Migrate from Zoho Desk to Salesforce Service Cloud

Zoho Desk Tickets map to Salesforce Cases with a direct 1:1 mapping on the core fields (subject, description, priority, status, origin, reason). Zoho ticket status values (Open, Pending, On Hold, Solved, Closed) map explicitly to Salesforce Case Status picklist values which must be configured in the destination org before import. Case Origin maps from Zoho channel (Email, Phone, Chat, Web, Facebook, Twitter) to Salesforce Case Origin values. We set the Case AccountId by resolving the Zoho Account (Organization) lookup before inserting Cases, and we set ContactId by matching Zoho Contact email against the Salesforce Contact table.

Zoho Thread records (public comments, private notes, and email body) map to Salesforce EmailMessage and Task records linked to the parent Case. We extract the thread in chronological order and create an EmailMessage for each inbound and outbound email interaction, with the email address and display name mapping to FromName and FromAddress on EmailMessage. Private notes in Zoho map to internal Task records with a custom IsPrivateNote__c flag. Attachments inline in threads migrate as ContentDocumentLink records attached to the EmailMessage or Task.

Zoho Desk Contacts map directly to Salesforce Contacts on the standard fields (first name, last name, email, phone, title, department). We handle duplicate detection by email using Salesforce's duplicate rules and Matching Rules. Any Zoho Contact without an email address is flagged for manual review because Salesforce Contacts require an email for most standard features. Custom fields on Zoho Contacts migrate to Salesforce Contact custom fields of equivalent type (text, picklist, date, number).

Zoho Desk Organizations (Accounts) map to Salesforce Accounts. The Zoho Account name becomes Account Name, and the domain field maps to Website. If Zoho Accounts have a multi-department hierarchy, we create Salesforce Accounts with ParentId set to the top-level Account, flattening sub-departments under a single Account unless the customer specifies a separate Account per department. We create the Account before any Contact import so that AccountId is available for the Contact lookup.

Zoho Desk Products (used for warranty and entitlement tracking on tickets) map to Salesforce Product2 records. The Product2 IsActive flag is set based on the Zoho Product status. We create Standard Pricebook entries for each Product during migration if the destination org uses product-based cases or entitlements. If Zoho Products carry custom fields, these migrate to Product2 custom fields of equivalent type.

Zoho Desk Agents map to Salesforce Users by email address match. We extract every agent referenced on Ticket assignments and Comment ownership and match against the destination Salesforce org's User table. Any Zoho Agent without a matching Salesforce User is held in a reconciliation queue for the customer's admin to provision before Case import resumes. Agent comment authorship in Zoho Threads is attributed by matching the agent email to the Salesforce User WhoId on EmailMessage and Task records.

Zoho Desk Departments map to a combination of Salesforce Queues (for case assignment routing) and Salesforce Groups (for reporting). Department-specific email addresses map to Salesforce Case Origin email-to-case routing or to Salesforce Email Services addresses. We document the department-to-queue mapping so that Omni-Channel routing rules can be configured in Salesforce Flow post-migration. Multi-department accounts are represented as separate Salesforce Accounts under a parent, not as Salesforce Departments, because Salesforce does not have a Department object equivalent.

Zoho Desk Teams (agent groupings for ticket assignment) map to Salesforce Public Groups. Team membership (agent email addresses) migrates as GroupMember records linking the Salesforce User to the Group. Teams without members are skipped. Team-based routing rules are documented for Omni-Channel Skills-Based Routing configuration in Salesforce.

Zoho Desk Tasks (sub-objects of Tickets for action items and to-dos) map to Salesforce Tasks linked to the parent Case via WhatId. Task Subject, Status, Priority, and DueDateTime migrate directly. Zoho tasks without a parent Ticket are flagged for manual placement in Salesforce because orphaned tasks cannot be imported without a parent reference. Assignee resolution uses the same email-to-User lookup described for Agents.

Zoho Desk Knowledge Base Articles migrate to Salesforce Knowledge as KnowledgeArticleVersion records. The article Title, Summary, and body HTML transfer as-is. Embedded images are downloaded from Zoho WorkDrive URLs and re-hosted as Salesforce Files attached to the article via ContentDocumentLink. Article categories in Zoho map to Salesforce Knowledge Data Category Groups which we configure before import. Publication status (Published, Draft, Archived) maps to the Salesforce article VersionStatus field. We flag any Zoho Desk multi-brand help center articles for routing to the appropriate Salesforce Article Type based on the customer's brand structure.

Zoho Desk Tags are flat labels applied to Tickets. We export tag names and apply them as CaseTag records in Salesforce if the destination org has Topics for Cases enabled, or as a custom multi-select picklist field on Case (zoho_tags__c) if Topics is not active. Tag-based automations in Zoho do not migrate and are documented for Salesforce Flow rebuild. The customer chooses the tag strategy during scoping.

Custom fields on Zoho Desk Tickets, Contacts, and Accounts are exported with their data types (text, picklist, date, number, checkbox, multi-select). We map each to an equivalent Salesforce custom field on Case, Contact, or Account, handling picklist value translation where Zoho picklist values differ from Salesforce. Required field constraints in Salesforce are enforced at the profile and field-level security level; we coordinate with the customer's Salesforce admin to temporarily relax required field enforcement for the migration user during load and restore it after.