Admins can add many users in a bulk import rather than adding users manually one at a time. To do this, you create a comma-separated values (CSV) file that contains the user's data. In addition to essential user data, such as email address and phone number, you can also set user roles, define an agent's privileges, and add users to an organization. You can use bulk import to either add new users or update existing ones. Bulk import via a CSV file only works for Support users and roles.
You must be an administrator to bulk import users and organizations.
- To protect the data in your Zendesk account, data imports are not enabled by default . The account owner or an admin must contact Zendesk Customer Support to enable data exports and access to the imports page.
- If you want to bulk import both users and organizations, you must import organizations first.
Considerations for bulk importing users
Limitations of bulk importing users and organizations
You can import a core set of data about users and organizations. For example, using bulk import, you can import the data described in the table below; however, you cannot import timezones, photos, language preferences, etc. To import data not listed in the table below, you need to use the Zendesk REST API instead. See Importing users with the Zendesk API or Importing organizations with the Zendesk API.
- The maximum number of rows depends on the import method.
- When using the Bulk actions pages to import new and existing user and organization data, the import CSV data file can contain a maximum of 2,000 rows. That is, one header row and up to 1,999 rows of data.
- When using the data importer to import new and existing user and organization data, the import CSV file can't exceed 1 GB in size. We recommend a maximum of 500,000 rows. That is one header row and up to 499,999 rows of data. Furthermore, each row can't exceed 128 KB in size.
- When using the data importer, the following limitations also apply:
- The import CSV file can contain a maximum of 200 columns.
- The import CSV file can't guarantee import order for rows.
- Don't include the same user or organization more than once within a CSV file. Doing so can cause your import to fail.
- There's no guarantee that records are created or updated in the order they appear in the CSV file.
- You can only import one CSV file at a time. Therefore, if you have more data than the maximum number of rows supported for the CSV file, you must create separate files for each batch and import them one after another. When you're not using the data importer, up to two batches are queued and run in the background. If you want to import more than two batches, you need to wait until the first batches are finished importing to add more.
- You cannot use bulk importing to import contact information from end-user Facebook or X (formerly Twitter) accounts. Instead, use the Zendesk REST API. See Importing users with the Zendesk API.
Updating existing user profile data
How data is updated by the data importer
- phone (added as a secondary phone number)
- email (added as a secondary email address)
All other data is replaced by the data importer.
How data is updated by the bulk actions import
- name
- external_id
- role
- restriction
- organization
- custom fields
- tags (only when using the data importer)
- details
- notes
- tags
- phone (added as a secondary phone number)
- email (added as a secondary email address)
Deciding whether to send an email to users imported in bulk
Before you perform a bulk import of users, it's important to check your welcome email settings. When you add new users via a bulk import while Guide is enabled, each user receives the welcome email message. The welcome email contains a link to verify their email address, which prompts them to select a password and then sign in. You can prevent the welcome email from being sent to these users.
To prevent the welcome email message being sent to users
- In Admin Center, click
People in the sidebar, then select Configuration > End users.
- In the User welcome email section, deselect Also send a verification email
when a new user is created by an agent or administrator.
- Click Save.
Creating the CSV user data file
When you create a list of users to import, you'll probably generate this list from some other user management system such as an employee database. Most of these systems have some facility for creating a CSV export file. If you need to create the list from scratch you can use a program like Microsoft Excel or OpenOffice.org Calc.
- The file must be properly formatted CSV and saved using UTF-8 character encoding.
- The first row of the CSV file is the header row, and you must include it in the file.
- The header row must contain any required fields in the table below, plus any other fields listed in the table below that you want to include.
- Included fields must appear in the header row in the order they are listed below.
- If you are not importing data for a field, do not list it in the header row.
- Empty columns of data in the file will overwrite most existing data for that user. For exceptions, see Updating existing user profile data.
- Add line breaks to notes or multiline custom fields by pressing ALT+ENTER on Windows or CTRL+OPTION+RETURN on a Mac.
The following table lists the fields that you can include in the file. The name, email, and restriction fields are all required when importing new users. When existing users are updated via bulk import, only one unique identifier is required (such as an email or external ID).
Field | Description |
---|---|
name | Required for importing new users. User's full name. |
email (not data importer) |
Required for importing new users. User's full email address (someuser@mycompany.com). |
emails (data importer only) |
Required for importing new users. User's full email address
(someuser@mycompany.com). If including more than one email address for a user,
separate them by a pipe (|). For example:
first@yourcompany.com|second@yourcompany.com
|
ticket_restriction (data importer only) |
Required for importing new users. Restriction sets the
team member's or end user's privileges, the tickets they have access to, etc. This
is required to import new users when the user's role is set to Agent
On non-Enterprise plans, the following restriction values are supported:
Restriction values of "organization" and "requested" can be assigned
when the user's role is set to "End-user". All others apply only to team members.
Note: On Enterprise plans, agent roles override the standard agent restrictions.
This means that you can't use any of the standard restrictions listed in the
table above to import or update an agent. You must specify an agent role. If you
accidentally use a role name that doesn't exist in Support, the user's role
defaults to Light Agent.
|
restriction (not data importer) |
|
external_id | If you have an ID other than the user's email address (such as an employee ID
or customer reference number), you can include it here. External IDs must be
unique for each user, or data will be overwritten. If you need to configure multiple email addresses or phone numbers to a single user, you can do so by creating multiple entries for the user in the CSV file and using the same external_id column for all rows you want associated with a single user. With the exception of the additional email or phone numbers, the values in all other columns should remain the same for each row. If any external ID, email address, or phone number matches more than one existing user, that row is rejected from the bulk import.
Note: If you import users with the external_id
field as their only identifier (meaning you're not also including email
address), you still need to include the email field in the CSV file, with no
data. For example:
|
details | Detailed information concerning this user, e.g. an address. This information is visible to team members only, not to end-users. |
notes | Notes concerning this user. Notes are visible to team members only, not to end users. |
phone (not data importer) |
The user's telephone numbers. Unique phone numbers are added as direct lines. Phone numbers that already exist are added as secondary lines. To work with Talk, phone numbers should be formatted with the internationally standardized E.164 format. |
phones (data importer only) |
|
shared_phone_number (not data importer) |
If this is a shared phone number, set to "true". A shared phone number cannot be used as a user identity. |
shared_phone (data importer only) |
The user's shared telephone number. To work with Talk, phone numbers should be formatted with the internationally standardized E.164 format. |
role | Case sensitive: End-user, Agent, or Admin. If you don't set a role, the user is set to End-user. |
organization (not data importer) |
The name of the organization that the user will be added to. The
organization must already exist or the import will fail. On Professional and
Enterprise plans, you can add a user to multiple organizations by separating the
organization names with a pipe character. For example:
A user's default organization is set to the first organization alphabetically. It isn't possible to set a different default organization during a bulk import. However, the default organization for a user can be adjusted manually or with the Support API - Set Membership as Default endpoint. |
organizations (data importer only) |
|
default_group_id (data importer only) |
New team members (admins and agents) are automatically added to the account's default group. However, you can use this field to specify alternative default groups for users during bulk imports. End users can't be added to groups. |
tags | When user and organization tagging has been enabled for Zendesk Support (see see Adding tags and users to organizations), you can add user tags. Separate each tag with the comma. |
brand (not data importer) |
If the account has multiple brands, you can specify a brand subdomain. The
brand subdomain you specify determines the brand of the welcome email sent to the
user, as long as that brand is active and has an enabled help center. If the brand
subdomain you specify is not active, doesn't have an enabled help center, or
doesn't exist, the column is ignored and the welcome email is sent using default
brand. Specify only the name of the brand subdomain. For example, use mydomain and not mydomain.zendesk.com. |
custom_fields.<field key> | When you perform a bulk user import, you can import a custom user field by
specifying the custom_fields. prefix and the field key. For example, for the field key subscription_date, use the following to set the imported values for this field. custom_fields.subscription_date Note that custom field keys are case-sensitive and must be entered in lowercase letters. If you are importing information into a checkbox, enter 'true' to have it checked or 'false' to leave it unchecked. To set the value of drop-down list options, use the tag you added when you created the drop-down list. For custom date fields, use either the YY/MM/DD or YYYY-MM-DD format. To locate the key for a custom user field:
If a field value is not formatted correctly, the import will fail and you will receive an error report specifying which records failed to save.
Note: If the custom user field you're importing is a lookup relationship field, enter the ID
of the related object as the value for this field. For example, for an
organization, enter the organization's ID; for a user, enter the user's ID; for
a custom object record, enter the record's ID. To find an organization, user, or
custom object record ID, you can export data from your account or use the
Organizations API, Users API, or Custom Object Records
API.
|
Importing the CSV user data file
You can use a bulk import to create new users or update existing users.
Your import is added to the queue, and users are added to Zendesk Support when the import process is complete. The size of the CSV file and queue size determine how long it takes for each import to complete.
Using the data importer to import user data
You can use the data importer to import a CSV file that creates or updates existing users, and captures logs of all imports attempted through the Data importer page.
- In Admin Center, click
Objects and rules in the sidebar, then select Tools > Data importer.
- Click Import.
- Under Target destination, select Users.
- Under Import type, choose one of the following:
- Create only: Only new users are added. Any data in the CSV file pertaining to existing users is ignored.
- Update only: Update data for the existing users listed in your CSV file. The external_id is required to update users. Any data pertaining to new users is ignored.
- Create and update: Add new users and update data for the existing users listed in your CSV file.
Note: If any external ID, email address, or phone number matches more than one existing user, that row is rejected from the bulk import. Check your import history. - Under File upload, drag and drop your file or click to upload and
select your CSV file from the file browser.
If you need to change the file you've selected, click the delete icon (
) next to the file name.
- Click Next.
- Review the Field mapping list.
- If the field mapping is correct, click Next.
- If the field mapping isn't correct, click Back. Edit your CSV file to adhere to the format requirements and then reupload the file.
- Review the summary of import details in the confirmation dialog and then click
Start import.
After the import starts, the imported changes can't be reverted. To check the status of an import, check your import history.
Using a bulk actions import to import user data
Although we recommend using the data importer, you can still use the Bulk actions pages to import new and updated information for users.
- In Admin Center, click
People in the sidebar, then select Bulk actions > Import users.
- Select import options:
-
Create new users: This is selected by default and cannot be deselected. This is because users listed in the CSV file that don't exist in your Zendesk account are always created.
-
Update existing users: Select this import option if you also want to modify data for existing users.
An external_id or email address must be included in the CSV file for each user so that they can be identified. Other than user identification fields, only include the fields you want to update in your CSV file. If you don't enter a value for a field in your CSV file, that value is overwritten for the existing user. See Updating existing user profile data.
If any external ID, email address, or phone number matches more than one existing user, that row is rejected from the bulk import.
Note: If you don't want to add new users, you must use the data importer. When using the Bulk actions pages, if your CSV file contains information about new users, they are always added, regardless of the import option you select. -
- (Optional) Select Include external ID in CSV output file.
When the import process is complete, you will receive an email notification that includes a link to a separate CSV import results file. Use this link to download the file and view the results of your import. The file shows the status of the user data that you attempted to import (Created, Updated, Skipped). If you select this option, the report includes the email address or an external ID for each user that is created or updated.
If you don't select this option, external IDs are excluded from the CSV import results file. Instead, only the user's email address is listed for each user that is created or updated.
- Click one of the following: Choose File or Let me paste in data instead.
- Click Import.
Your import is added to the queue and the users are added to Zendesk Support when the import process is complete. You'll receive an email when the import is complete.
81 comments
Kristen
Hello @... and @...! I am trying to delete the phone numbers for all 23k end_users that we have. I wrote a script to be able to iterate through users, pull their user identity id if it is a phone number, and then delete it via API. However, I'm noticing despite a status code 204, in many cases, I still see the phone number from the UI, despite it no longer being available when I've queried it via API. On other occasions, deleting the user identity does remove the phone number from the UI. This leaves me to believe that sometimes phone numbers (not yet clear when) are stored on both the phone field of the user AND as a user identity, and that deleting user identity does not actually remove it from the user. It is really hard to get clarity on how you all are actually storing the phone number. Could someone from the Zendesk team please elucidate for me how to permanently delete phone numbers and/or hide it from our agents?
1
Carl McDowell
Hi @...,
A phone number can be stored as a direct line or a shared line. We go into some more detail here: Understanding how phone numbers are linked to end-user profiles
However I don't think that solves the issue you are facing, and it may be worth taking this into a ticket to figure out the answer.
I'll reach out to you from the ticket I create about your issue. Once we find the solution we can post it back here.
1
Beatriz Bravo Gallardo
Hello,
We used to replace all our user's tag just with the csv, is there a simple way to have the overwriting behavior using the csv?
0
Dave Dyson
Hi Beatriz,
Unfortunately, updating users via CSV can only append new user tags, it cannot overwrite existing user tags. See Updating existing user profile data
In order to bulk-update the user tags of a number of users at once, you'd need to use the API: Create Or Update Many Users
If you haven't used the API before, this introduction could be helpful: Introduction
0
CJ Johnson
What about groups? They are not mentioned.
![](/hc/user_images/rIqRXBoCTeRlfti_-E5FYA.png)
1
CJ Johnson
Zendesk Support tells me it's actually "impossible" to update groups using this method. If it's not impossible (which I suspect it's not), can you please update this article with some clearer instructions on how to import restrictions like groups?
1
Brett Bowser
Hey CJ,
You are correct and you cannot set an agent's group via CSV bulk import. There are only two options available for updating a users group:
Since this article is specifically addressing bulk importing users, I'm thinking we will want to create a separate article that discusses how someone can update group assignments in bulk outside of a CSV file.
Appreciate you bringing this to our attention!
-2
Heather Rommel
Hi CJ Johnson,
I thought I'd mention one of my favorite ways to update Agents' groups is to go to Admin -> Manage -> People and select Groups. Or go here: https://YOURDOMAIN.zendesk.com/agent/admin/people and select Groups
Select the Group you want to update - and click edit all the way to the right of the screen. There, you can simply check the Agents you want to add to a group.
0
CJ Johnson
@...
![](/hc/user_images/EdiE2-NxtYG0H91wY6HF9g.png)
![](/hc/user_images/lqRq0GRnZIKbRVcJD2fwuA.png)
Maybe it would be good then, to remove all the references in this article that say you can do this? Based on the article comments this certainly used to be possible, so it's extremely confusing to have left it in. This deprecation/removal does not appear to be mentioned in any release notes either.
1
CJ Johnson
@...
Unfortunately, that's a non-starter. I'm not going to click 100-200 names by hand every time I need to make mass updates, one because that's really tedious, and two, because it's prone to human error. Getting a CSV import file with errors on the ones that failed for this task is highly, highly preferable, although given that it was apparently removed, and would overwrite, not append groups, previously, I'm not sure that really met my needs either. I'll likely end up spending some time writing out some API scripts to accomplish this task, though it won't be quite as nice or accessible to less technical folks.
2
CJ Johnson
This article is *still* outdated and claims you can update groups using the import.
2
Dave Dyson
Hi CJ –
Thanks for your feedback here, we've adjusted the text about on groups in agent restrictions above, and removed Devan's response from last year. Hopefully that will make things more clear (and provide some guidance on how you can add agents to groups).
0
Mark Molloy
I am attempting my first bulk import of end-user data. The organization and some end-users exist. The original bulk edit was done b/4 I arrived on the scene and the person is long retired.
Here are my questions:
Do the CSV fields have to be in the order listed in this article or just be present somewhere in the CSV?
Can the header row have initial caps or must it be in lowercase?
To allay my manager's concern: The import will affect only the organizations and users in the CSV file, correct?
0
Sonny
Thank you for contacting Zendesk!
We have tested this and it looks like the order of the columns doesn't matter, specifically, when we switched the Notes and email columns and didn't have any issues with the import. So as long as the required columns are included, it doesn't look like it'll matter the order of the columns.
Additionally, our Notes column had a capitalized "n" in "Notes" and that didn't affect anything either. So that could mean the headers can have capitalization :)
For the third question, the answer is yes, the import of the organizations and users should only affect those listed in the file. This is assuming you're importing NEW data and not updating data. So for example, if you already have 100 users and 5 organizations, importing 5 new users won't have and affect on the existing 100. If you update the 5 existing organizations however, then this may affect any linked users that were linked to those existing orgs that were then updated.
Hope this answers your questions! Let me know if you'd like clarification on any of the above information.
1
Mark Molloy
Sonny,
Thank you and Happy New Year!
Mark
0
info
Seriously,
Please update your guys support. I spent over 20 minutes following the bottom and to do this, it was under settings - then customers. Not what this says below.
To prevent the welcome email message being sent to users
1
Mark Molloy
Thanks for the info.
0
Danielle
Hi Zendesk,
I uploaded a CSV to add end-users and it was uploaded successfully.
Part of the CSV was the phone numbers- added the international prefix, but when going through the users it looks like the number wasn't added.
What could be the problem?
0
Orlando C
Hi Danielle
I created a ticket for your use case so we can further investigate your issue. Please check your email and we can start working on this together. Thank you!
0
Diego Fusetto
Hi
Is it possibile update tickets fields in the same way ?
0
Irena K
Hi,
We're planning to switch to Zendesk from another customer support tool. What is the best way to import all customer conversations? I don't think the bulk import would work for this...
Thanks!
0
Dane
The best option to update bulk tickets were indicated in Managing tickets in bulk.
@Irena,
Thank you for considering using Zendesk. Migrating information to Zendesk needs a lot of preparation. We have all the options for migration in How can I migrate information from another platform into Zendesk? We also have our Zendesk Partners to help you with the entire migration process.
Hope this helps!
1
Steve Bramblet
Hi there - we are using bulk import to import a user attached to multiple companies.
We have Enterprise version of Zendesk.
However when using bulk import it's giving this error:
Multiple organizations were provided. Only one or none is accepted.
From what I can tell the file is formatted correctly?
1
Brett Bowser
We will most likely need to take a look at the file you're referencing to see what is happening here.
Can you try contacting our Customer Care team via the method shared in this article: Contacting Zendesk Customer Support
Let me know if you have any other questions in the meantime!
0
François Bellavance
Hi,
I am updating users with new emails because we changed domain name and it's working lik a charm. What about usernames with letters like é, à, ça inside? I have a user named Gaétan in our tests. How can I parse him in the CSV file?
0
François Bellavance
Oh and each have now a new email adress. currently it's @csdps.qc.ca their primary. How can I make the new @cssps.gouv.qc.ca as the primary? Even if it's first in the list, it only adds it as secondary.
0
mfg
If I import users' emails with the domain of an existing organization, will they automatically be assigned to that org? (It would be helpful to have a note about this included above.)
0
François Bellavance
Is there a way to export all the users and modify the file for reimport? We are changing our domain name this weekend, I don't want to change all emails manually.
1
Gab Guinto
I'm afraid there's no native option for exporting a CSV file of all end users unless you have the have the Legacy add-on Customer Lists. You can check out this comment by one of our Community Manager in another thread about the available export options for user data. You may export the data in JSON or XML and convert the data to CSV, and then edit the CSV file to match the sample CSV for user import.
0
Gab Guinto
For updating users, the identifier is email. If you have an external_id for your users, then you can also use that as identifier.
1