Freshdesk is a customer helpdesk system by Freshworks that helps businesses unify ticket resolution across channels and support their customers with robust self-service. This article covers the benefits of connecting your Freshchat account to Freshdesk.


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Before you begin

Before you setup your integration, ensure the following:

  • Make sure that your Freshdesk and Freshchat accounts are part of the same organization. If they are not, follow the instructions on this article to move them.
  • Log in as a full-time admin on both Freshchat and Freshdesk. Occasional agents will not be able to connect the accounts.
  • If you have any of the following marketplace apps integrated, please uninstall them:
    • Contact Sync
    • Freshsales
    • Freshsales Suite
    • Freshsales conversations

Note that connecting Freshchat and Freshdesk will also connect your Freshsales, Freshmarketer, and Freshcaller accounts with Freshdesk.


Setup your Freshchat—Freshdesk integration

To setup your integration:

  1. As an admin, go to Settings > Admin Settings > Marketplace and Integrations > Conversation Integrations > Freshdesk.
    • You'll find the list of Freshdesk accounts in your organization.
    • If you don't have any accounts in your organization, you'll be able to Sign up for a new Freshdesk account with a 14-day free trial.
  2. Click on Connect Account to connect your Freshdesk account to Freshchat.


Important: This integration uses the API key of the Admin who sets it up. If that admin is later downgraded, the integration will stop working. To fix it, edit your integration and update the API key.


To edit or disconnect the Freshdesk account connected to Freshchat:

  1. As an admin, go to Settings > Admin Settings > Marketplace and Integrations > Conversation Integrations > Freshdesk (or use the search bar).
  2. In the top-right corner, click the Account Preferences dropdown.
  3. To edit the API key used for the authorization, click on Edit Authorization. Update your API key and click Save.
  4. To disconnect your Freshdesk account, click on Disconnect Account.


Configure your integration

Your integration gives you several benefits:

  • Access Freshdesk tickets linked to your customers on Freshchat
  • Create Tasks from Freshchat conversations (learn more about Tasks)
  • Sync your customer data between Freshdesk and Freshchat
  • Share agents between Freshchat and Freshdesk
  • Respond to Freshchat conversations from within Freshdesk
  • Convert Freshchat conversations into Freshdesk tickets
  • Import your Freshdesk solution articles as FAQs on Freshchat

Click a heading below to see step-by-step instructions to configure your integration.


Map ticket and task fields

When you convert a Freshchat conversation to a Freshdesk ticket, you want some properties and values to carry over. You can do this by mapping fields and values.


Note: Make sure that your Freshdesk field types are compatible with Freshchat custom properties before mapping the fields.


To map your ticket and task fields:

  1. As an admin, go to Admin Settings > Marketplace and Integrations > Conversation Integrations > Freshdesk (or use the search bar).
  2. Under Create tasks and tickets, click the Field mapping tab.
  3. Click the dropdown to select Fields from Freshdesk. Choose the corresponding Values in chat. You can also leave the Value field blank to let agents enter it.
  4. Check the Show field option to make the fields visible to agents and choose the permissions you want to assign them. You can make the fields editable, non-editable, or Editable and mandatory.
  5. Click Sync Fields for all the changes to take effect, and then click Save.

Set additional preference for creating a ticket

You can set additional preferences for converting a Freshchat conversation into a ticket on Freshdesk. The additional preferences are to

  • Add the default Freshchat widget to the Freshdesk support portal
  • Make it mandatory to convert all resolved conversations into a ticket
  • Restrict sending a CSAT survey to customers when their conversation is converted into a ticket
  • Automatically sync status of conversations and tasks associated with them


To set these preferences:

  1. As an admin, go to Admin Settings > Marketplace and Integrations > Conversation Integrations > Freshdesk (or use the search bar).
  2. Under Create tasks and tickets, click the Preferences tab.
  3. From the list of available preferences, toggle the ones you want to apply.


Note: If your Freshdesk and Freshchat accounts are not part of the same organization you will not be able to create Tickets or Internal Tasks from Freshchat. If you want to move your accounts to the same organization, please follow the instructions on this article.

Set up contacts and accounts sync

By connecting your Freshchat and Freshdesk accounts you will be able to sync your contacts between the two so you only have a single set of customer records. The field mapping is automatically set up when you connect the two accounts, but you can review and remap them later.


To review and remap the customer fields between Freshdesk and Freshchat:

  1. As an admin, go to Admin Settings > Marketplace and Integrations > Conversation Integrations > Freshdesk (or use the search bar).
  2. Under Sync contacts and accounts, review the fields mapped between Freshdesk and Freshchat.
  3. Click on Sync data to update the synchronization and then click Save contacts mapping.


Troubleshoot sync issues:

  • When you set up your field mapping, the page will throw an error if a field is mandatory in one account and is not mandatory in the other.
  • If you update your contact fields in either account later, the sync might fail because of a mismatch between mandatory fields. It's a good practice to revisit this mapping every time you update your contact fields.
  • The sync happens every 15 minutes. If you don't see an update synced, wait 15 minutes and check again.

Add Freshchat agents as Shared Agents on Freshdesk

You can add your Freshchat agents as Shared Agents on Freshdesk to give them read-only access to the tickets and tasks available on your Freshdesk account.


To add all your Freshchat agents as Shared Agents:

  1. As an admin, go to Admin Settings > Marketplace and Integrations > Conversation Integrations > Freshdesk (or use the search bar).
  2. Under Sync contacts and accounts, toggle the Add Shared Agents to Freshdesk switch and click Save.

Create a ticket from Freshchat Conversations

To convert a chat conversation as a ticket:

  1. Go to the Conversations tab / Team Inbox.
  2. Click on the relevant conversation.
  3. Click on the resolution dropdown and click Resolve and convert to ticket.
  4. Fill in the required Ticket fields and click Resolve and Create.
  5. If a ticket is already generated for the same customer, you can click Append to an existing task or ticket instead.


If at any point you disconnect your Freshdesk account:

  • Information that has already been synced will not be affected.
  • You will no longer be able to create Tasks.
  • Your contacts and tickets will no longer be synced between your Freshchat and Freshdesk accounts.

Import Freshdesk solution articles as FAQs on Freshchat

If you have solution articles in Freshdesk, you can import them as FAQs in Freshchat so your customers can self-serve in either place. Before you import, understand the following:

  • In Freshdesk, knowledge is categorized into four levels: Categories > Folders > Subfolders > Articles.
  • In Freshchat, knowledge is categorized into two levels: Categories > FAQs.
  • When you import, Freshdesk Categories are not shown. Instead Folders in Freshdesk become Categories in Freshchat. Articles in Freshdesk Folders become FAQs in the equivalent Freshchat Categories.
  • You can import all published articles which are visible to all users and logged-in users. Articles visible only to agents and select companies cannot be imported.


To import your articles into Freshchat:

  1. As an admin, go to Admin Settings > Configuration and Workflows > Tasks and Tickets.
  2. Click on the Preferences tab.
  3. Scroll down to Import solution articles from Freshdesk and click on Import.
  4. You will see a pop-up with all importable solution articles. Select the required solution articles and click Import.
    • Optionally, select the Do not overwrite Category Title and Description option.
    • If you don't, any changes to an imported category's title or description in Freshdesk will be auto-updated in Freshchat. If you do, changes are not auto-updated in Freshchat.
    • This applies only to the category titles and descriptions and not the article content.


Note: Any article updates made in imported categories will be automatically synced in Freshchat. However, if you create new categories in Freshdesk, you need to repeat this procedure to import them.

For additional support, contact your Account Manager or write to support@freshchat.com.