We request the addition of a native capability in Zendesk to “lock” specific fields—such as Name, Phone, and Email—on specific End User profiles. The desired functionality would allow only Admins to edit these fields on designated profiles, while keeping these fields editable on all other End User profiles.

This feature is critical for maintaining data integrity on high-impact notification or system user accounts.

Background & Context

In our current implementation, we rely on notification emails sent from dedicated B2B End User profiles such as flow@shopify.com. This account is used to trigger notifications when customers opt for “check/money order” payments. The correct process is for agents to change the ticket’s Requester (e.g., to a customer’s email such as joe@example.com) rather than editing the End User profile.

However, agents sometimes mistakenly edit the flow@shopify.com profile directly by changing its name or email address. When this occurs, not only do we lose the integrity of our B2B notifications, but it also leads to significant issues such as:

Tickets incorrectly attributed to the wrong user.
Confusion in communication with customers (e.g., sending sensitive updates to the wrong email address).
Overall disruption to our ticketing system, potentially exposing us to security risks.

Currently, our attempts to protect these critical End User profiles using Zendesk Webhook Triggers or automation platforms such as Zapier have been unsuccessful because the Zendesk API does not allow interaction with End User profiles in the required manner.

The Problem

Limited Native Control: Zendesk does not offer a granular permission setting to lock individual fields on specific End User profiles.
Risk of Human Error: Agents have the ability to edit all End User profiles, and even minor unintentional changes can have drastic operational and security consequences.
Ineffective Workarounds: Third-party automation (e.g., via Zendesk API) cannot reliably enforce such restrictions, leaving us with reactive measures rather than proactive control.

Proposed Functionality

We propose the addition of a “lock” icon or toggle next to key user profile fields (specifically Name and Email) in the Zendesk UI that can be enabled only by Admins. Key points of the functionality include:

Selective Locking: Admins could flag individual End User profiles (or select specific fields within a profile) as “locked” or “protected.” Once enabled, only Admins would be able to modify these fields.
Visual Indicator: The locked fields should display a lock icon or some other clear visual indicator to remind agents that these fields are read-only for a particular End User.
Granular Control: This should not be a blanket setting across all profiles. Agents must retain full editing capabilities on regular, low-risk user profiles (e.g., customers needing corrections due to typos).

Use Case Scenario

For example, consider the flow@shopify.com profile used for Shopify notifications:

Normal Workflow:

Customer selects “check/money order” on checkout.
An auto-generated ticket is created by the flow@shopify.com End User.
The agent correctly reassigns the ticket requester from flow@shopify.com to the customer’s email (e.g., joe@example.com).

Error Case:

The agent mistakenly edits the flow@shopify.com End User profile, and changes user “Shopify”'s email address to joe@example.com.

As a result, subsequent notifications intended for Shopify come from Joe, and a large number of tickets become misattributed.

By having the ability to lock the critical fields on profiles like flow@shopify.com, such errors would be prevented, maintaining the integrity of both our notification processes and overall data accuracy.

Conclusion

The implementation of a field-level lock on End User profiles for certain high-impact accounts would be a significant improvement to Zendesk’s administrative capabilities. It would:

Reduce Operational Risks: Prevent accidental or unauthorized changes to sensitive accounts.
Enhance Data Integrity: Ensure that essential system-generated notifications continue to function without disruption.
Streamline Workflows: Allow agents to focus on managing tickets without worrying about inadvertently altering vital user profiles.

We hope Zendesk will consider this enhancement to better support organizations dealing with critical or high-risk user profile scenarios.