Migrate from Chat2Desk to Intercom

Chat2Desk Clients represent customers who initiated conversation through any connected channel. We map Client to Intercom Contact, preserving all standard fields (name, phone, email) plus any custom fields on the Client record. Chat2Desk client_id becomes the external_id on Intercom Contact for deduplication. Where a Chat2Desk Client has no email or phone, we populate the Contact with the messenger username from the primary channel as a custom attribute.

Chat2Desk Messages are the conversation content pulled from WhatsApp, Telegram, Instagram, and online chat. We map each Message to an Intercom Conversation Part, preserving body text, timestamp, sender type (customer or operator), and attachment URLs. The Chat2Desk Messages endpoint paginates using start_id (cursor-based) rather than offset, which requires a different pagination loop in our export scripts. Attachments are downloaded from Chat2Desk and re-uploaded to Intercom with the conversation part.

Chat2Desk Channels represent each connected messenger source (WhatsApp Business API, Telegram bot, Instagram, Viber, Facebook Messenger, online chat widget). Intercom does not have a native channel object; we map each active Channel to a Tag on the Conversation (e.g., tag:whatsapp, tag:telegram, tag:instagram). This preserves source-of-contact visibility without requiring a custom attribute. Channel metadata (channel_id, channel type) is stored as tag metadata for reconciliation.

Chat2Desk Operators are the agents who handle conversations. We map Operator to Intercom Agent by email match against the Intercom admin and agent list. Operator roles (admin, operator) are mapped to Intercom roles (admin, agent). Any Chat2Desk Operator without a matching Intercom Agent is held in a reconciliation queue for the customer's admin to provision before conversation import resumes.

Chat2Desk Departments organize operators and routing rules. We map each Department to an Intercom Team, preserving the department name. Department-based routing rules in Chat2Desk do not migrate directly because Intercom uses its own Rules engine for assignment. We document each department's routing logic in the automation inventory for the customer's admin to rebuild as Intercom Rules post-migration.

Chat2Desk Sales Funnels are pipeline-style workflows tracking leads through stages. Intercom does not have a native funnel or pipeline object. We map Sales Funnels to Intercom Ticket Types (e.g., Bug, Feature Request, Refund), and funnel stages become Ticket Status values or custom attributes. The customer chooses whether to use Intercom Tickets or stick with Conversations-only during scoping. Sales funnel custom fields are created as custom attributes on the Ticket object.

Chat2Desk Message Templates (macros and response templates) are used for consistent outbound messaging. We map Templates to Intercom Saved Replies, preserving the template body text and any variable placeholders. Note that WhatsApp Business API message templates require separate Meta-approved template registration in Intercom; we flag any Chat2Desk WhatsApp templates that may require re-approval from Meta before use in Intercom.

Chat2Desk Knowledge Base articles are informational content used by bots and agents for auto-replies. We export articles with their categories and map to Intercom Help Center articles under the corresponding Collection and Section. Intercom's hierarchy is Collection > Section > Article; Chat2Desk's category structure may be flatter or deeper, requiring normalization. We flag any articles with nested categories that cannot map cleanly to Intercom's three-level limit.

File attachments sent within Chat2Desk conversations are accessible via the messages API. We download each attachment, preserve the filename and MIME type, and re-upload to Intercom as a Conversation Part attachment. Large files (over 10 MB) may exceed Intercom attachment limits and are flagged for the customer's admin to host externally and link.

Chat2Desk chatbot logic, auto-reply rules, and Python script automations are platform-native configurations that cannot be exported as structured records. We do not migrate them. We deliver a documented inventory of every active chatbot rule, trigger condition, and action sequence from Chat2Desk, with recommended equivalents in Intercom's Rules engine or Fin AI workflows. The customer's implementation team rebuilds these in Intercom's native builder post-migration.