How it works
You can easily sync or import your public Zendesk help content into Intercom, which requires no code. This allows you to make Intercom your single source of truth for support articles, or to continuously sync your Zendesk content to power Intercom's AI features.
Our new Zendesk importer is built on a robust and resilient service pipeline that significantly reduces errors and improves the speed and reliability of your content integration.
Once your articles are in Intercom, you can:
Use them to power Fin AI Agent and Copilot for accurate, automated answers.
Make them accessible in the Inbox for teammates to share in conversations.
Feature them in your Help Center for customers to self-serve.
Tip: The new importer also extracts valuable source metadata from Zendesk, such as labels and categories, and applies them as tags to your articles in Intercom. This helps you organize content and apply rules for more effective AI resolution.
This will attempt to migrate all of your published help articles from Zendesk. To add specific articles, we recommend copying and adding them to the Knowledge Hub in Intercom individually.
Before you get started
Before starting, we recommend enabling Search engine indexing in your Help Center settings to prevent any delays in your articles appearing in search results. You can do this by going to Settings > Help Center and clicking on "configure and style":
You will find the option to enable the index search under General > Privacy:
Connecting with the new Zendesk importer
This method uses a secure API key for authentication and allows you to either sync or import your content from Zendesk.
Step 1: Generate a Zendesk API token
The connection uses a secure API key for authentication. First, you'll need to generate an active API token from your Zendesk Admin Center.
In Zendesk, go to the Admin Center.
Navigate to Apps and integrations > APIs > Zendesk API.
Click the API token tab and click Add API token.
Give the token a descriptive name (e.g., "Intercom Integration") and copy it. Keep this token somewhere safe, as Zendesk will not show it again.
Step 2: Connect Zendesk in Intercom
Under Public articles, find Zendesk and click Sync or Import.
If you have an existing Zendesk connection, you may see a banner to Upgrade to our new Zendesk importer. Click Try it now to proceed with the new, enhanced importer.
Enter your Zendesk subdomain. This is the unique identifier for your account (e.g.,
mydomain.zendesk.com).Under Authentication method, select API key.
In the Email address field, enter your Zendesk admin email address.
In the API token field, paste the token you generated in Step 1.
If you need to sync content that is restricted to logged-in users in Zendesk, toggle on Sync articles for signed-in users.
Choose which Intercom Target Help Center you want to add the content to.
Select how you want to connect your data.
Click Import or Sync.
How Zendesk metadata is imported
To save you time, the importer automatically brings the structure of your Zendesk knowledge base into Intercom.
Zendesk metadata like labels, categories, and content tags are all imported and converted into tags on your Intercom articles.
This metadata is critical for making your content useful. With these tags automatically applied, you can:
Filter your content in the Knowledge section to see articles by a certain category.
Exclude irrelevant content from Fin AI Agent.
Route answers to the right audience by creating specific Fin AI Agent audiences based on article tags.
For example, if you have content in Zendesk labeled "EMEA-only", that label will become a tag in Intercom. You can then create an audience for your European customers in Fin AI Agent and configure it to only use articles with the "EMEA-only" tag.
Importing with the legacy importer
1.To start importing public articles, go to Knowledge Hub > Sources.
2.Under Public articles, find Zendesk and click Sync or Import.
3.Now enter your Zendesk subdomain and choose the option to “Import content” then go ahead and click Import.
Note:
To start an article import from Zendesk using the legacy importer, you must log in with Admin access to authenticate.
You'll need to choose the target Help Center in Intercom if using Multi Help Center.
If you import your Zendesk articles will be converted into native public articles you can manage in Intercom.
To import multilingual articles from Zendesk, you will need to add the additional languages in your Help Center settings, in order for the imported translations to be visible.
Your Intercom Help Center custom domain must be configured before the import for the redirects to be generated using the custom domain.
Now, wait for the import to complete. During this time we’ll crawl your docs site, import all of your published articles, and place them in Help Center collections that match the structure of your existing knowledge base. This could take anywhere from a few minutes to an hour or more. We'll send you an email when it's done, so there's no need to wait around 😄 After the migration has completed, refresh the Content page in Knowledge to see your imported articles in folders on the left sidebar.
Learn how to manage public articles from Knowledge and enable them for Fin AI Agent and Copilot.
Important: If you haven't already, you’ll need to turn your Help Center on or your articles won’t go live and can't be enabled for Fin or Copilot.
What is my Zendesk subdomain?
This is the domain for your Zendesk account (not your Help Center URL). Your Zendesk subdomain is its unique identifier and there are a few ways to find it which you can see here.
Choosing how to connect your data
You have two options for how your Zendesk content is managed in Intercom.
Import content
Choose this option if you want to make Intercom your new single source of truth.
This performs a one-time migration of all your published Zendesk articles into Intercom.
Once imported, the connection is severed. Changes made in Zendesk will not be reflected in Intercom.
You can then edit and manage these articles directly within Intercom.
Sync content
Choose this option to sync a continuously updated, view-only version of your content. Zendesk remains your source of truth.
This is ideal for powering Fin AI Agent with your existing knowledge base without migrating.
The sync is reliable and transparent, ensuring Fin always has the latest content.
You will continue to edit and manage your articles in Zendesk.
After the connection
We’ll begin crawling your Zendesk site, importing your published articles, and structuring them into collections that match your existing knowledge base. Any labels or categories from Zendesk will be added as tags to the articles in Intercom.
This process can take anywhere from a few minutes to an hour. We'll send you an email once it's complete. You can check the status at any time in Knowledge > Sources.
After the migration, refresh the Content page in Knowledge to see your imported articles.
Zendesk articles redirect
Article redirects are automatically generated during the import process. While Zendesk and Intercom article and collection URLs are in different formats, this ensures that any existing links do not break after migration, preserving their SEO score.
The redirects are implemented in the form of permanent redirects (HTTP 301 responses).
Multilingual support
When importing collections and articles in multiple languages, each language variant will have its own redirect associated with the original Zendesk article URL.
Reviewing existing redirects
After the import is complete, you can review the generated redirects through the Domains section in Settings > Help Center > Configure and style:
From here, scroll down to Domains and click "manage redirects":
The panel displays the original URL and the article/collection it redirects to.
Important:
The redirects will only be displayed for the chosen custom domain. For instance, if you're importing articles from a Zendesk Help Center at
https://support.examply.com, the redirects will appear in the domain section only if you have selectedsupport.examply.comas your custom domain and you're using the HTTPS security protocol.If you aren't ready to switch over your CNAME to point at Intercom for your custom domain, you can still have the redirects created when importing from Zendesk by adding your custom domain in your Intercom Help Center, and selecting the option to use the HTTPS Security protocol.
After the import you can delete or edit the automatically created redirects, and manually create your own.
With Multi Help Center, redirects are not connected to a specific Help Center. Instead, they are linked to a domain. This means that redirects will show up on any Help Center that is using the same domain as the one where the Zendesk articles were located.
Redirects will be available for all articles that have been imported from Zendesk after September 22, 2022.
Uncategorized content
If you have any uncategorized content on your site, Articles will automatically create a ‘General' collection for you. Collections help your users browse and easily find what they need, so consider reorganizing these articles by topic before you publish them.
Content we don’t support yet
We’ll convert your content into formatting we support (e.g. copying images). However we don’t support the following formatting just yet:
Importing from category/collection URL's also isn't supported. You'll need to import your knowledge base from the main URL.
Articles with unsupported formatting
If there are any issues with importing your content, we'll add a Review label to the article so you can correct it before setting it live. Just open the article you need to review and read the recommendation that we’ve added. The recommendation acts as a placeholder so you’ll need to delete this and insert the content we recommend before you set the article live.
FAQs
My Help Center has articles in 2 languages but I’m only seeing one after the import?
My Help Center has articles in 2 languages but I’m only seeing one after the import?
Intercom will import all supported languages, but we will not enable that language for the Help Center. You will have to add the language in their Help Center settings, and after that the translation will be visible.
I have an article localized in EN-US and EN-GB and it imported into two different articles?
I have an article localized in EN-US and EN-GB and it imported into two different articles?
Intercom only supports a short list of localized versions of languages: Portuguese / Brazilian Portuguese, German / German (Formal), Chinese Traditional / Simplified.
For all other localized versions, we map it to the closest language supported in Intercom (ex: EN-GB, EN-US, EN-AU all map to EN). In case of a clash, we create a different article for each localized version to avoid data loss.
I have articles in Irish but they were not imported, what happened?
I have articles in Irish but they were not imported, what happened?
We only import articles in one of the supported languages by the Intercom Messenger.
The email says it imported “X” articles, but I only see “Y” in my Help Center?
The email says it imported “X” articles, but I only see “Y” in my Help Center?
The total listed in the email includes all the different languages that the article exists in. An article with translations in English, French and Portuguese will count as 3 articles in the email.
What’s the difference between "Sync content" and "Import content" from Zendesk?
What’s the difference between "Sync content" and "Import content" from Zendesk?
The main difference between syncing content and importing content from Zendesk is where you plan to edit your articles in the future.
Choose to sync content if you want to keep Zendesk as your primary editor. This creates a view-only version of your articles in Intercom that stays up-to-date with your Zendesk knowledge base.
Choose to import content if you want to migrate fully to Intercom. This creates an editable copy of your articles in Intercom, which becomes your new single source of truth.
If I delete an article in Zendesk, will it also be removed from Intercom?
If I delete an article in Zendesk, will it also be removed from Intercom?
Yes, if you delete an article in Zendesk while you have an active sync set up, it will also be removed from Intercom. This happens automatically during the next sync to ensure both knowledge bases remain consistent.
Is it safe to use a Zendesk API key for authentication?
Is it safe to use a Zendesk API key for authentication?
Yes, it is safe to use a Zendesk API key for authentication. This is a standard, secure method for connecting applications that grants Intercom specific permissions to access your articles without exposing your admin password or other sensitive account information.
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