Migrate from Herodesk to Zendesk

Herodesk Customers map to Zendesk End Users (the User object). We preserve email, name, phone, and any custom properties as typed Zendesk custom fields. The Herodesk Customer ID is stored as an external_id on the Zendesk User record for reconciliation after cutover. All Users must exist in Zendesk before Ticket import begins because every Ticket requires a requester.

Herodesk Tickets (called Conversations internally) map directly to Zendesk Ticket. We preserve the full message thread, status, priority, assignee, timestamps (created_at, updated_at), and any channel source indicator. Note that Zendesk generates new ticket IDs — the original Herodesk ticket number is stored in a custom field zendesk_source_ticket_id__c so agents can search and reference legacy cases.

Each message within a Herodesk Conversation maps to a Zendesk Comment on the corresponding Ticket. Agent replies and customer messages are distinguished by the author_type field. Internal notes map to Zendesk's internal Comment (public=false). Attachment references are preserved separately (see Attachments mapping).

Herodesk Inboxes aggregate channels and are tied to user access. On Plus, multiple Inboxes exist. We map each Herodesk Inbox to a Zendesk Group that owns a set of Ticket Views. The mapping is documented during scoping — one Inbox may map to one Group, or multiple Inboxes may merge into a single Group depending on the customer's team structure in Zendesk.

Herodesk supports Email, Facebook, Instagram, and Chat channels per Inbox. We map each active channel to the corresponding Zendesk channel type. Facebook and Instagram map to Zendesk's Social channel; Email maps directly; Chat maps to Zendesk's messaging channel. Any channel without a direct Zendesk equivalent is flagged for the customer to configure post-migration.

Herodesk Users (agents) map to Zendesk Agents. We migrate name, email, and role. Lite-plan accounts are limited to 1 user — we verify the source plan during scoping. Herodesk role distinctions (admin, agent) map to Zendesk Agent roles. The Zendesk admin must provision all agent accounts before Ticket import so that the assignee field resolves correctly.

Herodesk Tags (both manually applied and auto-applied) map to Zendesk Labels. We preserve the exact tag string. Note that Herodesk auto-tagging logic (rules that apply tags based on conditions) cannot be transferred — we document the active auto-tagging rules and recommend equivalent Zendesk Triggers or Macro conditions for the admin to implement post-migration.

Herodesk Workflow Automations (routing, auto-replies, auto-tagging) are not machine-migratable. They live in Herodesk's rules engine with no export representation in the API. We perform a discovery audit of all active automations, document each rule's trigger condition, actions, and order of execution, and deliver a written automation specification. The customer's Zendesk admin rebuilds equivalent logic using Zendesk Triggers and Macros post-migration.

Herodesk AI Agents handle automatic replies and translations on the Plus plan. We audit the active AI agent rules during discovery and document the reply templates, trigger conditions, and translation settings. If the destination Zendesk plan includes Zendesk AI Copilot, we provide a specification for configuring equivalent bot behavior. Otherwise, we recommend Zendesk Macros as the nearest functional equivalent for auto-reply templates.

File attachments on tickets and messages migrate via the Herodesk API download endpoint and are re-uploaded to Zendesk. We preserve original filenames and inline image placement. Large file attachments (above Zendesk's 50 MB limit) are flagged for the customer to store externally and link via URL. We handle this on a case-by-case basis during migration scoping.

Order data from Herodesk's connected webshops appears inside Customer and Ticket context. We migrate the order reference number, key order fields, and any order status values as Zendesk custom fields on the Ticket. Full order records belong in the eCommerce platform (Shopify, WooCommerce) and are not migrated as a standalone object. If the customer uses Zendesk's Shopify integration, we map the order reference to the native integration instead of duplicating it as a custom field.