Import from Zendesk
The import from Zendesk lets you migrate tickets, attachments, users, and other data from Zendesk to YouTrack.
A setup wizard navigates you through the import configuration process. It prompts you to enter the connection settings and lets you map projects in YouTrack to brands in Zendesk. If your Zendesk instance has a custom set of fields for tickets, you can edit the import script in YouTrack directly.
Prerequisites
Before you import projects from Zendesk to YouTrack, check the following requirements:
Your YouTrack and Zendesk installations are accessible to inbound connections. Specifically, you need to make sure that your network doesn't block connections between Zendesk and YouTrack.
Your user account in Zendesk has administrative permissions.
You have direct access to log in to the source application using a password or token.
YouTrack's import engine doesn't support authentication through external authentication modules.
Import Details
If the Zendesk database contains references to entities that do not exist in YouTrack yet, they are created. The YouTrack user account you use to run the import should have enough permissions to create all imported entities. We recommend using an account with a System Admin role or the Low-level Admin Write permission to run the import.
Imported Entities
Here is the list of entities that are imported from Zendesk and their mapping to YouTrack entities:
Entity in Zendesk | Entity in YouTrack |
|---|---|
Brand | Project |
Ticket | Issue |
Ticket fields | Custom fields |
Users | Users |
Agents | Users |
Groups | Groups |
Ticket attachments | Issue attachments |
Comments | Comments |
The first comment in a ticket and its subject | Issue description and summary |
Tags | Tags |
Linked tickets | Linked issues |
Import Limitations
YouTrack imports some entities partially or doesn't import at all. Some of the restrictions set up in Zendesk are ignored during import.
The following import limitations are in place:
Entity in Zendesk | Details |
|---|---|
Ticket history | YouTrack imports only the comments to the tickets. YouTrack doesn't import historical events such as changes in status, tags, fields, or other changes. |
Knowledge base | YouTrack does not import any articles from the Knowledge base in Zendesk. |
Internal comments | YouTrack imports internal comments along with the public ones without any visibility restrictions. |
User types | YouTrack imports users of all types equally. YouTrack administrator needs to configure user permissions separately after the import. For details, see Manage User Access |
Set up an Import from Zendesk
Before you add a new import configuration, you need to create an API token that will grant access to Zendesk. Then you can use the token for authorization when setting up the import in YouTrack.
Create an API Token in Zendesk
To set up an import of tickets from Zendesk, first, you need to create an API token for the Zendesk service.
To create an API token in Zendesk:
In Admin Center in Zendesk, click Apps and integrations.
Select Zendesk APIs.
Click the Settings tab and make sure the Token Access option is enabled.
Click the Add API token button.
Copy the API token to enter it in the import setup wizard.
For more details on creating API tokens, refer to the Zendesk documentation.
Configure Import from Zendesk in YouTrack
The setup wizard guides you through the setup process.
To configure import from Zendesk:
From the
Administration menu, select .Click the New import button to open the setup dialog.
Select Zendesk.
Settings for a New Import from Zendesk are displayed.
Enter values for the following settings:
Setting
Description
Zendesk URL
The URL of your Zendesk.
Token
The API token that you have generated in Zendesk to access the target tickets.
If required by your Zendesk service, enable the Use SSL key for client authentication option.
Click the Next button.
The second set of import settings is displayed.
Expand the Manage import for optional datasets section. Here you can configure the import engine to ignore certain parts of the source database during import.
Setting
Description
Issue history
Disable this toggle to ignore historical changes of issues during import.
Issue links
Disable this toggle to ignore links between issues during import.
By default, these toggles are enabled. This means that YouTrack will pull historical changes and issue links from the import source if the import script supports it.
Select the Zendesk brands and the target Youtrack projects for the import. For more details about the project mapping configuration, see Project Mapping.
Optionally, enable the Continuous import. When enabled, YouTrack will periodically poll the tickets in the selected Zendesk brand and import updates made since the last sync.
Click the Start import button.
YouTrack creates new projects and imports data to the existing ones according to the configured project mapping.
YouTrack imports tickets, comments, and users from the selected Zendesk brands to the target YouTrack projects.
If the Continuous import option is enabled, YouTrack will periodically check target Zendesk brands for updated and new tickets.
When you have set up an import, it appears in the Imports list. To view configuration and import details, select the import configuration from the list.
In the details sidebar, YouTrack shows import status, the date and time of the last import, and details on the data that was imported. If there are any problems encountered during import, the error messages are displayed here.
Click the 
Resume button in the toolbar to explicitly start polling for changes and importing updates from the source Zendesk brand.
You can also download the import log file to study and investigate when needed.
Project Mapping
On the final step of the import setup, you can select those brands you want to import to YouTrack. You can also choose whether to create a new project for the import or import data into an existing project in YouTrack.
YouTrack recognizes when a web address has already mapped a source project by a previous import. Imported source projects that have already been mapped in YouTrack aren't selectable. You can create multiple import jobs from the same source without importing duplicate data.
To configure project mapping:
Locate those Zendesk brands that you want to import.
Use the filter bar on the right to filter Zendesk brands by name.
Select the brands that you want to import. Select the option at the top of the list to import all available Zendesk brands.
Select a target YouTrack project for each Zendesk brand.
When loading the list of Zendesk brands for mapping, YouTrack checks for existing YouTrack projects with corresponding names. If it finds a YouTrack project with the same name as the Zendesk brand, YouTrack suggests it as the target project.
If there is no existing YouTrack project with the corresponding name, YouTrack suggests creating a new one.
If you want to change a target project, select another option from the corresponding dropdown on the list.
Click Next to finalize import setup and start import.
Import starts.
Import Options
After the initial import, the following controls are available in the sidebar:
Control | Description |
|---|---|
Resume | Immediately imports any changes made in the selected Zendesk brands after the previous import. |
Edit | Opens the integration settings page in edit mode. Use this option to connect to a different Zendesk instance, update the login credentials, or update project mapping. |
Delete | Deletes the current import settings. Zendesk ticket numbers that are attached to imported issues are also removed. Projects, issues, comments, users, and groups that were imported from the connected Zendesk instance are not affected. If you delete the import settings and connect to the same Zendesk instance, the tickets are re-imported into existing projects with new issue IDs. |
Continuous import | YouTrack periodically checks the target Zendesk brand and imports updated and new items created since the last sync. |
Download import log | Downloads the import log. Use this option to view and investigate errors that occurred during import. |