Migrate from Hesk to Freshdesk

Hesk tickets (subject, message, status, priority, owner, category, custom fields) map directly to Freshdesk tickets. The ticket body becomes the ticket description, and Hesk ticket replies become Freshdesk conversation notes or replies. We preserve threading order by importing in chronological sequence and setting the Freshdesk incoming timestamp to match the Hesk created_date. Hesk status values (new, open, pending, resolved, closed) map to Freshdesk status values with a custom mapping table agreed upon during scoping. Priority maps to Freshdesk priority with a defined low/medium/high/critical translation.

Hesk end-user accounts (name, email, IP address, creation date) map to Freshdesk contacts. Hesk allows emailless users for phone-only contacts; Freshdesk requires an email for the primary identifier, so emailless Hesk users are flagged during discovery for the customer to either provide a placeholder email or exclude from migration. GDPR anonymisation flags are preserved as a note field on the contact record.

Hesk staff accounts (name, email, role: administrator/manager/agent) map to Freshdesk agents. Role translation maps Hesk Administrator to Freshdesk Admin, Hesk Manager to Freshdesk Agent with group management permissions, and Hesk Agent to Freshdesk Agent. We create agents via the Freshdesk agents API before any ticket import, because Freshdesk requires an agent association for ticket assignment. Hesk password hashes (bcrypt) do not transfer; agents receive Freshdesk provisioning emails to set passwords.

Hesk ticket categories (name and description) map to Freshdesk groups. We create groups in Freshdesk via the Groups API before ticket import and store the Hesk category ID as a reference field in our migration manifest. If Hesk categories are hierarchical or overlap with department structures, groups are named to reflect the original category intent.

Hesk KB articles (title, HTML content, category, attachments) map to Freshdesk solution articles within a Freshdesk Help Center folder. We export article content as HTML, import into Freshdesk via the Solutions API, and map Hesk KB categories to Freshdesk folders (created first during KB import). Article status maps to Published/Draft based on the Hesk article's published flag. Inline images require re-hosting; we flag any img tags with relative paths for path remapping before import.

Hesk canned responses (title and HTML body) map to Freshdesk snippets. Imported via the Freshdesk snippets API as a flat list. Note that Freshdesk snippets are workspace-scoped and not automatically linked to specific ticket fields; the customer's admin reassigns them to the appropriate contexts after migration. Hesk's per-category canned response associations are preserved as snippet group names in Freshdesk.

Hesk custom ticket fields (type, label, options) are enumerated during discovery and pre-created in Freshdesk via Admin > Ticket Fields before ticket migration. We map field types (dropdown, checkbox, date, text) to Freshdesk field types. Dropdown options are bulk-created before ticket records are imported so that option values are valid on insert. The undocumented Hesk custom field cap is checked during discovery; if the customer is near the limit, we flag which fields may not transfer cleanly.

Hesk attachments live on the file system with paths stored in MySQL (hesk_attachments table with file_path and db_id). We export the entire attachments directory, re-upload each file via the Freshdesk attachments API using the ticket ID as the parent reference, and replace the Hesk relative URL with the Freshdesk CDN URL in the ticket body. If the destination Freshdesk domain differs from the Hesk server, all embedded image URLs are rewritten. Attachment files exceeding 15MB cannot be migrated through the Freshdesk API; we flag these for manual handoff.

Hesk ticket history (opened, replied, status change, assignment events) is stored in hesk_ticket_events. We merge these into Freshdesk ticket conversation entries as notes with a timestamp and actor attribution. Not all Hesk event types have a Freshdesk equivalent; we classify Hesk system events as internal notes and customer-initiated events as reply notes to preserve the thread context as faithfully as the destination model allows.

Hesk settings (email routing, ticket field labels, status names, branding) are exported as a JSON configuration bundle. We do not apply settings directly to Freshdesk because Freshdesk configuration (status labels, required fields, ticket field ordering) requires manual admin action or separate API calls. The configuration bundle is delivered as a written inventory so the customer's Freshdesk admin can apply equivalent settings post-migration.