Migrate from Folder HelpDesk to Zendesk

Folder HelpDesk Tickets map directly to Zendesk Tickets. We preserve subject, body, status (Folder HelpDesk statuses map to Zendesk ticket_status values), priority, assignee (mapped via email to the Zendesk agent User), created_at, updated_at, and the full conversation thread including internal notes. Thread order is reconstructed by parsing Folder HelpDesk's received headers and inline reply markers. Public comments become Zendesk public Ticket comments; internal notes become Zendesk internal comments.

Folder HelpDesk Customer records (end-user contact records linked to tickets) map to Zendesk Users with role=end-user. We transfer name, email, phone, and any custom field values into typed Zendesk user fields. Email address serves as the dedupe key during import. If the customer has a portal ID or previous ticket reference in Folder HelpDesk, we preserve it in a custom field legacy_customer_id__c for cross-reference.

Folder HelpDesk Organization records (company-level groupings of customers) map to Zendesk Organizations. We transfer organization name, domain, and any custom fields. If Folder HelpDesk has a parent-child organization hierarchy, we replicate that as Zendesk parent Organization lookups. Organizations are imported before End Users so that the organization_id lookup is satisfied at User insert time.

Folder HelpDesk Agent records map to Zendesk User accounts with agent-level permissions. We match agents by email address and transfer display name, role (admin/agent), and group membership. Any Folder HelpDesk Agent without a matching Zendesk User email goes to a reconciliation queue for the customer's Zendesk admin to provision before ticket import begins. Agent-to-ticket ownership is resolved at migration time using the email-to-User lookup.

File attachments on Folder HelpDesk tickets migrate to Zendesk Ticket Attachments. We preserve filename, MIME type, and binary content. Attachments exceeding Zendesk's 50 MB per-file upload limit are chunked and retried; files exceeding that threshold after chunking are flagged in the transfer log for manual retrieval. The parent ticket is linked via ticket_id at the time of attachment upload.

Folder HelpDesk Tags applied to tickets migrate to Zendesk Tags. Zendesk uses a flat tag namespace; Folder HelpDesk's tag hierarchy (if any) is flattened with a path separator (e.g., product/billing becomes productbilling or product::billing) as the customer chooses during scoping. Tags used for categorization are applied to Zendesk tickets at insert time via the tag endpoint.

Folder HelpDesk custom fields on Tickets and Customers require pre-migration schema alignment with Zendesk's custom field model. We inspect the source field schema during discovery, identify each field's data type (text, date, dropdown, checkbox), and either map it to an equivalent Zendesk field type or flag it as requiring a Zendesk custom field to be created before import. Tier-gated custom fields (available on Professional but not Starter) are noted separately. Dropdown fields in Folder HelpDesk migrate as Zendesk dropdown or tag fields depending on the value cardinality.

Folder HelpDesk Knowledge Base articles (where available on Professional and Enterprise tiers) migrate to Zendesk Guide articles. We export title, body HTML, section or category placement, and attachments. Content written in Folder HelpDesk's markdown-like format requires HTML normalization before Zendesk import. We preserve article-to-section hierarchy as Zendesk Section and Category structure. Articles are imported before tickets to ensure Help Center links embedded in ticket replies resolve correctly.

Folder HelpDesk macros and email templates migrate as Zendesk Macro records at the text and variable placeholder level. We export macro body text and any dynamic variable syntax as a written macro inventory document. Complex conditional routing logic in Folder HelpDesk macros cannot be expressed as Zendesk Macro conditions and must be rebuilt as Zendesk Triggers or Automations by the customer's admin post-migration. We do not migrate conditional logic as code.

Billable or tracking hours logged against a Folder HelpDesk ticket migrate to Zendesk Time Tracking entries if the Zendesk account has the Time Tracking feature enabled. We map time value (in minutes), agent, and ticket linkage. If the destination Zendesk plan does not include Time Tracking, time entries are preserved as internal comments with a standardized time notation for manual reconstruction.

Folder HelpDesk Groups (team-level routing assignments for agents) map to Zendesk Groups. We transfer group name and membership. Agent-to-group assignments are resolved during User import using the email-to-User lookup. Zendesk Groups are created before ticket import so that the group_id field on tickets is satisfied at insert time.

Folder HelpDesk SLA policies (Enterprise tier) do not migrate as live configuration because SLA timers are computed in real time and are not exported as historical data. We deliver a written inventory of every Folder HelpDesk SLA policy including its name, business hours definition, first-response target, and next-response target, which the customer's Zendesk admin recreates in Zendesk SLA Policies post-migration. SLA breach state resets on migration day and must be monitored from the first new ticket in Zendesk.