Migrate from GrooveHQ to Zendesk

Each Groove Conversation maps to one Zendesk Ticket. The conversation subject or first message becomes the Ticket subject; message body content maps to Ticket Comments. We preserve the conversation status (open, pending, resolved, spam) by mapping to Zendesk Ticket status values. Conversation priority maps to a custom Ticket priority field if the source uses it; Groove Standard tier does not include priority classification so we default to normal and flag any source records with priority data requiring a Plus or Pro tier on the destination.

Each message within a Groove Conversation becomes a Zendesk Comment on the mapped Ticket. We preserve the author reference (customer or agent), the timestamp, and the public/private flag. Internal Groove Notes map to Zendesk private Comments with public: false. Attachments embedded in messages transfer as separate file records re-uploaded via Zendesk's POST /api/v2/uploads token flow and attached to the corresponding Comment.

Groove Customers map to Zendesk Users with role end-user. The customer's email becomes the User email and serves as the dedupe key during import. First name and last name map directly. Any Groove contact-level custom fields map to Zendesk User custom fields. Phone number migrates to the User phone field if present.

Groove's optional Company object maps to Zendesk Organization when Company records exist in the source. When the source has no Company records (the common Groove case), we derive Organizations from customer email domains by extracting the domain portion of each Customer email and grouping customers by shared domain into a single Organization record named by domain. This domain-derived Organization approach handles the flat-to-relational gap without requiring manual company data entry.

Groove Agents map to Zendesk Users with the agent role. We resolve agents by email match against the destination Zendesk account's user table. Any Groove Agent without a matching Zendesk User goes to a reconciliation queue for the customer's admin to provision before record import resumes. Groove role permissions (admin, agent) map to Zendesk Role settings.

Each Groove Inbox maps to a Zendesk Group. Inbox assignment on conversations becomes Ticket group_id in Zendesk. We detect the total inbox count during schema discovery and flag a plan upgrade requirement if the source exceeds the destination Suite tier's group limit. Groups are created in Zendesk before ticket migration begins so that group_id references resolve at insert time.

Groove Tags migrate as Zendesk Tags attached to each Ticket. Tags are simple key-value labels; we transfer the full tag list per conversation and attach them via Zendesk's tag API during ticket creation. Groove's tag-based Smart Folder logic does not translate to Zendesk Views directly; we document the Smart Folder filter criteria as a written handoff for the admin to recreate as Saved Views.

Groove conversation-level custom fields (available on Plus and Pro plans) map to Zendesk Ticket custom fields. We identify field types during schema discovery: dropdown fields map to Zendesk dropdown, date fields to date fields, and text fields to text fields. Fields present in the source that have no destination equivalent are flagged in the mapping document. Conversation-level custom fields require Zendesk Suite Team or above on the destination.

Groove contact-level custom fields map to Zendesk User custom fields. These are global fields applied to all customer records. We preserve field type, label, and values across all associated Customer records. If the source uses company-level custom fields, those map to Organization custom fields in Zendesk.

Groove Knowledge Bases map to Zendesk Guide. The primary knowledge base flag migrates as the default Help Center. Non-primary knowledge bases in Groove Pro accounts transfer as separate Guide instances; only one can be set as default. Locale, password protection, and IP restriction settings from Groove migrate as Help Center configuration in Zendesk. We flag any password-protected bases that require Guide authentication configuration.

Groove Articles map to Zendesk Guide Articles within the corresponding Section and Category hierarchy. We preserve article title, body content, meta tags, and open graph fields. Article author and last-modified timestamps migrate to the Article metadata fields. Groove category structure maps to Zendesk Section hierarchy; we create the category tree in Zendesk Guide before article import begins.

Groove Rules export as structured JSON documenting trigger events (assignee change, status update, custom field condition), conditions, and actions. We do not execute Rules as Zendesk Triggers because the rule engine semantics differ. We deliver a written inventory of every active Rule with its conditions, actions, and a recommended Zendesk Trigger or Automation equivalent. The customer's admin rebuilds these in Zendesk Admin center post-migration.

Groove Instant Replies export as structured JSON preserving the template body, formatting, and variable placeholders. We do not migrate them as active Zendesk Macros because macro titles and folder organization require admin decisions in the destination. We deliver a written inventory of every Instant Reply with its content, usage notes, and recommended Zendesk Macro structure for the admin to create manually.

File attachments stored in Groove conversations are downloaded from Groove's file storage and re-uploaded to Zendesk via the two-step upload flow: POST /api/v2/uploads to receive a single-use token, then attach that token to the corresponding Comment. We preserve original filenames, file types, and sizes. Attachments exceeding Zendesk's 50 MB per-file limit are flagged in the pre-flight report for manual handling. Groove-hosted attachment URLs are replaced with Zendesk-hosted URLs post-migration.