How to Migrate From Freshdesk to Zoho Desk

Moving from Freshdesk to Zoho Desk does not mean starting from scratch. Zoho’s migration service, Zwitch, brings your Freshdesk companies, users, tickets and knowledge base into Zoho Desk. This guide explains what migrates, how to prepare, and how to check the results.

What gets migrated

Public notes become threads and private notes become comments.

Before you start

• Make sure you have the Primary Contact or Support Administrator role in Zoho Desk.
• Create your agents in Zoho Desk with the same email addresses they use in Freshdesk, so tickets are assigned correctly.
• Temporarily disable any Zoho CRM or Salesforce integration and remove IP restrictions in Zoho Desk.
• Do not reset or revoke the Freshdesk API key you provide during the migration.

Step 1: Export your data from Freshdesk

1. In Freshdesk, go to Admin > Account > Account Details.
2. Hover over Export data and click Export.
3. Choose the time ranges for tickets, contacts, companies and solutions, click Update, then Export.
4. Track progress under Admin > Account Exports and download the files when ready.

Step 2: Run the migration in Zoho Desk

1. Open the Zwitch data migration tool in Zoho Desk and choose Freshdesk as the source.
2. Upload your export files in XML or JSON. Each zip must be under 5 GB, with up to 5 files.
3. Map departments and review the fields. Custom fields are created automatically based on your data, within your plan’s limits.
4. Submit the migration. It can only be cancelled while its status is Submitted in Queue.

Step 3: Check the results

• Tickets keep their original number in the FreshDesk-Id field.
• Migrated contacts and accounts have Is Migrated ticked.
• Knowledge base articles are tagged ZohoDesk Migrated.
• Records that fail are returned as files for correction, and unresolved items are retried in a second phase about two weeks later.

Limitations to know

• Zwitch works on all paid editions. Trial accounts can migrate up to 2 GB.
• Contacts deleted in Freshdesk are not in the export, so their tickets do not migrate.
• Splitting data into multiple departments in a single pass is not supported.

Frequently asked questions

What data moves from Freshdesk to Zoho Desk?

Companies become accounts, users become agents and contacts, tickets come across with their conversations, and Solutions become knowledge base categories, sections and articles with images and attachments.

Who can start the migration?

Users with the Primary Contact or Support Administrator role in Zoho Desk.

How are tickets assigned after migration?

Tickets are assigned to agents whose email addresses match in both systems. If there is no match, they are left unassigned or routed to the primary support administrator.

How do I find migrated records?

Tickets keep their original Freshdesk ID, contacts and accounts have Is Migrated ticked, and knowledge base articles are tagged ZohoDesk Migrated.

Need help?

Planning a move from Freshdesk? Email support@thoughtlogik.com or see our Zoho migration services.