Key takeaways
- The ticket export is a spreadsheet of fields, with no replies.
- Closed tickets inactive for 120 days are archived: read-only, and exported from their own Archive view.
- The full account export, which includes tickets and solution articles, is emailed to the account administrator as XML.
- API v2 lists 30 days by default and 30,000 tickets per query at most; walk older history in date windows.
Ways to get tickets out
| Route | Format | Includes | Leaves out |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ticket export | CSV or Excel | The ticket fields you choose, optionally the description | Conversation threads and archived tickets |
| Archive view export | A file from the Archive view | Archived tickets | Only one archived export runs at a time |
| Account export | XML, emailed | All account data, including tickets and solution articles | A file to parse, not a live connection |
| API v2 | JSON | Tickets, conversations, contacts, companies, solutions | Rate limited, paginated, 30 days by default |
Freshdesk archives a closed ticket after 120 days with no activity. Archived tickets are read-only, sit in the Archive view rather than the normal lists, and are left out of global search unless you include them.
API v2 limits that shape a full export
| Limit | What Freshdesk documents | How to work with it |
|---|---|---|
| Default window | List All Tickets returns tickets created in the past 30 days | Pass updated_since to reach older tickets |
| Page size | 30 per page by default, 100 at most | Ask for 100 |
| Query depth | At most 300 pages, 30,000 tickets, per query | Walk history in date windows under 30,000 each |
| Threads | A ticket viewed with include=conversations returns up to ten | List the ticket’s conversations for longer threads |
| Archived tickets | Their own endpoints | Read each archived ticket and its conversations there |
Rate limits are per minute, set by plan, and apply to the whole account, so every integration on the account draws from the same allowance. Download each attachment as you read its ticket, not in a later pass.
Exporting to move to another helpdesk?
Then a file may be the slow route. A migration reads Freshdesk’s API directly, includes archived tickets, keeps contacts, companies and tickets linked, and runs again at cut-over for what changed. With DataGrine you can run it self-serve on the platform or have the migration team handle it end to end, with 24/7 support either way. See Freshdesk to Intercom or Freshdesk to Zendesk.