Migrate from Help Scout to Zendesk

Help Scout Conversations map directly to Zendesk Tickets. We export the full thread history including public replies, internal notes, and attachment references via the Inbox API. The Help Scout thread structure (message sequence, agent vs customer attribution, timestamp) maps to Zendesk Ticket comments with the is_public flag set appropriately. Status (Active, Pending, Solved, Spam) maps to Zendesk Ticket Status (Open, Pending, Solved, Spam). Note that Help Scout does not have a ticket type field, so any problem-incident relationships from Zendesk or other platforms will not be preserved as linked tickets in Help Scout, and this relationship cannot be reconstructed during migration.

Help Scout Customer records map to Zendesk End Users. We export all standard customer properties (email, first name, last name, phone, address, company) and preserve Customer Properties custom fields set at the customer record level. Email is the primary lookup key. If a Zendesk End User with the matching email already exists, we link the ticket requester to that record. If no match exists, we create the End User first so that the Ticket requester reference is satisfied at import time. Zendesk End Users do not count against agent-seat billing.

Help Scout Mailboxes are shared inbox containers that hold conversations. Zendesk does not have a direct Mailbox equivalent; conversations live in a central ticket pool filtered by Views. We map each Help Scout Mailbox to a Zendesk View (defining the filter criteria: inbox assignment, status, assignee) and optionally to a Zendesk Group (for team-based routing and assignment). Each Mailbox's custom fields (up to 10 on Help Scout Plus) map to Zendesk Ticket Fields scoped to the resulting Views. The customer chooses the View-and-Group structure during scoping based on team topology.

Help Scout Custom Fields (Dropdown, Single line, Multi line, Number, Date) are gated behind the Plus plan and exist per Mailbox. We map them field-by-field to Zendesk Ticket Fields of the matching type. Dropdown fields migrate options to Zendesk tag values or dropdown field options. Critical constraint: Zendesk requires ticket fields to exist before import. We detect the account's plan tier during scoping and either pre-create the fields via the Zendesk API or flag the need to upgrade before migration proceeds. Accounts on Free or Standard do not have Custom Fields in their Help Scout schema, so this object is absent for those tiers.

Help Scout Docs articles organized within Collections map to Zendesk Help Center sections and articles. We export article content, categories, navigation hierarchy, and metadata via the Docs API. Published status and author attribution are preserved. The Collection hierarchy maps to the Help Center section nesting structure. Help Center activation in Zendesk requires a Suite plan (Team at $55/agent or above); we confirm the Zendesk plan tier before migration. Docs articles do not include the Beacon live chat widget configuration, which requires separate Zendesk widget setup post-migration.

Help Scout Tags are applied across Conversations, Customers, and Docs. We preserve all tag assignments during migration and map them directly to Zendesk Tags, which function identically as cross-object labels. Tags on Conversations become Zendesk Ticket tags; Tags on Customers become Zendesk End User tags. The customer may choose to consolidate or rename tags during scoping if the existing taxonomy is overly broad.

Help Scout Users are agents who handle conversations. We export user records including email, name, role, and team assignment. Help Scout uses unlimited-user pricing, so team size does not constrain migration scope. We map Help Scout agents to Zendesk Agents by email match. Any Help Scout agent without a matching Zendesk User goes to a reconciliation queue for the customer's admin to provision before the conversation import phase begins. Help Scout roles (Admin, Agent) map to Zendesk roles (Light Agent, Agent, Admin) with equivalent permission levels.

Help Scout Teams and Departments group users for routing and permissions. We preserve team assignments and map them to Zendesk Groups, which provide the same organizational unit for ticket routing, assignment, and reporting. Advanced team permissions (gated to Help Scout Plus) map to Zendesk Light Agent and Agent role restrictions. We detect the account's plan tier during scoping to confirm whether Teams and Departments exist in the source schema.

Attachments embedded in Help Scout conversation threads are accessible via the Inbox API as binary blobs. We export them and re-attach them to the corresponding Zendesk Ticket comment at the destination. Large attachment batches (especially for accounts with image-heavy threads or PDF exports) may extend migration time and require the migration to be run during off-peak hours to avoid rate limit contention on both platforms.

Customer Properties are custom fields set specifically at the Help Scout Customer record level, distinct from conversation Custom Fields. We treat these as standard custom properties and map them field-by-field to Zendesk End User Fields. The field type mapping follows the same rules as ticket fields (Dropdown to Single Select, Number to Integer, Date to Date). If the destination Zendesk account does not have End User Fields available on its plan, we map these values to Tags on the End User record as a fallback.