Key takeaways
- Data export lives in Admin Center > Account > Tools > Reports, and has to be enabled by Zendesk Support at the account owner’s request.
- CSV excludes comments, descriptions and deleted tickets. Use JSON for full threads.
- Export links arrive by email and stay valid for at least three days.
- An export file is a snapshot. A migration reads the API and can catch up at cut-over.
JSON, CSV or XML: what each leaves out
In Zendesk, go to Admin Center > Account > Tools > Reports. Data exports have to be switched on first by Zendesk Customer Support, and are available on certain plans.
| Format | Good for | Leaves out or limits |
|---|---|---|
| JSON | Full ticket data, large accounts | Comments on a ticket larger than 1 MB; very large accounts download in 31-day increments |
| CSV | A spreadsheet of ticket fields | Comments, descriptions, deleted tickets, multi-line and multi-select fields, custom date fields |
| XML | Full or user exports | A maximum file size of 500 MB |
Attachments are not files inside the export: each comment lists its attachments with a link to download. For complete threads at scale, Zendesk’s API returns every comment with its author, date and public or private flag.
Exporting to move to another helpdesk?
You may not need an export at all. A migration reads from Zendesk’s API and writes to the destination’s, keeps the links between organizations, users and tickets, and runs again at cut-over for anything created since. 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 three ways to move Zendesk to Intercom or Zendesk to Freshdesk.