Migrate from Deskpro to Zendesk

Deskpro Tickets map directly to Zendesk Tickets. We convert Deskpro ticket status values (new, open, pending, resolved, closed) to Zendesk status values (new, open, pending, solved, closed) and preserve priority, channel origin, and timestamps including created_at and updated_at. The Deskpro Stat Builder 2500-record hard cap per query requires chunking across sequential ticket ID ranges (tickets.id between 1 and 2500, then 2501 and 5001, and so on); we implement this chunking automatically during export scoping. Any gaps in sequential IDs are flagged for the customer to confirm acceptable unmigrated record ranges before export begins.

Deskpro Peoples (individual end-users or customers) map to Zendesk End Users. The primary key match uses email address. We create Zendesk Organizations first, then set the organization_id on each End User record to preserve the Deskpro People-Organization parent-child relationship. Peoples without a linked Organization create standalone Zendesk End Users. Any custom fields on Peoples are discovered via the Deskpro reports API schema and mapped to Zendesk user fields by type and label name before migration.

Deskpro Organizations map directly to Zendesk Organizations. The organization name becomes the Zendesk Organization name field, and domain-based matching is configured in Zendesk to auto-link future End Users to their Organization. We resolve the Organizations before importing Peoples so that the parent lookup relationship is satisfied at the moment of End User insert, avoiding orphaned records.

Deskpro Agents represent support staff with role-based permissions. We map Agent records including department assignments, language preferences, and user-level settings to Zendesk Agents. Agent-to-ticket ownership migrates by resolving the Deskpro agent reference to the Zendesk agent user record via email. Department affiliations map to Zendesk Groups for routing and access control; we flag any department-level permission nuances that require post-migration manual configuration in Zendesk Admin.

Deskpro Knowledge Base Articles map to Zendesk Guide Articles. We preserve article body content, publish status, author attribution, and multilingual variants where present. Articles are linked to their parent Section (mapped from Deskpro Folders) during import. Author information from Deskpro maps to the Zendesk article author field; if no matching Zendesk agent account exists for the author, the article is attributed to the admin performing the migration and noted in the reconciliation report.

Deskpro Folders (the mid-tier of the three-tier Category > Folder > Article hierarchy) map directly to Zendesk Guide Sections. Each Section is created before its child Articles are imported to satisfy the parent reference. Folder permissions, if configured in Deskpro, are flagged and documented for manual Zendesk permission-set configuration post-migration.

Deskpro Categories sit above Folders as the top-level organizational layer, creating a three-tier Category > Folder > Article structure. Zendesk Guide only supports two tiers (Section > Article). We collapse Categories into their child Folders during migration, creating Zendesk Sections at the Folder level with a naming convention that preserves the original Category name as a prefix. This prevents structural information loss without creating a non-existent top tier in Zendesk.

Deskpro custom fields on Tickets require schema discovery before mapping because field definitions are not exposed in standard export endpoints. We discover the full schema by querying the Deskpro reports API with a custom field prefix, capturing field IDs, data types, and display labels. We then map each to an equivalent Zendesk custom ticket field by matching type (text to text, dropdown to dropdown, checkbox to boolean) and label name. Custom field data that cannot resolve to a matching Zendesk field type falls back to a plain text field with a warning logged in the migration report.

Deskpro Labels are a flat labeling system applied to tickets. They map one-to-one to Zendesk Tags with no transformation required. We create the Zendesk tag vocabulary during import to match Deskpro label names exactly, then apply each tag to its corresponding Zendesk ticket. Labeled tickets that reference deleted Deskpro labels are flagged in the reconciliation report for the customer to handle before final cutover.

File attachments on Deskpro tickets are downloaded to a secure staging bucket during export, then uploaded to Zendesk using the Zendesk Attachments API and linked to the corresponding Zendesk ticket record. We handle inline images embedded in article bodies and ticket comments separately, preserving image URLs where accessible or re-hosting them in Zendesk if the original URL becomes inaccessible post-migration. Attachments exceeding 50 MB are flagged for the customer to handle manually because Zendesk's attachment API has a 50 MB per-file ceiling.

Deskpro Departments organize agents and tickets within the platform. Zendesk does not have a native Department object; instead, Zendesk Groups provide agent routing and ticket assignment grouping. We map Deskpro Department records to Zendesk Groups, reassign agent affiliations to the corresponding Zendesk Groups, and flag any department-level permission nuances that require post-migration manual configuration in Zendesk Admin. Department-level SLA rules are documented in the automation inventory and not migrated as code.

Deskpro Workflows, Triggers, and SLA rules are not transferable to Zendesk because each platform's automation engine operates on different trigger types, condition syntax, and action models. We document the active Deskpro workflow logic as a CSV specification covering trigger event, conditions, and actions for the customer's admin to rebuild in Zendesk's Trigger and Automation interfaces. SLA rules are documented separately with their thresholds and notification actions.