Zendesk Airdrop

DevRev's Zendesk Airdrop allows you to perform a bulk migration, ongoing 1-way sync, or ongoing 2-way syncs. A bulk import is a prerequisite to setting up a sync.

For more information, refer to the Zendesk Airdrop snap-in on the DevRev marketplace.

Supported objects

The following is a list of Zendesk objects and their corresponding DevRev equivalent. Those marked as Sync to DevRev are eligible for import/sync to DevRev from Zendesk. Those marked as Sync to Zendesk are eligible to be synced to Zendesk from DevRev.

Importing from Zendesk

Follow the steps below to import from Zendesk:

1. Go to Settings > Imports and click Start Import or Import.
2. Create a new connection to your Zendesk account, or use an existing connection if you already have one.
3. Once the connection is established, select the Zendesk workspace you want to import and specify the DevRev part where the imported tickets should be created. This initiates a bulk import of the selected workspace.
4. DevRev makes an effort to automatically map the fields from Zendesk to corresponding fields in DevRev. However, you may be prompted to manually map certain fields if needed.

The duration of the import depends on the size of the Zendesk account. It can take seconds for an account with only a few tickets to a few hours for an account with tens of thousands of tickets with many attachments. DevRev honors the Zendesk API rate limits and back-off and resumes automatically.

Post import options

After a successful import, you have the following options available for the imported project:

• Sync to DevRev
  • This option allows you to synchronize any modifications made in Zendesk with the corresponding items previously imported into DevRev. It also creates new items in DevRev for any new tickets, customers, or organizations created in Zendesk after the last sync or import.
• Sync to Zendesk:
  • This option synchronizes any changes made in DevRev to previously synced Zendesk supported items back to Zendesk. It also creates any items marked in DevRev for creation in Zendesk. This is a one-time operation.
• Periodic Sync
  • By enabling this option, you can automatically sync new changes from Zendesk to DevRev on a periodic basis. The default frequency is once an hour.
• View Report
  • This option allows you to access detailed information about the initial import and any subsequent syncs performed.
• Delete Import
  • If you wish to remove the import and all items that were imported from Zendesk into DevRev, you can use this option.
• Edit Connection
  • Use this option to change the connection used for any subsequent actions. It can be helpful if a connection becomes inactive or the user who established it is no longer available.

Historical imports

To view currently running and previous imports from various sources, including Zendesk, go to Settings > Imports.

Sync to DevRev

After a successful import from a Zendesk workspace, you can choose to sync the imported data with DevRev. This feature imports any new tickets, customers, organizations, and any changes made to previously imported items from Zendesk.

To perform a one-time sync to DevRev, follow these steps:

1. Go to Settings > Imports.
2. Locate the previously imported project.
3. Select the ⇆ > ⇾ From Zendesk to DevRev option.

Please be aware that this may override fields in previously imported items, even if they were modified in DevRev.

Sync to Zendesk

After a successful import from a Zendesk account, you can sync changes made in DevRev to the previously imported supported items back to Zendesk. Additionally, any new DevRev tickets marked for sync are created as new Zendesk items.

To perform a one-time sync to Zendesk, follow these steps:

1. Go to Settings > Imports.
2. Locate the previously imported project.
3. Select ⇆ > ⇾ From DevRev to Zendesk.

This may override fields in Zendesk of previously imported items, even if they were modified in Zendesk.

Mark a DevRev ticket for syncing

Using the Sync to Zendesk feature, it's possible to sync DevRev tickets to Zendesk. In order to sync a DevRev ticket to a specific Zendesk type, it must be marked for syncing. Marking a DevRev ticket for syncing can only be done during the creation of a new ticket. During ticket creation, select the dropdown for Type, set it to the Zendesk account, and type the ticket should be synced to. The format is as follows: _zendesk {Zendesk Subdomain} tickets.{type}_.

For example, if you want to sync a new ticket of type question to a Zendesk account that's served through https://devrev.zendesk.com, this would show as zendesk devrev tickets.question.

After a DevRev work item has been marked for syncing, it's created in the specified Zendesk account the next time the Sync from DevRev to Zendesk runs. This can be triggered manually or automatically through a Periodic Sync. Future sync keeps this item updated on both sides after it has been created in Zendesk.

Periodic sync

DevRev highly recommends creating a new dedicated Zendesk account when setting up an ongoing 2-way sync.

Use a dedicated Zendesk account to create the Zendesk connection and set up the import. This prevents any individual Zendesk user from receiving too many Zendesk notifications.

After successfully importing from a Zendesk account, you have the option to enable a periodic sync. This allows for automatic synchronization between Zendesk and DevRev on a regular basis. By default, the sync occurs once an hour. The sync can be configured to be Sync to DevRev, Sync to Zendesk, or both.

To enable a periodic sync, follow these steps:

1. Go to Settings > Imports.
2. Locate the previously imported project.
3. Select the ⇆ > Start Periodic Sync option.

To disable a periodic sync, follow these steps:

1. Go to Settings > Imports.
2. Locate the previously imported project.
3. Select the ⇆ > Stop Periodic Sync option.

Delete import

This deletes any content created by the import, including accounts, users, works, and parts.

Users not created by the import but created under an Airdrop account will also be deleted as part of the account deletion.

An import and all the content it creates can be deleted from DevRev. This can be useful when running POCs or to change the recipe used during the import. Once an import has been deleted, all the content it created gets deleted, even if they were modified in DevRev. It's possible to import the project again after its deletion.

To delete and import all the content it created, go to Settings > Imports > Past Imports, find the previously imported project, and select ⇆ > Delete Import.

Zendesk Help Center Airdrop

DevRev supports the import of Zendesk help center (Categories, Sections, and KB Articles) using airdrop.

The mapping of Zendesk items to their counterparts in DevRev is as follows:

During import, any fields without equivalence in DevRev are excluded. For information about DevRev articles, click here.

Importing Help Center items into DevRev

The help center import process is integrated into your overall Zendesk import. If you already have an ongoing import of tickets and want to include articles as well, reach out to our customer experience team.

Features

• Imported articles will be editable within DevRev.

• Inline and block attachments associated with each article will be imported.

• References to other Zendesk articles within article content will be managed, redirecting to articles on DevRev.

• Content tags, permission groups, and user segments will be imported as tags and added to the relevant articles.

• Each synchronization will generate a new version of the article on DevRev if changes were made in Zendesk since the last sync, ensuring content is not overwritten. Users can edit articles within DevRev.

Limitations

• While Zendesk's API provides article content in HTML, DevRev articles are in a custom JSON format. We've made a best-effort conversion between the two formats, which may result in errors. If any errors are detected, a Review Required tag will be added, and the article status will be switched to draft. While our converter supports Zendesk's native editor tags, we cannot guarantee compatibility with all user-added HTML, potentially resulting in rendering issues and disruptions to the editing experience.
• The ordering of articles and collections during the initial import and subsequent syncs is not assured. This is because of limitations in how Zendesk transmits positions in its response and how we internally store the rank of articles and collections.
• Syncing from DevRev to Zendesk for help center items is not supported.

Airdrop Zendesk scope and limitations

The following is a list of Airdrop Zendesk scopes and limitations to keep in mind when performing a Zendesk Airdrop. These are Zendesk-specific limitations, there are also some generic Airdrop scopes and limitations.

Updates

• Changes to description field in DevRev are not properly transferred due to the fact that description isn’t a first class field in Zendesk.