> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.tied.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Migrating from Zendesk

> Ticket queue to shared inbox — the conceptual shift, and what to do about macros.

The mechanical parts of a Zendesk migration are easy. The conceptual part is not, and getting it wrong produces a Tied instance that behaves like a worse Zendesk.

## The shift: tickets to conversations

Zendesk creates a **ticket per issue**. It opens, it closes, and next time there is a new one. History lives in whichever ticket someone thinks to search.

Tied threads by **person**. Open a conversation and you see everything that contact has said to you, on any channel, in order.

<Info>
  **This is not a cosmetic difference.** It is why an agent does not have to ask a customer to repeat
  themselves, and why an AI agent can recognise that a customer's next message is about something else
  entirely — which is one of the valid corroborators for a
  [Tier 3 resolution](/pricing/resolutions).
</Info>

The practical consequence: stop thinking in ticket lifecycle and start thinking in conversation state. Tied has four — `open`, `pending`, `snoozed`, `resolved` — and they mean specific things. See [Inbox](/inbox).

## What maps cleanly

| Zendesk | Tied |
| - | - |
| Ticket | [Conversation](/concepts) |
| End user | [Contact](/contacts) |
| Agent | [Agent](/roles-permissions) |
| Group | [Team](/inbox/teams) |
| Tag | [Label](/inbox/labels) |
| Macro (text portion) | [Canned response](/inbox/macros) |
| Trigger | [Automation rule](/automation) |
| View | [Custom view](/automation/custom-views) |
| Help Center article | [Article](/help-center/articles) |
| SLA policy | [SLA policy](/automation/sla) |

## What needs thought

### Macros split

A Zendesk macro bundles text *and* actions. In Tied those are two things: a [canned response](/inbox/macros) is reusable text, a macro is a set of actions. Most Zendesk macros become one of each.

This is a good moment to notice how many of your macros are actually doing three unrelated jobs at once.

### Triggers and automations both become automation rules

Zendesk distinguishes triggers (event-driven) from automations (time-based). Tied has one [automation rule](/automation) concept covering both. Simpler, but the migration is not one-to-one — expect to consolidate.

### Forms and ticket fields

Zendesk ticket forms have no direct equivalent. Depending on what they do:

* Collecting structured information from a customer → a [chatbot flow](/chatbot), or an [AMB Form](/channels/apple-messages/rich-feature-messages) on Apple Messages
* Storing structured data about a contact → [custom attributes](/contacts/attributes)
* Routing based on a selection → an [automation rule](/automation) on a label

### Light Agents

There is no Light Agent equivalent. The nearest thing is a [custom role](/admin/custom-roles) with `conversation_participating_manage`, which limits someone to conversations they are actually on. Custom roles are Enterprise.

## The order to move in

<Steps>
  <Step title="Export the Help Center" icon="book-open">
    Longest lead time, highest value — it becomes your AI agent's knowledge base as well as your public
    docs.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Audit before you migrate" icon="scissors">
    Zendesk instances accumulate. Most teams find half their macros unused and their tag taxonomy
    largely accidental. Migrating that is migrating debt.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Bring contacts and custom fields across" icon="users">
    See [Importing contacts](/contacts/import).
  </Step>

  <Step title="Rebuild groups, labels and canned responses" icon="tags">
    From the audited set, not the original one.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Connect one channel in parallel" icon="radio-tower">
    [Web chat](/channels/web-chat) on a traffic subset, with Zendesk still live.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Build the agent, then cut over" icon="bot">
    Only once it is resolving real conversations at a rate you are happy with.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## What you gain

* **Channels Zendesk treats as add-ons.** [Apple Messages for Business](/channels/apple-messages) with Apple Pay, pickers and forms in-thread; [RCS](/channels/rcs) with verified sender and rich cards.
* **One thread per person**, not a pile of tickets.
* **[Outcome-based pricing you can audit](/pricing/resolution-pricing)** — seven classes, each with a mechanical discriminator evaluated against a signed action trail.
* **Free handoff**, and no charge at all for a conversation that did not resolve anything.

## Next

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Inbox" icon="inbox" href="/inbox">
    The shared-inbox model, and why it is not a ticket queue.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Setup checklist" icon="list-checks" href="/setup-checklist">
    The order to stand things up in.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>


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