Migrate from Desky to Zendesk

Desky Tickets map directly to Zendesk Tickets with subject, description, status, priority, assignee, and timestamps preserved. Custom ticket fields in Desky are detected during the source scan and matched to Zendesk custom ticket fields created before import. We validate that Desky field types (text, number, dropdown, checkbox, date) have equivalent Zendesk field types and flag any unsupported formats. Ticket ID from Desky is preserved in a custom field desky_ticket_id__c on the Zendesk ticket for cross-reference.

Desky Agent accounts migrate to Zendesk Users with the Agent role. We map display name, email, and active/inactive status. If the agent email in Desky matches an existing Zendesk user, we link to that record; if not, we create a new Zendesk user. We flag agent seats that exceed the destination Zendesk Suite plan limit before committing the migration.

Desky Customer contacts map to Zendesk End Users (requesters) with name, email, phone, and company association preserved. The link between Customer and Company in Desky translates to a link between the Zendesk End User and an Organization record. We validate email format and flag any duplicate email addresses in Desky before import to avoid Zendesk end-user conflicts.

Desky Company records map to Zendesk Organizations. Each Organization is created before importing End Users so that the organization_id lookup is satisfied at the moment of user insert. Organization name, domain, and any custom fields migrate directly. We resolve Customer-Company associations through the Organization link on the End User record.

Desky KB Articles map to Zendesk Help Center articles via Zendesk's /help_center/articles API or admin import. Article title, body content (HTML), publication status, and category assignment migrate. HTML formatting in Desky articles may require post-migration formatting review because paragraph breaks, embedded images, and code blocks render differently across platforms. We flag articles with heavy inline CSS or non-standard HTML for manual review.

Desky KB categories map to Zendesk Help Center sections. We create sections in the destination Help Center before importing articles so that the section_id is available at article import time. Section name, description, and sort order migrate directly. If Desky uses a two-level category structure, we create both a parent section and a child section in Zendesk to preserve the hierarchy.

Tags in Desky are lightweight string labels attached to Tickets and Articles. We migrate Tags as string values and re-apply them to the corresponding Zendesk Ticket and Article records during import. Zendesk tag limits (maximum 200 tags per ticket, 1,000 tags per article) are checked during scoping. Tags with special characters are normalized to Zendesk-compatible formats.

Desky attachments are stored as file references in the CSV export (URLs pointing to hosted files). We download all referenced files during the migration, preserving original filenames and MIME types, then re-upload them to Zendesk via the attachment upload API. The re-upload job runs as a post-import pass and associates each file with the correct Ticket or Article record. Tickets with more than 10 attachments are flagged upfront for manual verification.

Desky ticket thread entries (customer replies and agent responses) map to Zendesk Ticket Comments. We preserve the author (agent vs. requester), comment body, timestamp, and public/private visibility. Internal notes in Desky migrate as private comments in Zendesk. Comment ordering is preserved by setting the Zendesk comment created_at timestamp to the original Desky timestamp.

Desky custom ticket fields (dropdowns, checkboxes, date fields, numeric fields, and text fields) are detected during the source scan and recreated in Zendesk as matching custom ticket fields. We create the destination fields before ticket import so that the field IDs are available for mapping. Desky dependent fields (conditional display logic) have no direct Zendesk equivalent and require manual configuration of Zendesk's conditional field visibility per ticket form after migration.

If Desky uses agent groups to route tickets, we map those groups to Zendesk Groups. Group membership for each Agent/User is set during user import. Zendesk Groups are used for ticket routing, SLA assignment, and view filtering. If Desky does not use groups, we map all agents to the default Zendesk group and configure routing after migration.

Desky ticket statuses (Open, Pending, Resolved, Closed, or custom statuses) map to Zendesk ticket statuses. We create a status mapping table during scoping: each Desky status value is assigned to a corresponding Zendesk status (new, open, pending, hold, solved, closed). If Desky uses custom status names, we either map them to the closest Zendesk standard status or create a Zendesk custom status if the Suite plan supports it.