Using the new request list experience in the help center customer portal (Beta)

What's my plan?

Note: The new request list experience is currently in an Open Beta program. 

The help center, by default, offers the option for end users to submit requests. End users who submit requests can also manage their support requests in the customer portal. 

The new request list experience (Beta) improves the way in which end users can manage large numbers of requests in the customer portal. When you enable the new request list experience in your theme, end users can use the new combinable filtering options to refine the requests they want to manage as well as new column configuration options to show/hide both system fields and custom fields.

This article contains the following topics:

• Enabling the new request list experience
• Using the new request experience to track your support requests
• Tracking your organization's support requests
• Filter options and behavior by field type

Enabling the new request list experience 

If you have the Copenhagen standard theme, you can use the theme settings to enable new request list experience functionality. 

Note: This feature requires that your theme uses Templating API version 2 or higher. To check your version see About Guide templating versions.

To enable the new request list experience in a standard Copenhagen theme

1. In Guide, click the Customize design icon () in the sidebar.
2. Click Customize on the theme you want to update.
3. In the Settings panel, click Requests list.
4. Select the New request list experience check box.
5. Click Publish.

If you do not have the Copenhagen standard theme, you can either download a new Copenhagen standard theme and follow the instructions in the previous section, or you can edit the code of your custom theme to include the {{request_list}} helper.

To add the requests lists helper to your custom theme

1. In Guide, click the Customize design icon () in the sidebar.
   The Themes page opens.
2. Click Customize on the theme that you want to edit.
3. Click Edit code.
   
4. Under Templates, click requests_page.hbs.
5. Add the following request list helper code to the theme’s main “container” element:

   {{request_list}}

   For example, when placed in the “container” element in the Copenhagen theme, the request list helper code resembles the following:
   

   <div class=”container”>
   {{request_list}}
   </div>

6. Click Save.

Using the new request experience to track your support requests

You can use the help center to track your support requests. If enabled, the new request list experience lets you apply advanced filtering to tickets, helping you quickly locate and manage tickets based on your search criteria.

Note: The new request list experience now supports custom ticket statuses, if activated. To activate custom ticket statuses, see Activating custom ticket statuses.

To track your support requests

1. Click your profile icon on the upper-right side of any help center page, then click Requests.
   
   By default, the page displays all requests that you have submitted with the following columns: Subject, ID, Created date, Updated date, and Status.
   
   To show or hide columns on the page, click the option button ( ) and then either select or deselect the system and custom fields you want to view or hide, or click See more columns to open a separate window where you can show more columns. All columns that are displayed in the list of requests are also shown in the drop down menu together with the six system field columns.
   
   To show custom fields to end users in the new request list, the field permissions must be set to either Customers can edit or Customers can view. See Adding custom fields to your ticket and support request form.
   Team members will be able to see fields that have the Agents can edit permission as they would have access to those fields in Agent workspace. This is also the case if you are an Admin assuming an end user account.
2. To filter your requests, you can select the Filter drop down, then either select the filter and sub filter you want to apply, or select See all filters to open the Filters window shown below, where you can select and apply filters and sub filters.
   
   
   You can select multiple filters to further refine your search criteria. You can also filter on values in fields where you have hidden the column.
   
   When you select more than one filter, the filters act as an "AND" search criteria, meaning that requests must meet all filter criteria in order to display. When you select multiple filter options within a single filter, they act as an "OR" search criteria, meaning that tickets must meet one or more criteria in order to display. For example, if you select both "Awaiting reply" and "Open" within the Status filter, tickets can have either an "Awaiting reply" or an "Open" status to display.
   
   Filters that you apply appear beneath the search field and can be cleared at any time by clicking Clear filters.
   
3. To search your requests, enter a search term in the Search Requests box.
   You can use ticket property keywords in your search.
4. To see details about a request, click the request title.
   If you belong to multiple organizations, you can change the organization for a support request when you view details for that request.
   
   
   

Tracking your organization's support requests

As an end-user you can be a member of one organization or multiple organizations. If you're a member of a shared organization, you can see tickets for all members of that organization. 

Note: A shared organization must be set up by an administrator. For more information, see Setting up a shared organization for end-users.

To track your organization's support requests

1. Click your profile icon on the upper-right side of any page, and then click Requests.
   
   
2. Click the Organization requests link on the My requests page to see all the requests in your organizations. The link appears only if you're a member of a shared organization.
   To show or hide columns on the page, click the option button () and then select or deselect the system and custom fields you want to view or hide.
3. To filter the requests, click Organization to select the organization that you want to view tickets for, then click the Filter drop down to select the filter and sub filter you want to apply. You can select multiple filters to further refine your search criteria.
   
   When you select more than one filter, the filters act as an "AND" search criteria, meaning that requests must meet all filter criteria in order to display. When you select multiple filter options within a single filter, they act as an "OR" search criteria, meaning that tickets must meet one or more criteria in order to display. For example, if you select both "Awaiting reply" and "Open" within the Status filter, tickets can have either an "Awaiting reply" or an "Open" status to display.
   
4. To see details about a request, click the request subject.
   You can add comments to a request if an administrator has set it up. For more information, see Setting up a shared organization for end-users.

To subscribe to requests for a shared organization

1. Click your profile icon on the upper-right side of any page, and then click Requests.
2. Click the Organization requests link on the My requests page to see all the requests in your organizations.
   The link appears only if you're a member of a shared organization in Zendesk.
3. Click Follow organization.
   If the Follow organization button is not available, ask your administrator to add it to your help center theme (see Add Follow/Unfollow for users in a shared organization).
   You will now receive notifications for new and updated requests in your shared organization.
4. Select the organization that you want to follow, then click Save. You will receive updates about tickets in each of your selected organizations. 

If you do not have the Copenhagen standard theme, you can either download a new Copenhagen standard theme and follow the instructions in the previous section, or you can edit the code of your custom theme to include the {{request_list}} helper.

Filter options and behavior by field type

Zendesk provides custom field types for tickets, users, and organizations. Although the fields displayed in the request form and request list are custom field types, they often have unique names that reflect their purpose. For example, the request list may display a field named “Store location” that is a drop-down field type designed to let users select from a list of store locations. In this case, the request list will display the field name “Store location,” even though it is a drop-down custom field type.

For a list of custom field types that you can filter on, see About custom field types.