You can share tickets from your Support account with other accounts by establishing sharing agreements. You can specify the terms under which sharing can occur and how shared tickets are managed. The other accounts you establish sharing agreements with can also share their tickets with you if they establish sharing agreements with your account.
Ticket sharing allows you to assign tickets to affiliated accounts. Those accounts' agents can either provide information toward resolving the issue or solve the issue themselves. The ticket status and comments stay synced between the tickets in each account.
Once you've activated a sharing agreement with another account you can begin sharing tickets.
This article contains the following sections:
Understanding how ticket sharing works
- Any Support account can invite another account to establish a sharing agreement.
- The initiating account (the sender) sets the terms of the sharing agreement, which the receiving account can accept or not.
- Sharing agreements are one way. Once the receiver accepts the agreement, the sender may share tickets with the receiver. For the receiver to share tickets with the sender, they must create and initiate a sharing agreement with the other account.
- If you only have receiving agreements, the sharing ticket field will not appear and you cannot stop sharing received tickets.
- The sender can only share a ticket with one other account. However, the receiver can share the ticket with an account that they have a sharing agreement with.
- A shared ticket becomes a new ticket in the receiver's account with a separate ticket ID.
- The ticket status, custom fields, and comments can
remain synced between the ticket versions in both
accounts. The custom fields must be created in both
accounts (see Syncing custom fields
with another account below). CC recipients
are not carried over from the original ticket to the
shared ticket.Note: Any public or private comments added to a shared ticket will be visible to agents in both the original Support account, and the Support account the ticket is shared with. Any public comment to the shared ticket will also notify any users copied on the original ticket.
- All ticket statuses can match, except for On-hold. When a ticket is changed to On-hold in one account, it will be submitted as Open in the other. See Understanding how custom ticket statuses map if you've activated custom ticket statuses.
- Tickets in the Closed status can't be shared.
- Call recordings (including Voicemail recordings) in a shared ticket can only be accessed by signed-in agents of the Support account that the original call is associated with. For example, Account A shares a call ticket with Account B, which includes the calls recording. The agents in Account B will not be able to listen to that recording in the shared ticket. If they are agents in both accounts they can listen to the recording by signing into Account A, locating the original ticket and listening to the file there. Transcriptions of voicemails remain visible, as lines of text within the shared ticket.
- Depending on the terms of the agreement, the receiver may directly communicate with the ticket requester and solve the ticket.
- Sharing tickets creates a placeholder user in the
receiving account for each user associated with the
sending account ticket. The user is created even if
there is a user in the receiving account with the
same name and email address as the placeholder user.
If an agent in the receiving account makes a comment
on this shared ticket, a placeholder end user
account is created in the sending account to
represent this agent. Placeholder users created
during ticket sharing can't be deleted.
It's important to note that shared tickets do not pass on user information – that is, customer information such as email address or phone number are not stored. Tickets are never linked to matching users in the receiving accounts, unless an agent of the receiving account manually adjusts the requester of the shared ticket when the user is created in the receiving account. This adjustment is not recommended as it can cause issues with the sharing agreement. When a ticket is unshared, the receiving account cannot communicate with the requester unless the user profile is updated with a profile that includes an email address.
- Each account's business rules remain separate.
- A shared ticket cannot be merged with another ticket.
- An account can automatically refuse to accept all sharing agreement invites.
- Sharing agreements can be cancelled at any time by either the sender or the receiver.
- Sending email to another Support instance is not supported when a ticket sharing agreement is in place. Automatic email notifications from a shared Support instance are suppressed. If an agent action generates an email notification, the email is also suppressed.
- When tickets are shared between Support accounts, user fields and organization fields are not shared with the ticket.
- Renaming an account involved in a sharing agreement breaks the agreement.
- If you enable the setting Enable secure downloads on the Tickets > Settings page of Admin Center, then add a comment that contains an attachment, any shared accounts will not be able to view or download the attachment.
Understanding how custom ticket statuses map
Sending account - custom status | Receiving account - custom status | Status mapping |
---|---|---|
Not activated | Not activated | No issue. The statuses match, except for the On-hold status, which maps to Open. |
Activated | Not activated | Maps to a corresponding status category. |
Not activated | Activated | Maps to the default status category. |
Activated | Activated | Maps to a corresponding status category, even if the custom statuses match. |
Setting up a ticket sharing agreement
Set up ticket sharing by creating a ticket sharing invite and defining the terms (permissions) of the sharing agreement. You must be an admin to set up a ticket sharing agreement.
- Make public & private comments, sync status
- Make private comments, do not sync status
The first option allows the receiver to communicate directly with the requester and to change the ticket status (for example, setting it to Solved). These ticket updates are also reflected in the sender's version of the ticket.
The second option (private comments only and no status syncing) limits the other account to providing you with information needed to resolve the support request. For example, imagine a company that builds something that includes components from other companies. Each affiliated company (business partner) can set up a Support account and a sharing agreement to provide more details on issues related to the components they supply. In this scenario, the sender controls the ticket from initial request through to resolution, gathering information as needed from the affiliated account.
-
In Admin Center, click
Objects and rules in the sidebar, then select Tickets > Settings.
- Select the Ticket Sharing tab.
- Select add sharing invite.
- In the window that appears, select another Zendesk Support account or a third-party system.
- Enter the URL for the account you're sharing tickets
with. Depending on the option you selected in the
previous step, you'll see one of the following
fields:
- Zendesk Support account: Partner Zendesk domain field
- Third-party systems: Sharing URL field
- Select an option from the Comment status and
permissions field:
- Make public & private comments, sync status
- Make private comments, do not sync status
- Select an option from the Tag synchronization
field:
- No, do not share tags between me and the receiver
- Yes, share tags between me and the
receiverNote: Tags that are added by business rules are not synced between shared tickets.
- (Applies only if sharing with another Zendesk Support
account) Select the custom fields syncing setting.
You have two options:
- No, do not sync custom fields between me and the receiver
- Yes, sync custom fields between me and the receiver
- Click Send Invite.
The receiver is notified of the invite on their Ticket Sharing page, as shown here:
The receiver can view the terms of the sharing invite and either accept, decide later, or decline the agreement.
When accepted, both accounts can immediately share tickets.
If you decline an agreement, the sender is free to try again at another time. If you don't want to establish sharing agreements with any other accounts, you can set your account to automatically decline invites (see Opting out of all sharing invites). You can also deactivate sharing agreements at any time (see Deactivating a sharing agreement).
All of your sharing agreements (accepted, pending, and rejected) are displayed on the Ticket Sharing page.
Opting out of all sharing invites
If you decide to not share tickets with any other account, you can choose to opt out of all sharing invites.
- In Admin Center, click
Objects and rules in the sidebar, then select Tickets > Settings.
- Select the Ticket Sharing tab.
- In the Opt out of sharing section, select the Decline all sharing agreement invites.
- Click Save Tab.
With this option set, you will never be informed of a sharing invite.
Deactivating a sharing agreement
Sharing agreements can be deactivated by either the sender or the receiver at any time. Deactivated agreements can't be reactivated, but both accounts are free to invite the other to accept a new sharing agreement.
- In Admin Center, click
Objects and rules in the sidebar, then select Tickets > Settings.
- Select the Ticket Sharing tab.
- Locate the agreement you want to deactivate and then select View.
- Click Deactivate Agreement.
Your agreement partner will be informed of the deactivation via email and this will also be reflected on their Ticket Sharing page. Deactivating an agreement means that no new tickets can be shared and that tickets that have already been shared will no longer be synced.
Referring to shared tickets in business rules
Tickets that have been created in your Support account via ticket sharing can be referenced as conditions in automations, triggers, and views. The condition Update via also includes Ticket sharing as a value.
You can create a view of the tickets generated from ticket sharing, as in this example:
This will show you all the tickets that were shared to you. If you want to create a view of the all tickets you shared to another account, you can add a tag to the tickets and create business rules from that.
You can create automations or triggers that include the ticket sharing conditions. Again, using Update via is Ticket sharing as a condition you can create a trigger to escalate the shared ticket to a specific support group, to add tags, and so on.
Additionally, you can filter the view to show only inbound or outbound tickets if you have set up receiving agreements in your account.
- For inbound tickets, add a clause: Ticket sharing: Received from > (instance name of who you are sharing tickets with).
- For outbound tickets, add a clause: Ticket sharing: Sent to > (instance name of who you are sharing tickets with).
Syncing custom fields with another Support account
As described in Setting up a ticket sharing agreement, you can select to sync custom fields with another Support account. To make this work, each account must create the custom fields separately. For example, if you want to sync a custom field called "Camera model" it must exist in both accounts and must have the same title and data type.
The custom field title is not case sensitive so the sync will be successful even if one custom field is called "Camera model" and the other is called "Camera Model".
What is important to keep in mind is the data types used in each custom field; they must be compatible. The simplest way to ensure this of course is to use the same data type for each. In our example, both versions of "Camera model" are drop-down lists.
Other syncing rules include:
-
Support includes two types of ticket fields: custom ticket fields and system ticket fields. It's not possible to sync system ticket fields. For more information about the differences between these two types of fields, see About ticket fields.
- If an incompatibility between custom fields does exist, the ticket will sync, but the incompatible custom fields will fail (no data will be transferred).
- If you're using a ticket field that has tags associated with its corresponding values (for example, drop-down fields), the tags must be the same across both instances. If you have matching ticket field names and values, but the tags differ, the sync between ticket fields will fail.
- If a ticket is shared between two accounts, only the account where changes to the field value are made will see a record of that change in the ticket events/audits. The other account will see the altered field value, but will not see any details about the change, such as who made it or when it was made.
- When syncing custom fields between two accounts, the custom fields must be present on the default ticket form of the receiving account, since shared tickets in the receiving account will use the default ticket form of the receiving account.
52 comments
Priscila Santos
Hey people,
If I select the option "Yes, sync custom fields between me and the receiver", Zendesk will be able to sync the custom ticket status that I have created in region account and the other account from other region?
0
ADMIN
When ticket sharing, is the initial conversation with the ticket requester shared too? Is there a way to not?
0
Elena
Hi,
in the article you say " CC recipients are not carried over from the original ticket to the shared ticket."; however, how does it work the other way around?
We have two instances, and one of our agents replies to shared tickets, but they must always CC at least another senior colleague in their reply (senior colleagues are not ZD users): when they are CC'd in the public reply and the shared ticket is submitted, seniors do not receive the reply in their inbox.
Should we create a specific trigger for these replies, and how should we do that?
Should we create it for both instances or just for the one that shares the original tickets?
0
Sandro Olivieri
Hi,
if a ticket automatically set Closed on the shared ticket (receiving side), when a new comment is added on the ticket (sender side), the ticket on the receiving side isn't updated because closed.
We thought a follow-up shared ticket was to be automatically created on the receiving side, but that doesn't seem the case.
How can the receiving side be notified that a new comment has been made on the shared ticket?
Thanks
0
Ronny Edvardsen
We use ticket sharing with other Zendesk Support accounts and have had great success with that. However when tickets are unshared, and not resolved, the receiving account (we) are left with open tickets that require manual action to set them as resolved.
I'm trying to figure out how I can set up an automation that detects unshared tickets and resolve them after 24H without any manual action. Anyone know if that is possible to achieve?
0
Anne Ronalter
Zendesk only tracks tickets that are shared and not unshared tickets.
A workaround could be, to advise the account who shares the ticket to add a tag to that ticket. That way, we can determine and filter this type of ticket and set up an Automation around that Tag.
Here you can find more details on Working with ticket tags.
0
Daniel Elizalde
Hi all,
I want to remove the Share ticket field from agents, and the Ticket Field manager app does not seem to do this. I want tickets to be shared with other instances based on a trigger and not on an action performed by an agent.
Any ideas or workarounds?
0
Gabriel Manlapig
We have tried this on our end, and the Ticket Field Manager app was able to hide the share ticket field from our Zendesk account. To do this, enter sharedWith as the value under the hidden form fields section and click update.
For reference, please see screenshots below:
Here, you can see the sharing drop field is still visible to agents.
Enter sharedWith as the value under the hidden form fields
Then click Update.
Kindly refresh or clear your browser cache and cookies to see the changes on the ticket. I hope that helps!
2
Daniel Elizalde
Hi Gabriel, this solved it. As always cookies and cache get in the way :D
0
moaz mohsen
Please help send the ticket to customer service and return to the list of tickets automatically without me pressing the back button
0
Joyce
If you prefer to open the current view after you submit a ticket, you can change the Stay on ticket option next to the Submit as button to Closed tab.
You can also visit this article for more information: Working with tickets
0
Stacy Win
What exactly does this mean?
0
Destiny
This statement is describing functionality within Zendesk Support, in which different support instances (e.g., separate support organizations or departments within a larger entity) can create 'ticket sharing agreements'. This feature allows for seamless collaboration on ticket resolution without the customer noticing transitions between different support instances.
Let me break down the different elements:
In summary, when different Support instances have an agreement to share tickets, they can't email each other about those tickets, and automatic email notifications related to those tickets' progress or resolution are suppressed. The aim is to prevent unnecessary or confusing communication and maintain a clear, consolidated communication stream within the ticket itself. Hope this helps.
0
Sarah
Is there any Dev resource required for the ticket sharing to work? Or this is all just enabling the feature?
0
Stacy Win
Sarah Ticket sharing should not require Dev resources. You create the sharing agreement in one instance and accept the agreement in the other instance. There might be some Zendesk configuration updates required.
0
Gerald J
Can the ticket sharing dropdown by controlled? like display when the ticket belongs to certain groups or forms?
0
Christine Diego
Our product team is currently exploring this feature. You can check out this community post where users are discussing the same feature. Feel free to upvote and share your use case in the comment section. Posts with active engagement are more likely to catch the attention of our product managers during roadmap planning.
0
Amie Brennan
Is anyone able to confirm if the Zendesk Ticket sharing feature will sync custom ZD statuses? Im not finding anything concrete in the ZD documentation (may have missed it). My testing tells me no, but hoping I'm able to find something written so I can show my client it's not possible?
0
Gabriel Manlapig
Hi Amie,
We hope that you are doing well! We’re coordinating internally on updating the article. We would suggest continuing and replying to the ticket if you have further clarifications and questions. Thank you!
0
Carmelo Rigatuso
Are there no trigger condition for shared tickets? The only one I see is Update Via > Ticket Sharing
Or Form conditions?
For example, with the custom fields synced, I want to make sure that certain fields are required when Open AND the ticket is shared (otherwise, for unshared tickets the field might only be required to solve). It should just be an option in the When filling out this field.. dropdown.
0
Arianne Batiles
Hi Carmelo Rigatuso
Here are two conditions for ticket sharing available in triggers:
You may check this article for more details. I may need to ask for more information regarding your use case. Hence, I'm creating a ticket on our behalf so we can continue our discussion. Please check your inbox for updates. Thanks!
0
Sylvana van Ommeren
Hello,
Will our automations sets take action on a ticket also shared with the ticket sharing account?
0