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Zendesk Make integrationAutomate Zendesk with Make.
Your help desk can take care of a good part of its own busywork. The Zendesk Make integration opens 55 modules, the bricks of a scenario, the automation Make runs for you. This page says what each one is for and walks you through the first one.
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What does the Zendesk Make integration actually do?
It links your Zendesk account to Make, the tool where you build scenarios: a chain of modules that runs on its own. One module watches the desk, the next one acts, in Zendesk or in another app. Nothing gets installed inside Zendesk, and nobody writes a line of code. The catalogue holds 55 modules, 13 of them triggers that start a scenario.
Three shapes come back all the time. The first one is the request that never waits in silence: Watch Tickets sees the ticket land, Create a Ticket Comment posts the message that tells the customer their case is open, and the agent picks it up with the ground already covered. Watch Tickets is a scheduled trigger, meaning Make goes and asks Zendesk what is new at the interval you set.
The second shape is the customer file that stays clean. Search Organizations and Search Users look up what the desk already knows, Create or Update an Organization and Create or Update a User write back what your billing tool holds, and the two sides stop drifting apart.
The third one is the help center that reports itself. Watch Articles and Watch Article Comments push new pages and reader questions into a scenario, which is enough to keep agents informed of what got published and what is still unclear. One trigger stands apart: Watch Events is instant, so Zendesk calls Make the moment an event you configured happens.
Two things are worth knowing before you start. Side conversation modules only answer if an administrator enabled that feature in your Zendesk account, and the Make documentation for Zendesk publishes no volume figure, so your own account is the measure. Whatever the 55 modules leave out goes through Make an API Call.
Zendesk also exists as an n8n node, and the same automation can be built there. The n8n vs Make comparison lays out the criteria, the Zendesk n8n integration page shows the other side, and Make training is the route if you would rather learn the editor than copy a recipe.
How do you connect Zendesk to Make?
- 01
Add a Zendesk module and start the connection
You need a Zendesk account, and that is the only prerequisite. Drop a Zendesk module into your scenario and click Create a connection. A connection is your account linked to Make once, then reused by every Zendesk module you add afterwards.
- 02
Choose the connection type
In the Connection type field, pick Zendesk. The Connection name field is optional, and filling it pays off the day you juggle several accounts: a name you recognize beats a line you have to open to identify.
- 03
Enter your subdomain and save
In the Subdomain field, type the subdomain you read in your browser address bar while you are in Zendesk, the one shaped like
domain.zendesk.com. Click Save, then authenticate and confirm access if Zendesk asks for it.
Your first scenario: a ticket that answers for itself
GoalWhen a new ticket lands in Zendesk, Make posts the first comment on it.
- 01
Create the scenario
From the Scenarios page, create a new scenario and click the + to place the first module. Search Zendesk by name in the list of apps, then pick Watch Tickets.
- 02
Set the trigger
Watch Tickets asks for a connection: create it as described above, or reuse the one already linked to your account. Fill the fields of the module, Make reads your desk and offers what it can see there.
- 03
Add the action
Click the + on the right of Watch Tickets and add Create a Ticket Comment. Map the data coming from the first module into the second one, so the comment lands on the ticket that just arrived and not somewhere else.
- 04
Test with Run once
Click Run once, the button that runs the scenario a single time, then open a test ticket in Zendesk. Each module shows the bundles it received, a bundle being one item travelling from one module to the next.
- 05
Schedule it and switch it on
Set the clock on the first module. A new scenario runs every 15 minutes by default, which is also the shortest interval the Free plan allows. Switch the scenario on and it keeps working without you.
What can start a Zendesk scenario?
13 modules start a scenario when something happens in Zendesk. A scheduled trigger is checked by Make on the scenario's schedule; an instant one is called by Zendesk as soon as it happens.
Watch Tickets
Scheduled triggerIn Make“Checks whether new tickets were created.”
Watch Tickets is where most Zendesk automations begin. It hands your scenario the requests created since the last run, one bundle per ticket, and everything after that is up to the modules you place behind it.
Watch Tickets in a View
Scheduled triggerIn Make“Checks whether new tickets were created in a view.”
A view is a filtered list of tickets you already maintain in Zendesk, and this trigger reacts only to the ones that land in the view you point it at. The sorting work stays where your agents do it.
Watch Ticket Activity
Scheduled triggerIn Make“Checks whether there are new audits (activity) on a ticket.”
Every change written on a ticket leaves an audit entry in Zendesk, and this trigger brings those entries into the scenario as they show up. It is the one that follows a ticket through its life rather than at its birth.
Watch Ticket's Comments
Scheduled triggerIn Make“Triggers when a new ticket's comment is created.”
Comments added to a ticket, by the customer or by an agent, reach your scenario through this trigger, each one arriving as its own bundle. What you do with them is the interesting part: notify, log, answer.
Watch Organizations
Scheduled triggerIn Make“Checks whether new organizations were created.”
Organizations group the people who belong to the same company in Zendesk. This trigger tells your scenario when a new one appears, with the company itself as the bundle that travels on.
Watch Groups
Scheduled triggerIn Make“Checks whether new groups were created.”
Groups are the teams your agents belong to, and this trigger reports the ones that get created. Nothing more, which is exactly what makes it easy to reason about.
Watch Users
Scheduled triggerIn Make“Checks whether new users were created.”
Users are everyone Zendesk knows, customers and agents alike. This module passes the new ones to your scenario the next time it looks, ready for whatever welcome you have planned.
Watch Articles
Scheduled triggerIn Make“Checks whether new articles were created.”
New pages created in your help center reach the scenario through Watch Articles, one article per bundle. The editorial team keeps writing, the announcement takes care of itself.
Watch Article Comments
Scheduled triggerIn Make“Checks whether new comments were added to an article.”
Readers who comment under an article are usually telling you the page is not clear enough. This trigger collects those comments and drops them into your scenario, where they become something other than a line nobody reads.
Watch Forum Posts
Scheduled triggerIn Make“Checks whether new forum posts were created.”
Community posts are the public face of support, and this trigger hands each new one to your scenario as it is created. Whoever moderates the space stops having to refresh it.
Watch Forum Post Comments
Scheduled triggerIn Make“Checks whether new comments were added to a forum post.”
Answers written under a community post come back here, comment by comment, ready for whatever the scenario does next. It covers the conversation, not the post that started it.
Watch Events
Instant triggerIn Make“Watches specific events configured by the user through Zendesk triggers or automations.”
Watch Events is the one trigger that does not wait. You decide in Zendesk, through its own triggers and automations, which events deserve to reach Make, and they arrive as they happen.
Watch Views
Scheduled triggerIn Make“Checks whether new views were created.”
Views themselves can be watched: when somebody builds a new one in Zendesk, this module reports it to your scenario. On a large desk, it is the quiet way to know what admins are adding.
What Zendesk can do inside a scenario
Zendesk gives you 42 modules in 10 groups. For each one: what it does for you, when to reach for it, and what to watch out for.
Modules index
Triggers
10 modulesList Tickets
SearchIn Make“Retrieves all tickets (except for archived or soft deleted tickets).”
List Tickets brings the queue into the scenario, one bundle per ticket, archived and soft deleted ones left aside. Each bundle costs an operation, and an operation is one run of one module on one item.
Search Tickets
SearchIn Make“Searches for a ticket that matches the specified criteria. Does not list soft deleted tickets.”
Search Tickets takes the criteria you give it and returns what matches, which can be zero, one or several tickets.
List Soft Deleted Tickets
SearchIn Make“Retrieves tickets that were soft deleted.”
Soft deleted tickets vanish from the usual lists, and this module is the one that shows them again inside a scenario.
Get a Ticket
ActionIn Make“Retrieves a ticket.”
Aim Get a Ticket at a single request and it returns that request as it stands, ready to be read by the module that follows.
Create a Ticket
ActionIn Make“Creates a ticket.”
Create a Ticket opens a request in Zendesk from whatever the scenario is carrying, a failed order, a form answer, a line in a file.
Update a Ticket
ActionIn Make“Updates a ticket. The update allows for adding a new comment too.”
Update a Ticket writes on a request that already exists, and the same call can add a comment while it is at it.
Merge Tickets
ActionIn Make“Merges tickets into a single ticket.”
When the same person writes twice about the same thing, Merge Tickets folds the duplicates into a single request and keeps the conversation in one place.
Soft Delete a Ticket
ActionIn Make“Soft deletes a ticket.”
Soft Delete a Ticket takes a request out of the working lists without wiping it, which leaves a way back through List Soft Deleted Tickets.
Permanently Delete a Ticket
ActionIn Make“Deletes a ticket permanently.”
Permanently Delete a Ticket removes the request for good. Nothing lists it afterwards, not even the module built for soft deleted ones.
Upload Attachments
ActionIn Make“Uploads attachments for future use in a ticket.”
Upload Attachments sends files to Zendesk and keeps them waiting for the ticket that will carry them.
Ticket Comments
2 modulesList Ticket's Comments
SearchIn Make“Retrieves comments on a ticket.”
The whole comment history of one ticket comes back through this module, each comment as its own bundle.
Create a Ticket Comment
ActionIn Make“Creates a ticket comment.”
Create a Ticket Comment posts a message on an existing ticket, which is how a scenario speaks to the customer or leaves a note for the agent.
Ticket Custom Fields
3 modulesList Ticket Custom Field Options
SearchIn Make“Lists the options of a ticket custom field.”
Custom fields built as drop-downs carry a list of options, and this module reads that list into your scenario.
Create or Update a Ticket Field Option
ActionIn Make“Creates or updates a drop-down ticket field option.”
This one adds a choice to a drop-down field, or changes it when it is already there, with nobody opening the Zendesk settings.
Remove a Ticket Field Option
ActionIn Make“Removes a dropdown ticket field option.”
Taking a choice off a drop-down field is the whole job of this module, and it does only that.
Side Conversations
6 modulesList Side Conversations
SearchIn Make“Retrieves a list of side conversations on the given ticket. This feature is only available if it has been enabled by the administrator.”
Side conversations are the side threads attached to a ticket, and this module lists the ones a given ticket holds.
List Side Conversation Events
SearchIn Make“Retrieves a list of side conversation events on the side conversation by its ID and the ticket ID. This feature is only available if it has been enabled by the administrator.”
Each side thread keeps a record of what happened in it, and this module reads those records for one conversation on one ticket.
Create a Side Conversation
ActionIn Make“Creates a new side conversation by the ticket ID. This feature is only available if it has been enabled by the administrator.”
Starting a new side thread on a ticket is this module's whole job, which lets a scenario bring a third party into a case without mixing them into the customer conversation.
Get a Side Conversation
ActionIn Make“Retrieves the details of a side conversation by its ID and the ticket ID. This feature is only available if it has been enabled by the administrator.”
Get a Side Conversation returns one thread, identified by the ticket it hangs from, with its current details.
Update a Side Conversation
ActionIn Make“Updates the state or subject of the side conversation by its ID and the ticket ID. This feature is only available if it has been enabled by the administrator.”
The state or the subject of a side thread can be changed from a scenario, and this is the module that does it.
Reply to a Side Conversation
ActionIn Make“Replies a side conversation by its ID and the ticket ID. This feature is only available if it has been enabled by the administrator.”
Replying inside an existing side thread happens here, so the exchange stays in one place instead of starting over somewhere else.
Organizations
6 modulesList Organizations
SearchIn Make“Retrieves all organizations.”
Every organization in the account comes back through List Organizations, one company per bundle.
Search Organizations
SearchIn Make“Searches for an organization that matches the specified criteria.”
Search Organizations looks for the companies matching your criteria and hands back what it finds, which may be nothing at all.
Get an Organization
ActionIn Make“Retrieves an organization.”
One company, read in full: Get an Organization returns the record your scenario points at. It reads and never writes, so it is safe to drop anywhere in a flow.
Create or Update an Organization
ActionIn Make“Creates or updates an organization.”
Create or Update an Organization writes the company into Zendesk, creating it when it is missing and refreshing it when it is already there.
Update an Organization
ActionIn Make“Updates an organization.”
Update an Organization touches companies that already exist and nothing else, which makes it the safer pick when a creation by mistake would be a problem.
Delete an Organization
ActionIn Make“Deletes an organization.”
Deleting a company from the desk is what this module does, and the scenario around it carries the responsibility.
Groups
5 modulesList Groups
SearchIn Make“Retrieves all groups.”
List Groups returns the teams of your Zendesk account, one group per bundle.
Get a Group
ActionIn Make“Retrieves a group.”
Details of a single team come back with Get a Group, when the scenario already knows which one it means. Short module, handy glue.
Create a Group
ActionIn Make“Creates a group.”
Create a Group opens a new team on the desk from a scenario, without a trip through the admin screens.
Update a Group
ActionIn Make“Updates a group.”
An existing team can be modified here, which is often enough to keep naming consistent on a desk that keeps growing.
Delete a Group
ActionIn Make“Deletes a group.”
Delete a Group takes a team off the desk. Short module, long consequences for the people who were working in it.
Users
7 modulesList Users
SearchIn Make“Retrieves all users or a group's users or an organization's users.”
List Users hands over the people Zendesk knows, and the list can be narrowed to one group or to one organization.
Search Users
SearchIn Make“Searches for a user that matches the specified criteria.”
Looking somebody up by your own criteria is the job of Search Users, which returns zero, one or several people.
Get a User
ActionIn Make“Retrieves a user.”
Get a User returns one person, the one your scenario points at, with what Zendesk holds about them.
Get User Related Information
ActionIn Make“Retrieves information related to a user's ticket, topics, subscriptions, etc.”
This module goes past the identity card and returns what is attached to a person: their tickets, their topics, their subscriptions.
Create or Update a User
ActionIn Make“Creates a user.”
Create or Update a User puts a person into Zendesk, or refreshes the record when that person is already known to the desk.
Update a User
ActionIn Make“Updates a user.”
Update a User changes somebody who already exists, and nothing else: no record appears by accident with this one.
Delete a User
ActionIn Make“Deletes a user.”
Delete a User removes a person from Zendesk. Run it knowingly, because no scenario puts the record back afterwards.
Items
1 moduleSearch Anything
SearchIn Make“Retrieves any kind of object matching your query.”
Search Anything casts a wider net than the other search modules: tickets, users, organizations, whatever matches the query comes back.
Tags
1 moduleAdd, Replace or Remove Tags
ActionIn Make“Adds tags or replaces existing tags of a ticket, user or organization.”
A tag costs nothing and makes a record easy to find later. Add, Replace or Remove Tags puts them on a ticket, a user or an organization from inside the scenario. Adding keeps what is there, replacing swaps the whole set for what you send.
vip before the queue picks it up.Other
1 moduleMake an API Call
ActionIn Make“Performs an arbitrary authorized API call.”
When none of the 55 modules covers what you need, Make an API Call sends a request you write yourself to the Zendesk API, over the connection you already created, and passes the answer to the next module.
Need help automating Zendesk with Make?
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Questions people ask next
01Is the Zendesk Make integration free?
02What do you need to connect Zendesk to Make?
03Does the Zendesk trigger react in real time?
04What if a module is missing or a limit gets in the way?
05Make or n8n for Zendesk?
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