How to migrate tickets and related data from CSV to Zendesk

Switching from another help desk to Zendesk, you want to keep the support history to retain the relationship with your customers and keep delivering outstanding service.

This article describes the steps it takes to import your Tickets along with Agents, Contacts, and other related data from a CSV file to Zendesk using the Help Desk Migration service.

Help Desk Migration is an official Zendesk solution partner that offers data migration services to companies looking to transfer their data from one help desk to another. Note that to use the automatic data migration tool, you need to pay a fee. However, you can test it free of charge before you decide to pay a penny.

Benefits of migrating data with Help Desk Migration

preserved data relations;
an unlimited number of rows in one file;
possibility to import all essential data;
ability to test the migration unlimited amount of times.

Help desk records you can import

The tool allows importing the following records:

Groups;
Agents;
Companies;
Contacts;
Tickets;
Ticket comments;
Tags;
Attachments;
Standard and custom fields.

You can also import your Knowledge Base objects such as:

Categories;
Folders;
Articles;

Preparing data for migration

First of all, you will need to organize your data into the following CSV files:

CSV file with tickets;
CSV file with ticket comments;
CSV file with Knowledge Base (to learn how to import your knowledge base, please read this post).

When preparing your files, please mind the following requirements:

The size of each file should not exceed 1GB.
All files must contain a heading row.
Set comma as the delimiter.
To import attachments, provide a publically accessible URL to each attachment. To migrate multiple attachments, separate them with commas.
Use double-quote marks (") in your CSV file to capture data that spans multiple lines. E.g., Tags, Attachments, Description.
The content in heading rows must be written in English. The information you're going to import can be in any language.
Headers must begin with a capital letter.

How to prepare the Tickets.csv file

The file with tickets should contain a heading row with the following columns:

TicketId - required;
Subject - required;
Tags - optional;
DepartmentName - optional;
Description - required;
Type - required;
Status - required;
Priority - required;
AgentEmail - required;
AgentName - required;
ContactEmail - required;
ContactName - required;
ContactPhone - optional;
CompanyName - optional;
CreatedTime - required. Use YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS time format;
UpdatedTime - required. Use YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS time format;
ClosedTime - optional. Use YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS time format;
Attachments - optional.

Importing custom fields

You can migrate custom fields by adding a tag to the column header. Here are the tags you should use:

_select - dropdown, e.g., product_select;
_date - time, e.g., due_date;
_integer - number, e.g., TicketInternal_integer.

Other types of custom fields can be migrated using the _textArea tag.

Importing ticket comments

To import ticket comments along with your tickets you need to provide them in a separate file, which should contain the following headers:

CommentId - optional;
TicketId - required;
AuthorEmail - required;
Public - required (use 0 for private and 1 for public comments);
Body - required;
CreatedTime - required. Use YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS time format;
Attachments - optional.

For tickets with multiple comments, arrange them the following way:

How to import files to Zendesk

When your files are ready, go to the Help Desk Migration website and begin your import.

1. Select CSV as your data source and upload your files. You can choose from the following options:

If you don't need to import knowledge base articles, use our sample to pass the source step. Later, when selecting which data you want to migrate simply skip the Knowledge Base objects.

2. Select Zendesk as the target platform and specify your company's Zendesk URL.

3. Select which records you want to migrate and map ticket fields.

4. Start the Free Demo Migration to get a quote and check if the data migrated correctly. Review the result of your migration following this guide.

5. If you are satisfied with the results, go ahead, and complete your data transfer.

Once you start the migration of all records, close the tab and go about your day. We'll send you an email once the import is completed.

But please, be patient and don't merge, edit or delete any of the imported data. By doing this, you may cause changes to data that cannot be reversed. Wait for the migration to end to work with your data safely.

Should you have any questions about the migration? Feel free to contact Help Desk Migration.

Brett Bowser

February 06, 2019 15:53

Zendesk Community Manager

Thanks for sharing :)

Migration Support

February 11, 2019 14:41

Always welcome, Brett!

Hope we can help somebody!

Chris S.

November 05, 2019 09:19

Can this also work for updating existing tickets?

If I have a list of Zendesk tickets, can I do an upload to edit/update them? To add an additional tag without creating new tickets or changing anything else?

November 12, 2019 20:58

Hey Chris,

I can't speak for the integration mentioned above, however, it may be worth taking a look at our Managing Tickets in Bulk article which I've linked for you.

You can also use the Zendesk API to update your tickets in bulk and add the appropriate tag.

Hopefully, the developer of the integration can comment back here and point you in the right direction using their app.

Cheers!

November 13, 2019 08:19

@..., @... is right!

The best way to add tags to existing tickets is to use Bulk feature in Zendesk.

November 13, 2019 09:06

Hi Brett & HDM,

Thanks for the response.

Unfortunately the Bulk feature isn't really an option as I cannot create a view to filter for only the tickets I need to edit at this time since they don't have any other identifiers at this time - hence the tags I need to add to separate them out.

We're looking at an automated solution in the future, but was hoping for an easy win in the interim. Thanks anyways!

Darlene Magaway

October 12, 2021 00:56

Hi there! Thank you for this post. I just would like to know if this has 100% accuracy as to moving the data (tickets, contact info,)?

Our company is looking into moving back to zendesk and we are seeking help on how to move our data from the previous CS platform to zen faster and more accurate. Any help suggestions and repsonses aside from this article is highly appreciated. Thanks ahead!

Grão Direto

January 05, 2022 14:21
Edited

How can I link a ticket with a specific group via *.csv import ?

Jason Schaeffer

January 05, 2022 14:50

Zendesk Customer Care

Hi Grao,

Thanks for reaching out! You may want to look into a 3rd party app to accomplish this. I will link an example for this below:

https://www.zendesk.com/apps/support/275742/import-app/

This is not native to Zendesk but they may be able to customize to your needs when executing the Import.

I hope that helps!

anitha

March 15, 2022 09:51
Edited

How can we ensure the SLAs of the open tickets we are migrating from JIRA to Zendesk are also migrated? If it cannot be migrated, what is the work around ?

Natalia Tomchyshyn

June 23, 2022 08:31

Unfortunatelly, SLA settings can't be imported. You can set them up only for the new tickets. For the old ones, there's an option to migrate information about SLA timing into private comments. Thus, this workaround depends on the tools used for SLA in Jira.

Usman Khan

August 24, 2022 10:19

Can we import CSV without help-desk?

August 25, 2022 07:37

Yes, Usman, you need to upload your CSV files into Migration Wizard and connect the desired help desk, ITSM, or ticketing system. Then the process as a default migration -- adjust fields, run a Demo to test, check results and set a Full Migration.