Zendesk Ticketing

Create support tickets in Zendesk from AGO conversations

Connect AGO to Zendesk so your agents can create support tickets directly in Zendesk when they need to escalate a conversation.

Prerequisites

• An active Zendesk Support account
• A Zendesk admin or agent user with API token access
• Admin access to both Zendesk and AGO

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Step 1: Generate a Zendesk API Token

1. Go to Zendesk Admin Center > Apps and integrations > APIs > Zendesk API
2. Click the Settings tab
3. Enable Token Access
4. Click Add API token
5. Copy the generated token — you will not be able to see it again

API Token is Tied to a Zendesk User

Zendesk API tokens are linked to the user who created them. There is no “service account” in Zendesk — you must use a real user’s credentials. Use an Admin user. If that user is deactivated or loses permissions, the API token stops working.

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Step 2: Get Your Subdomain

Find your Zendesk subdomain in the URL:

https://company.zendesk.com/...
         ^^^^^^^
         This is your subdomain

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Step 3: Configure in AGO

1. Navigate to Ticketing > Settings
2. Set Active Ticketing System to Zendesk
3. Enter your credentials:
   • Admin Email: email address of the user who created the API token
   • API Token: from Step 1
   • Subdomain: from Step 2
4. Click Save

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Step 4: Create a Ticket Form

1. Navigate to Ticketing > Ticket Forms
2. Create a new form
3. Add fields and configure custom field mapping to Zendesk
4. Save the form

Zendesk-specific form properties:

Property	Description
external_id	Zendesk group ID — all tickets from this form go to that group
brand_id	Zendesk brand ID for multi-brand accounts
tags	Static tags applied to every ticket from this form
provide_all_fields_in_comment	Include all field values in the private comment

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How It Works

When a user creates a ticket through AGO:

1. AGO validates the user (checks if they exist in Zendesk, or auto-creates if “Allow All Users” is enabled)
2. Files are uploaded to Zendesk and receive upload tokens
3. A ticket is created with subject, body, priority, type, custom fields, tags, group assignment, brand, and file tokens
4. A private comment is added with a link to the AGO conversation thread (plus JWT fields and field values if configured)
5. AGO triggers are processed, and the Zendesk support team is notified

Field Mapping

AGO Field	Zendesk Field	Notes
Subject	subject	Ticket title
Body	comment.body	Initial ticket description
Priority	priority	Converted to lowercase (e.g., “High” becomes “high”)
Typology	type	Ticket type, converted to lowercase
Custom fields	Custom field IDs	Mapped via external_id (e.g., ticket_field_12345) or zendesk_field_id
Files	Upload tokens	Uploaded individually, then attached to the ticket comment

Custom Fields, Tags, and Group Assignment

Map AGO form fields to Zendesk custom fields using external_id or zendesk_field_id (numeric, takes priority when set). Use tagger fields for user-selected tags, and static form tags for routing rules. Route tickets to groups at the form, field, or option level.

See Ticket Form Customization for full details.

Brand Support

For multi-brand Zendesk accounts, set brand_id on a ticket form to create tickets under a specific brand.

Finding Brand IDs: Go to Zendesk Admin Center > Account > Brand management, click a brand, and find the ID in the URL.

Name Extraction

AGO extracts user names in this order:

1. Ticket fields marked with use_to_set_first_name / use_to_set_last_name
2. First and last name from the AGO user profile
3. Username part of the email address (before @)

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User Permission Models

AGO supports two models for determining who can create Zendesk tickets.

Model 1: Zendesk User Validation (Default)

Users must exist and be active in your Zendesk account. AGO searches for their email, and if found with active: true and not suspended: true, caches their Zendesk user ID for 30 minutes.

Best for: Organizations with defined user lists in Zendesk.

Model 2: Allow All Users

Any AGO user can create tickets, even without a Zendesk account. Zendesk auto-creates a new user from the email address. Enable this via the “Allow All Users to Create Tickets” setting.

Best for: Customer-facing widgets, public support portals.

For widget users with auto-generated emails (like [e-mail]), AGO collects their real email during ticket creation and uses it for the Zendesk request.

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Ticket Sync

AGO can sync ticket data from Zendesk back into the admin dashboard, keeping statuses, assignees, and comments up to date.

What Gets Synced

Zendesk Data	AGO Field	Notes
Status	Ticket status	Mapped to: new, open, pending, hold, solved, closed
Priority	Priority	Updated from Zendesk
Subject	Subject	Ticket title
Description	Body	First comment body
Type	Typology	question, incident, problem, task
Tags	Tags	Full tag list
Assignee	Assignee name and email	Who is handling the ticket
Requester	Requester name and email	Who submitted the ticket
Custom fields	Custom fields	Titles and values (empty/false values excluded)
Comments	Messages	Public and private, with sender info
Attachments	Message content	Links appended to each message

Enabling Sync

1. Navigate to your Zendesk ticketing system configuration in the admin interface
2. Enable the Sync Enabled option
3. Tickets sync automatically every hour

Manual Sync

• Tickets list page: Click Sync Tickets to sync all open tickets
• Ticket detail page: Click Sync Now to sync a single ticket immediately

Sync Behavior

• Only open tickets with an external ID are synced (closed tickets are skipped)
• Unchanged tickets are skipped for efficiency
• Zendesk agent comments appear with the agent’s name and an external system badge
• Private comments are imported as internal notes
• You can add internal notes from the AGO detail page (these stay in AGO only)
• AGO respects Zendesk API rate limits — large syncs may take several minutes

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Troubleshooting

Issue	Cause	Fix
”User not allowed to create tickets”	User not found or not active in Zendesk	Add user to Zendesk or enable “Allow All Users to Create Tickets"
"Zendesk configuration not found”	Missing API credentials	Verify admin email, API token, and subdomain in Ticketing settings
”Failed to upload file”	File too large or network issue	Check Zendesk file size limits; verify connectivity
Custom field not mapping	external_id does not match Zendesk field	Verify format: ticket_field_12345 (the number is the Zendesk custom field ID)
Group assignment not working	Group ID incorrect or insufficient permissions	Verify group ID in Zendesk Admin Center > People > Groups

If issues persist, test with a simple ticket (no custom fields or attachments), then check AGO logs for detailed error messages.

For tips on field mapping, tag strategy, and routing, see Ticketing Best Practices.

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Related

• Ticketing — Ticketing feature overview
• Ticket Form Customization — Form field configuration and embedded forms
• Ticketing Connectors — Compare available connectors
• HelpScout Integration — Alternative ticketing connector
• HubSpot Integration — Alternative ticketing connector
• Zendesk Knowledge Base — Knowledge base connector (separate from ticketing)