Why Freshdesk's reply action would email customers
In Freshdesk a reply is an email. When an agent replies, Freshdesk sends it to the requester and to everyone on cc. That is right for live work and wrong for history: a tool that rebuilt a five-year-old thread by replying would send one email per old reply, to people who have long forgotten the question.
So DataGrine writes every message as a note instead. The thread still reads in order, with each message from the right person, and nothing is sent through the reply action. Notes are not sent the way replies are, but Freshdesk can still notify people about new tickets and notes through its own settings, which is why the switch-off list further down matters.
How each message arrives in Freshdesk
| In the old helpdesk | In Freshdesk |
|---|---|
| An agent’s public reply | A public note |
| An agent’s private note | A private note |
| A customer’s reply | A note from that customer |
Private stays private, and a customer’s message is still from the customer, so reporting on who said what keeps working. Requesters and companies are created first, then tickets, so every note has its author waiting for it.
The first two lines: original time, sender and recipients
Freshdesk stamps every note with the moment it was written, which is the migration day. So each note opens with a line giving its original time in UTC and its author, for example: ‘Originally sent 2026-01-31 09:15 UTC by Name’.
Where the source records them, the second line names who the message went to: To, Cc and Bcc. On a private note it reads ‘Notified’. Bcc is never written on a note your customer can see; the record names the hidden bcc instead.
These lines are how the migration is meant to work, so the Reconciliation report never counts them as a difference.
Dates, cc and attachments
- The ticket's original date. Freshdesk's API sets Created to the migration day. The original date is kept in a text field named after the source, such as ‘created at zendesk’, which the mapping screen can create for you.
- Cc on the ticket. Carried when the ticket is created. Freshdesk keeps cc only as email addresses, so a participant without one is named on the record as a Vendor limit.
- Attachments. On the ticket and on each note, up to 20 MB per message, which is Freshdesk's limit. A file that does not make it is named on the record with the reason.
- Inline images between Freshdesk accounts. Uploaded to the ticket and placed where the author put them. Freshdesk also lists each one under attachments; it is one file.
- Files are never kept. Attachments and images are copied in memory, never stored by DataGrine.
What you still switch off in Freshdesk
Freshdesk acts on the tickets and notes a migration creates the same way it acts on any other, and DataGrine does not switch its notifications or automations off for you. So before the first run:
- Requester notifications under Admin > Workflows > Email Notifications: New Ticket Created, Agent adds comment to ticket, Agent solves the ticket, Agent closes the ticket and User activation email.
- CC notifications: New ticket created and Note added to the ticket.
- Agent notifications such as new ticket and assignment, unless you want your team to get one per migrated ticket.
- Automation rules on all three tabs: Ticket Creation, Ticket Updates and Hourly Triggers. If a rule must stay on because the account is live, add a condition that leaves out your migration tag; DataGrine can add a run tag to every migrated ticket.
- The satisfaction survey, or customers are asked to rate last year’s conversations.
- SLA reminder and escalation emails. SLA due dates are not carried, so Freshdesk applies its own SLA policies to migrated tickets.
While you are in the admin pages, untick ‘required when closing’ on ticket fields for the run, so closed history can be written. Note every change and switch it all back on after the last Delta, or real replies on migrated tickets will not notify anyone.
Check it on a Sample
The Sample is free: 20, 100, 500 or 1,000 tickets (100 by default), with the contacts and companies they use, uncounted. Open your longest threads in Freshdesk and check the first two lines of each note, the private notes, the attachments and the original date field. Then make sure nobody received an email. If someone did, find the rule, switch it off and run the Sample again, which rolls the first one back before it starts.
Moving between two Freshdesk accounts? See Freshdesk to Freshdesk migration. Coming from another helpdesk, see Zendesk to Freshdesk migration or Intercom to Freshdesk migration.
Next step
Check a Sample migration of your own records in the new helpdesk before anything else moves, then run the full migration and a delta at cut-over.
Sources
- Freshdesk Support - Configuring email notifications
- Freshdesk Support - Automation rules
- Freshdesk API documentation - Reply to a ticket, Create a note
Vendor facts checked against these pages on . Vendors change their products; if something here has moved, tell us and we will correct it.