Managing your support addresses

As described inUnderstanding the default email setup in Zendesk, one support email address is initially set up for users to submit tickets: [e-mail]. This is the default email address for submitting tickets.

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You can manage support email addresses by setting a default, deleting unused ones, or editing their names and associated brands. Changing the default affects ticket notifications and replies. Deleting an address stops emails to it and reassigns tickets to the new default. Editing lets you update the display name and brand but not the email itself. Managing addresses requires proper permissions.

As described in Understanding the default email setup in Zendesk, one support email address is initially set up for users to submit tickets: [e-mail]. This is the default email address for submitting tickets.

In addition to creating additional support email addresses, you can manage your email addresses if necessary. For example, you might need to change the default address, remove an address that’s no longer needed, or edit the name of an address.

You must be a Zendesk Support admin or an agent in a custom role with Manage channels and extensions permission to manage support addresses.

Note: Support addresses are not visible in Admin Center > Email > Manage support addresses if you have a very large number of support addresses (3000+). If you see a message that support addresses are hidden, you must manage them using the Zendesk API.

This article covers the following topics:

• Setting a default support address
• Deleting a support address
• Editing the name and brand of a support address

Related articles:

• Understanding the support address end-user experience
• Adding support email addresses for users to submit tickets

Setting a default support address

When you created your Zendesk account, 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. If you have multiple brands, a default system support address is created for each brand.

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 the wildcard emails option is turned on, and an end user sends an email to an address that is not a known support address.

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 Channels in the sidebar, then select Talk and email > Email.
2. Click Manage support addresses.
3. Click the options menu () next to the support address you want to make the default, then click Make default.

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

Deleting a support address

You can delete any support address except your current default support address. If you need to delete your default support address, you must make another support address the default first.

Important: Before deleting a support address, review any configurations that depend on it, such as email forwarding rules on your external mail server.

After you delete a support address:

• Outgoing email notifications will no longer be sent from that address.
• Existing open tickets that were originally received at the deleted support address are reassigned to the new default address for outbound replies.
• Email sent to the deleted system address is rejected. No ticket is created.

  This doesn't apply if your account accepts wildcard emails. When wildcards are allowed, emails to any address at the Zendesk domain are accepted, regardless of whether it is a registered support address.

• End-user replies to old notification emails are rejected.

Even after an address is deleted, Zendesk may still send emails from a Zendesk domain or use an account system address for certain internal workflows and fallback scenarios for the Gmail Connector.

If you connect to Gmail, you can disconnect from a Gmail account at any time to stop importing emails from that inbox. See Managing Gmail connections.

About deleting system support addresses

You can delete any system support addresses that were created for your account, such as [e-mail]. For accounts with multiple brands, each brand has its own system address (for example, [e-mail], [e-mail]). Deletion is per-brand — deleting one brand's system address doesn't affect other brands.

Deleting a system address is similar to deleting any support address. However, there are special considerations:

• Deleting system support addresses may help reduce spam.

  System addresses follow a predictable pattern ([e-mail]) and can be a target for unwanted email. Deleting it stops inbound email to that address from creating tickets.

• Customers who use their own email domain through connectors (such as forwarding, SMTP, Gmail, and Exchange) may want to remove all *.zendesk.com addresses. Deleting system addresses is a first step. However, if other Zendesk-hosted addresses exist (for example, [e-mail]), the Zendesk domain is not fully removed until those are also deleted.
• If you delete one of these system support addresses from your instance or brands and want to re-add it, adding the same address that was deleted (such as [e-mail]) will automatically be identified as a system support address.

How to delete a support address

To delete a support address

1. In Admin Center, click Channels in the sidebar, then select Talk and email > Email.
2. Click Manage support addresses.
3. Click the options menu () next to the support address you want to delete, then click Delete.
4. In the confirmation window, click Delete support address.

   The support address is removed from your list.

Editing the name and brand of a support address

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.

If you're editing an external support address, you can also update the brand associated with the address.

To edit a support address name

1. In Admin Center, click Channels in the sidebar, then select Talk and email > Email.
2. Click Manage support addresses.
3. Click the options menu () next to the support address you want to rename, then click Edit.
4. In the Name field, add, change, or remove the support address name.
5. (External support addresses only) In the Brand field, change the brand associated with the address if needed by selecting a different brand from the drop-down list.
6. Click Save.

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