-user experience.

What end-users see as the from address depends on whether you are using a Zendesk address or an external email address to receive support requests. Also, using personalized replies changes the way the Reply From looks to end-users.

Using Zendesk email addresses as support addresses

If you are using Zendesk email addresses, the following table shows what the Sent To and Reply From addresses might look like when users email one of your known support addresses.

Table 1. Examples using Zendesk email addresses

Sent to (address the user sends email to)	Reply from (address the user sees in the reply email)	Example
[e-mail]	Support address name <[e-mail]>	Acme Support <[e-mail]> Note: If the support address does not have a name, the Reply From looks like this: <[e-mail]>
[e-mail]	Support address name <[e-mail]>	Acme Help <[e-mail]>
[e-mail]	Support address name <[e-mail]>	Acme Sales <[e-mail]>

Using external email addresses as support addresses

If you are using external email addresses, the following table shows what the Sent To and Reply From addresses might look like when users email one of your known support addresses.

Note: For information about using an external email address, see Forwarding incoming email to Zendesk Support.

Table 2. Examples using external email addresses

Sent to (address the user sends email to)	Reply from (address the user sees in the reply email)	Example
[e-mail]	Support address name <[e-mail]>	Acme Support <[e-mail]> Note: If the support address does not have a name, the Reply From looks like this: <[e-mail]>
[e-mail]	Support address name <[e-mail]>	Acme Support <[e-mail]>
[e-mail]	Support address name <[e-mail]>	Acme Support <[e-mail]>

Using personalized replies with support addresses

When personalized replies is enabled, the Reply From address will match the support address it was sent to and it will also include the replying agent or end user's name.

For information about using personalized replies, see Enabling personalized email replies.

The following table shows what the Sent To and Reply From addresses might look like when you have personalized replies enabled, and users email one of your known support addresses.

Table 3. Examples using personalized replies

Sent to (address the user sends email to)	Reply from (address the user sees in the reply email)	Example
[e-mail]	User Name (Support address name) <[e-mail]>	Claire Grenier (Acme Support) <[e-mail]> Note: If the support address does not have a name, the Reply From looks like this: Claire Grenier <[e-mail]>
[e-mail]	User Name (Support address name) <[e-mail]>	Ben Gunther (Acme Sales) <[e-mail]>
[e-mail]	User Name(Support address name) <[e-mail]>	Claire Grenier (Acme Support) <[e-mail]>
[e-mail]	User Name (Support address name) <[e-mail]>	Ben Gunther (Acme Sales) <[e-mail]>

Adding support addresses

You can add as many support addresses as you need. Support addresses can be either variations of your Zendesk email address or existing external email addresses, using these options:

• Connect external address Use this option to add an existing external email addresses.
• Create new Zendesk address Use this option to add variations of your Zendesk email address.
  Note: There is also a Connect Other option for adding support addresses that should be used cautiously. For more information, see this support tech note.

Your original system support address always appears at the top of your list of support addresses, followed by your default support address, if it's not the same as your system support address. Every time a ticket is created from an email that was sent to one of your support addresses, the verification timestamp for the support address is updated.

This section covers the following topics

• Adding a Zendesk support address
• Adding an external support address

Adding a Zendesk support address

Zendesk addresses are variations of your original support address: [e-mail]. For example, [e-mail] and [e-mail]. You can add as many Zendesk support addresses as needed.

Note: If you want to add your own external support address, see Adding an external support address.

To add a Zendesk support address

1. In Admin Center, click the Channels icon () in the sidebar, then select Talk and email > Email.
2. In the Support addresses section, click Add address, then select Create new Zendesk address.

   

3. Enter an address you'd like to use for receiving support requests.
4. Click Create now.

   The email address is added to your list of support addresses.

Adding an external support address

External email addresses are owned and maintained by you, outside of your Zendesk. For example, [e-mail]. If you are adding support addresses for external email addresses, additional steps outside of Zendesk are required to set up forwarding from your email server to your Zendesk (see Forwarding incoming email to Zendesk Support).

It is not recommended that you use a distribution group email or an email alias as an external support address. 

Note: If you want to add a Zendesk support address, see Adding a Zendesk support address. If you'd like to use a Gmail address, see Forwarding your incoming support email to Zendesk using Gmail/Google Apps.

To add a external support address

1. In Admin Center, click the Channels icon () in the sidebar, then select Talk and email > Email.
2. In the Support addresses section, click Add address, then select Connect external address.

   

3. Enter your existing support email address, then click Go.

   If you'd like to use our Gmail connector instead to automatically connect to a Gmail account, see Enabling automatic ticket creation for your Gmail inbox. This is recommended only if you expect low email volume.

4. Complete the on-screen steps to set up forwarding on your email server.

   This is done outside of your Zendesk, and the exact steps depend on your mail server. For help, see Forwarding incoming email to Zendesk Support.

5. After you have set up email forwarding on your sever, click Yes, I finished, then click Verify.

   A test email is automatically sent to that address to verify that you've set up email forwarding properly. A message beside the address indicates that you are waiting for verification.

   If the test is successful, you have set up forwarding properly, and the message indicates that the address is verified.

   

   If the test fails, you are alerted in the notification. After resolving any issues with the forwarding verification, you must perform the forwarding check again. If you resolve the forwarding issue, but do not retry the forwarding check, tickets submitted to the email address will create tickets, but will not send Zendesk Support notification emails.

After you set up forwarding, you should add an SPF (Sender Policy Framework) record to verify that Zendesk can send outgoing email on behalf of your email server (see Setting up SPF for Zendesk to send email on behalf of your email domain). This is optional, but recommended.

Accepting wildcard email addresses for support requests

As an alternative to, or in addition to, using support addresses, you can enable end-users to send email to any variation of your Zendesk address, regardless of whether it's as a known support address. For example, if a customer misspelled your support email address (for example, [e-mail]) the email can be accepted and a ticket created. These types of variations are referred to as wildcards. This option can be used as an alternative to, or in addition to, support addresses.

For example, you don't need to explicitly declare any of these email variations in your Zendesk.

Wildcard email addresses use your default support address as the Reply From address. So any email sent to a variation of your Zendesk Support email address that is not a known support address, will use your default support address as the Reply From. If you have multiple brands, the default support address for your default brand will be used as the Reply From.

To enable wildcard email addresses

1. Click the Admin icon () in the sidebar, then select Channels > Email.
2. Click Enable for Accept wildcard emails.
3. Click Save.

Removing a support address

You can remove any support address, except the original system support address ([e-mail]), your Gmail connector address (if any), or your current default support address. If you selected another support address as your default (other than your system support address) you can delete that support address if you make another support address the default first.

When you delete a support address, outgoing email notifications will no longer be sent from that address. Any tickets using the deleted support address will be given to the default address.

To delete a support address

1. In Admin Center, click the Channels icon () in the sidebar, then select Talk and email > Email.
2. In Support addresses, hover over the address you want to remove, then click Delete.

   You cannot delete your original system support address ([e-mail]) or your Gmail connector address, if any. You also cannot delete your current default support address while it is the default (if you selected a support address other than your system support address as your default). To delete that support address, make another support address the default first.

   

3. In the confirmation, click Delete address.

   Alternatively, if you do not want to delete the address, close the confirmation box to cancel the action.

   The support address is removed from your list.

Setting a default support address

Remember, when you created your Zendesk, one email address was set up for you: [e-mail]. This system support address is used as your default support address, unless you change the default.

Your default support address is used as the sending address for notifications when a ticket is created manually, when a ticket is sent directly to your default support address, or when a ticket is created through a channel other than email.

Additionally, the default support address is used as the Reply From address in replies to users when you have the wildcard emails option enabled, and an end-user sends email to an address that is not a known support address.

Note: The wildcard emails option enables users to send email to any variation of your Zendesk address, regardless of whether you've added it as a known support address. To enable, click the Admin icon () in the sidebar, then select Channels > Email. Click Enable for Accept wildcard emails.

You can change the default support address at any time. The option to make a support address the default will only appear if the address has been verified (see Adding support addresses).

To change your default support address

1. In Admin Center, click the Channels icon () in the sidebar, then select Talk and email > Email.
2. In Support addresses, hover over the address you want to make the default, then click Make default.

   

   The label (default) appears beside your new default address, and that address moves up under your system support address in your support addresses list.

Editing support addresses

You can edit the name of an existing support address, but you cannot edit the email address for an existing support address. If you need to edit the email address itself, delete the support address and add it again.

To edit a support address name

1. In Admin Center, click the Channels icon () in the sidebar, then select Talk and email > Email.
2. In Support addresses, click Edit beside the support address you want to edit.
3. Add, change, or remove the support address name.
4. Click Save.

   The updates to your address appear in the support addresses list.

Receiving email at your support addresses

Emails sent to any of your known support addresses become tickets in your Zendesk. And, if you have enabled wildcard emails (see Accepting wildcard email addresses for support requests), then emails sent to any variation of your Zendesk address, regardless of whether it's a known support address, become tickets in your Zendesk.

Note: If an email containing more than 65,000 characters is sent to your Zendesk, the resulting ticket comment is truncated. This can sometimes happen when an email thread contains many replies, and is forwarded to your Zendesk support address.

For tickets received via email, you can see which address it was sent to at the top of the ticket.

You can set up business rules, views, and SLA policies for tickets sent to your support address by using the "Ticket: received at" condition.

If you have set up multibrand, then the ticket receives the brand associated with the support address the email was sent to (see Adding email support addresses for multiple brands).