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Most support teams create and use lots of macros. As your list of macros grows, you may find it difficult to quickly locate macros when you’re trying to apply one to a ticket. You can remedy this by organizing and sorting your macros using a number of different techniques.
This article discusses the following topics related to organizing and managing macros:
- Accessing the Macros page
- Browsing and searching the macros list
- Editing, cloning, deactivating, and deleting macros
- Categorizing macros
- Sorting the list of macros
- Reordering macros manually
- Turning off the most-used macros option
Related articles:
Accessing the Macros page
All of your available macros can be managed through the Macros page.
To access the Macros page
-
In Admin Center, click
Workspaces in the sidebar, then select Agent tools > Macros.
On the Macros tab, you can browse, categorize, sort, reorder, and filter your macros. Read on for more information.
On the Suggestions tab, you can create and manage macro suggestions for admins. See Creating macros from macro suggestions for admins for more information.
Browsing and searching the macros list
Macros are divided by activation status. The default view on the Macros page is the list of Active macros. You can view macros that have been deactivated by clearing the Active filter. For more information on activation status, see Editing, cloning, deactivating, and deleting macros.
By default, macros are listed in alphabetical order. If you have a large number of macros, the list will be paginated. You can scroll through the pages using the controls at the bottom of the page.
If you know the name, or partial name, of the macro you want to view, you can enter it into the search box at the top of the page.
All macros containing the search term appear in the list.
Click Clear search to return to the full list.
Editing, cloning, deactivating, and deleting macros
You can edit, clone, deactivate, or delete a macro by selecting the checkbox next to its name.
- Edit allows you to modify the title, actions, and permissions used.
- Clone creates a copy that you can modify and repurpose.
- Deactivate removes the macro from the Active macros list, and moves it onto the Inactive macros list, making it unavailable to Agents. Deactivated macros can be activated if needed.
- Delete permanently removes the macro. Only deactivated macros can be deleted. Deleted macros cannot be recovered.
Additionally, admins can view and clone agents' personal macros. For example, admins may want to clone an agent's personal macro so that it can be created as a shared macro for all agents to use.
- On the Macros page, locate the macro you want to edit.
- Select the checkbox next to the macro's name.
- In the action bar at the bottom of the list, click Edit.
- Modify the title and actions as needed.
- Click Save.
- On the Macros page, locate the macro you want to clone.
- Select the checkbox next to the macro's name.
- In the action bar at the bottom of the list, click Clone.
- Enter a new title for your macro and modify the actions as needed.
- Click Create.
To deactivate a macro
- On the Macros page, locate the macro you want to deactivate.
- Select the checkbox next to the macro's name.
- In the action bar at the bottom of the list, click Deactivate. The macro's status is updated to Inactive.
Note: You cannot deactivate macros that include unavailable values in the action statements. Attempting to deactivate the macro will fail, and the macro will remain in the Active macros list, marked with a red exclamation point.
To activate a deactivated macro
- On the Macros page, clear the Active filter to include inactive macros in the list.
- Select the checkbox next to the macro's name.
- In the action bar at the bottom of the list, click Deactivate. The macro's status is updated to Active.
To delete a macro
- On the Macros page, clear the Active filter to include inactive macros in the list. If the macro is currently active, use the instructions above to deactivate it.
- Select the checkbox next to the macro's name.
- In the action bar at the bottom of the list, click Delete. The macro is permanently deleted.
Categorizing macros
Sorting your macros into categories can make locating a specific macro, or type of macro, much simpler. Categorizing allows agents to quickly apply macros when working with a ticket, and gives you an option for filtering macros on the Macros management page.
You categorize macros by including the categories in your macro titles and separating them with two colons (::), as in this example:
To create nested macro categories
- In Admin Center, click
Workspaces in the sidebar, then select Agent tools > Macros.
- Click Add Macro.
- Create a macro title that contains the top level category and subcategories you want to use followed by the macro name, each separated by two colon symbols as shown here:
Assign to::me::question
The macro title in this example indicates that you’re assigning the ticket to yourself and setting the Type property to Question. The top level category is 'Assign to' and the subcategory is 'me'. The macro name is 'question'. You can use any category and title naming structure that you prefer.
- Create any other macros that you want to include in this category structure or modify the titles of existing macros to follow the same pattern.
To organize your macros, you can create as many top level catgories and subcategories as you need.
Filtering the list of macros
You can filter the displayed macros based on status, who they're available for, and category.
To filter the list of macros
- At the top of the macros table, click the Filter button.
- In the Filter pane that appears, select any of the following filtering options:
- Status: Includes Active and Inactive
-
Available for: Includes the following options:
- All shared macros: Macros that are shared, either to the whole account or to one or more groups
- All agents: Macros available to all agents (No group-only macros)
- You: Macros available only to you
- Individual agents: Personal macros owned by all other agents (Visible to admins only)
- Group: Macros available only to agents in the group specified
- Categories: Includes any categories you've created
- Click Apply filters.
To clear your filters and return to the full list of macros, click Clear filters at the top of the macros list.
Sorting the list of macros
The Macros page includes options for viewing and sorting your macros. You can sort macros by name, creation date, and date last updated. If you're on a Suite Growth or Support Professional plan or higher, you can also sort by usage. The total number of macros in the view appears above the list of macros.
![](https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/macros_consolidated_settings_columns.png)
- On the Macros page, click the column header you want to sort by.
The first click sorts in ascending alphabetical (A–Z) or chronological (oldest to newest) order. You can click the column header again to reverse the sort order.
You can sort by only one column at a time.
Reordering macros manually
If you turn on the manual ordering setting, you can reorder your macros by dragging and dropping them in the list on the Macros page.
If the order of your macros isn't essential to your workflow, however, we recommend disabling manual order mode so all newly created macros will snap into place without manual intervention.
To turn on manual reordering
- In Admin Center, click
Workspaces in the sidebar, then select Agent tools > Macros.
- Click Actions > Manage settings.
- Select Turn on manual ordering.
- Click Save.
To reorder macros manually
- In Admin Center, click
Workspaces in the sidebar, then select Agent tools > Macros.
- Click Actions > Edit order.
- Click and hold the drag-and-drop handle for the macro you want to move. Drag the macro into position and release the handle. Repeat as needed to reorder your macros list.
- Click Save.
Turning off the most-used macros option
By default, the three most-used macros from the past week are displayed at the top of the macros list. You can turn off this feature if it doesn't fit into your workflow.
To disable the most-used macros option
- On the Macros page, click Actions > Manage settings.
- On the Manage settings page, deselect Display agents' most-used macros.
- Click Save.
35 comments
James Green
We're serving a few different products, and I'm curious if it's possible to group macros into different "folders" per say, so folks can go to different folder groups depending on the product email they are servicing.
I can't find anything that references the ability to do this, but it seems pretty basic and I assume I'm missing something. Can we do this with zendesk?
1
Andrei Kamarouski
Hi @...,
You can organize this via:
0
James Green
@... interesting. I'd want all users to have access to all of the macros, but just have them organized differently (instead of just a large list of all macros created). Would that be what your third bullet is covering?
0
Andrei Kamarouski
@..., I have a feeling you are talking about something known as categorising macros, no? Or do I miss the point still?
Our app shows suggestions based on specific comment content, not just everything. Search allows searching over all macros.
0
James Green
@... yea, I saw that article but didn't really understand what it was trying to tell me.
If I wanted to split a certain number of macros into a group, would I just add to the title (name of group)::(name of macro) and it does it on it's own?
0
Andrei Kamarouski
@..., correct! Just try and enjoy! And look into my post about macros optimisation here btw https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/community/posts/1260802024509-How-to-optimise-your-macros-usage-in-Zendesk
0
Wismann, Leigha
What do I need to update when a user who has the no_scat tag linked to their user account submits a ticket and the ticket assignee uses a macro that has a tag set automatically removes the no_scat tag from the ticket? How do I get the no_scat tag to stay on the ticket once a macro is used?
0
Dave Dyson
Hi Leigha!
You need to use the "Add tags" action, which will append tags without changing the tags that are already there, instead of "Set tags", which removes all previous tags first – both are described here: Building macro action statements
0
Riley
Hi, can I import the macros in bulk?
0
Cheeny Aban
There isn't an out-of-the-box feature that allows you to pull a list of all your macros. However, you can use the API end-point List Macros to retrieve all shared and personal macros available to the current user. More information can be found here: How can I pull a list of all my macros from Zendesk?
0
Alex Kir
Hello!
Can I use some tool for import/export macros (or script) :
1. Export macro from zendesk to CSV files
2. Import from CSV files to zendesk macros
1
Jeff C
Hi Binomo Support Team,
While there is no native feature to do this in Support, you should be able to utilize the List Macros endpoint as explained here. You should also be able to pull in those Macros in a spreadsheet and save as a CSV file.
For Importing CSV files that contain Macro Information, there are 3rd party apps available in the marketplace such as this one that you can utilize.
0
Nick Kassebaum
A little late on the reply, but I built a tool that lets you quickly and easily convert JSON macro files to CSV, and lets you choose which columns to delete before exporting your file. We don't keep your data, and its free. Give it a try - zendeskmacrosconverter.com
0
Naomi Greenall
When managing my macros as an admin, I keep running into the issue of seeing categories that no longer exist. For example, I used to have a Shipping:: category. I no longer have any macros under this category but it is still being listed on the dropdown. I'd prefer to see that cleared as there are no more macros under this category. It takes up space and I have waited weeks for it to clear since making changes. Is this a bug?
0
Gabriel Manlapig
We understand that you used to have a "Shipping::" category that no longer exists but is still listed on the category dropdown when managing your macros.
Can you confirm if you deleted it completely or just deactivated it (under the inactivate tab)? Looking forward to your reply.
0
Naomi Greenall
Hi Gabriel Manlapig,
We did have a macro that was deactivated under that category, thank you! I did check another category under deactivated that has no macros and its category is still visible under activated. Would this still be a bug here?
0
Gabriel Manlapig
We tried to replicate it on our test account, and it does the same thing. Per our article, this is expected behavior because the category dropdown will filter both the active and inactive macro categories.
For reference, see Using categories to filter macros. In order to remove it from your category list, you will need to delete the macro completely from your inactive tab. I hope that answer your question. Thank you!
0
Naomi Greenall
Gabriel Manlapig I'm not sure you did I understand my question. I do understand that th filter is applied to the active and inactive macros. But I have a category that is showing despite having no macros under it in the active or inactive category.
0
Gabriel Manlapig
In order to look into this behavior you experienced further, we will open a ticket on your behalf. For reference, please see Request # 12085980.
Thanks,
0
Carmelo Rigatuso
Gabriel Manlapig, I'm also experiencing the same issue. No macros in Active or inactive tabs, and still the categories show.
thanks,
0
Brett Bowser
Thanks for bringing this to our attention! I'm going to create a ticket on your behalf so our Customer Care team can look into this for you.
You'll receive an email shortly stating your ticket has been created.
Cheers!
0
Jahn
Hello, don't we have capability of updating macros in bulk just like stated here on this article Announcing consolidated macros management?
Not sure what does “bulk action” refer to. We basically need to update hundreds of macros to be available to the new group in Zendesk but looks like we need to do this manually.
Let me know if there's any workaround on this please aside from updating via API. Thank you!
1
Matt Russell
Hi Zendesk. When I am in the Macros list and click Actions > Edit Order
I'm then presented with a page 99 macros (this appears to be both active and inactive) but our account has a total of 163 macros. I'm only seeing a portion of the macros and this is then affecting my ability to reorder them.
I also made the mistake of sorting by one of the columns (Date Created) and that resorted just those 99 :( without an “undo” option. I'm trying to manually reorder the macros but since I can't access all of them in one page (nor filter or pick and choose) I'm unable to fix my problem. Is there a way to recover from this or some way to restore what I had before? And better yet allow reordering for all macros and not cutting at 99?
3
Derek Nuzum
We are also seeing the same behavior as Matt Russell and can confirm that the same process is broken/unusable. We and our agents are no longer able to properly prioritize the correct macros.
1
Lloyd Norman
Same here Matt Russell + Derek Nuzum
Our macro order editing instance is messed up. It needs to either be reverted back to the original format or present all macros on one page.
We have 450 macros currently so it's getting a bit difficult to handle as new ones are being created.
2
Lloyd Norman
Shawna James could you please help with getting some traction on the above 🙏 Thanks 🤩
1
Carmelo Rigatuso
Same issue, I can't order the macros because I can't see them all.
1
Rochelle Noel
Same issue as reported above. Can't see all the macros, so they aren't alphabetizing properly.
1
ben millington
I also have the same issue, we have more than 1000 macros and need to shuffle them around as part of restructure. This can't be done when you can only see 100 per page. Please help!
0
Derek Nuzum
From support, I can confirm this workaround/URL modification works for now:
1