Migrate from Freshdesk to Zoho Desk

Freshdesk Tickets map directly to Zoho Desk Tickets. The Freshdesk ticket ID is preserved in a Zoho Desk custom field fd_original_id__c for audit and cross-referencing. Channel type normalization is required: Freshdesk sources (phone, forwarded email, tweet, Facebook, survey feedback) are mapped to Zoho Desk channel equivalents (Phone, Email, Twitter, Facebook, Feedback) with unrecognized types defaulted to Custom and the original channel name stored in a metadata field. Ticket status, priority, type, group, and agent assignment migrate as-is.

Freshdesk Contacts (called Requesters in the Freshdesk UI) map to Zoho Desk Contacts. We use the contact email as the dedupe key during import. Freshdesk contact custom fields are pre-created as custom fields in Zoho Desk before contact import begins. Freshdesk's unique requirement that at least 10 tickets exist before CSV import applies only to Freshdesk's native import feature; our API-based extraction does not carry this restriction.

Freshdesk Companies map to Zoho Desk Accounts. The Freshdesk company domain becomes the Account's Website field and is used as a secondary dedupe signal alongside email. We preserve the contact-to-company relationship by setting the AccountId on each migrated Contact record after Account creation so that the lookup is satisfied at the moment of Contact insert.

Freshdesk Agents map to Zoho Desk Agents. We resolve agents by email match against the destination Zoho Desk agent list. Any Freshdesk agent who is also a ticket requester is flagged during scoping to prevent circular references; Zoho Desk handles this through role-based visibility rather than a separate Collaborators concept. Agent groups from Freshdesk map to Zoho Desk Teams.

Freshdesk Conversations are the messages within a ticket: public replies, private notes, and incoming emails. These map to Zoho Desk Responses (public, outgoing) and Notes (private, internal) on the corresponding ticket. We determine the target entity by inspecting the Freshdesk conversation type field: incoming_message becomes a Response, note becomes a Note. Attachments on conversations migrate as Files linked to the Response or Note. Author information is preserved in a metadata field because Zoho Desk's import does not carry Comment Author type.

Freshdesk Time Entries (billable or non-billable hours logged against a ticket) map to Zoho Desk Time Logs. Duration, billable flag, note, and agent attribution migrate directly. Time Logs are linked to the migrated ticket via ticket ID lookup. We set the Time Log creation date to the original Freshdesk timestamp to preserve the billing and audit timeline.

Freshdesk Satisfaction Ratings (post-resolution CSAT with satisfied/dissatisfied score and optional comment) map to Zoho Desk CSAT Survey responses. The score is mapped to Zoho Desk's 1-5 scale equivalent. The comment migrates as the Survey Response body. If Freshdesk CSAT surveys used a different scale, we normalize to Zoho Desk's standard during transformation.

Freshdesk Tags are flat cross-object labels applied to tickets, contacts, and companies. These map directly to Zoho Desk Tags with the same label. Tags do not carry object-type scoping in either platform, so the tag assignment per record is preserved during migration by tagging the corresponding Zoho Desk record at import time.

Freshdesk ticket custom fields must be pre-created in Zoho Desk before ticket import begins. We audit the full custom field schema during scoping, match field types (text, dropdown, checkbox, number, date) to their Zoho Desk equivalents, and pre-create them in the destination account via Zoho Desk's custom field API. Field dependencies (e.g., a dropdown whose options are sourced from another field) are flagged as requiring post-migration admin review.

Freshdesk contact custom fields (managed in Admin > Support Operations > Customer Fields) map to Zoho Desk Contact custom fields. We pre-create these during the schema preparation phase before any contact data is loaded. Multi-select custom fields on Freshdesk migrate to multi-select picklist fields in Zoho Desk.

Freshdesk Knowledge Base Articles map to Zoho Desk Knowledge Base Articles with folder hierarchy preserved. We export articles with all translations, attachments, and folder membership. Note: Zoho Desk's native import does not carry Knowledge Base attachment files, so we use the Zoho Desk API directly to upload attachments after article content is imported. Article creation timestamps are preserved in a custom field fd_article_created_at__c since Zoho Desk's import updates this to the migration date.

Freshdesk Forums (Categories containing Topics and Posts) map to Zoho Desk KB Categories. The flat Freshdesk forum structure is translated into a category-to-section mapping. Forum posts migrate as draft articles in the corresponding KB category for the customer's admin to review and publish, since Zoho Desk does not have an equivalent community discussion object.

Freshdesk Products (used to associate items with tickets and track assets) map to Zoho Desk Products. Product name, description, and status migrate directly. Product-to-ticket associations migrate as ticket custom fields referencing the Zoho Desk Product. Note: Zoho Desk's native import does not support Products as a standalone importable object, so we load Products via the API before ticket import.

Freshdesk SLA Policies (available on Pro and Enterprise) define response and resolution times per plan. These are audited during scoping and documented as Zoho Desk SLA Policy equivalents. SLA migration is configuration-only: we deliver a written map of each Freshdesk SLA policy with its trigger conditions, response targets, and resolution targets, and the customer's admin configures the corresponding SLA in Zoho Desk's SLA module.

Freshdesk Collaborators are view-only users added to tickets for context. Up to 5,000 are included on paid plans. Zoho Desk does not have a direct collaborator concept with view-only restriction. We migrate Freshdesk collaborators as Contacts with a custom field fd_collaborator__c set to true and a note documenting their original view-only role. The customer's admin assigns appropriate Zoho Desk role permissions post-migration.