Zendesk Service Data Deletion Policy

We have updated this Deletion Policy. If you are a new Customer, then this Deletion Policy will be effective as of June 3, 2026. If you are an existing Customer, we are providing you with prior notice of these changes which will be effective as of July 3, 2026. The previous version of this Deletion Policy can be accessed here.

Zendesk’s Service Data Deletion Policy (“Deletion Policy”) describes how our Customers’ Service Data is deleted in connection with the cancellation, termination or migration of an Account within the Zendesk Services detailed herein. This Policy does not apply to (a) data that resides in any Zendesk product or services not detailed in this Policy; (b) data that resides in Third-Party Products managed and hosted by third parties and the Service Data that is or may be shared with such Third-Party Products (as defined in our Zendesk Customer Agreement); or (c) data that resides in a Zendesk product or service that is in a Beta, Testing or Early Access Program (except as noted within this Deletion Policy). Definitions for the categories of Structured and Unstructured Service Data covered in this Deletion Policy can be found following the corresponding table below. Definitions for the covered functionality and Services within the Structured and Unstructured Service Data categories can be found in the Service-Specific Supplemental Terms found here: https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360047508453-Supplemental-terms-Zendesk-s-service-specific-terms. For reference, such definitions are as follows:

Ticketing System Functionality: means Zendesk Support and help desk functionality, email support functionality and Agent Workspace functionality available within Zendesk Suite.

Help Center Functionality: means Zendesk Guide and help center functionality available within Zendesk Suite.

Community Forum Functionality: means Zendesk Gather and community forum functionality available within Zendesk Suite.

Live Chat Functionality: means Zendesk Voice available within Zendesk Suite.

Voice: means Zendesk Voice available within Zendesk Suite.

Contact Center: means Zendesk Contact Center or Zendesk Contact Center - Innovation Services available within a Contact Center Add-on.

Analytics Functionality: means Zendesk Explore and reporting and analytics functionality available within Zendesk Suite.

Zendesk WFM (Tymeshift): means workforce management functionality available within a Zendesk WFM (Tymeshift) Add-on.

Zendesk QA (Klaus): means workforce quality assurance functionality available within a Zendesk QA (Klaus) Add-on.

AI agents - Advanced (Ultimate): means the customer support automation platform available within an AI agents - Advanced (Ultimate) Add-on.

Forethought AI Agents: means the customer support automation platform and features within the Forethought AI Agents subscription.

Zendesk may modify this Policy at any time by updating this page, which Customers may "Follow" to receive notice of changes.

Account Cancellation or Termination

Unless otherwise noted below, ninety (90) days after your Account for one of the Services listed below is canceled or terminated; or, except as noted below, nine (9) months after your trial has ended for one of the Services (assuming that you have not purchased a subscription to that Service), an automated process will begin that permanently deletes your Service Data for the canceled Service in accordance with the timelines set forth in the tables below. Once commenced, this process cannot be reversed and Service Data will be permanently deleted.

Except for Voice trial accounts, if a Service or functionality listed below requires a Zendesk Suite, Zendesk Support Account or a Zendesk Chat Account subscription, the deletion process outlined in this Deletion Policy shall not begin until the corresponding Zendesk Suite, Zendesk Support Account or Zendesk Chat Account (as appropriate) is canceled or terminated. Voice trial accounts for which a Customer does not subscribe to Voice following the trial, will commence deletion ninety (90) days after suspension or termination of the account. This deletion will occur even if Customer has an active subscription to another Zendesk Service.

For Zendesk Sunshine Conversations, deletion will commence within sixty (60) days for Structured Service Data and ninety (90) days for Unstructured Service Data after the effective date of cancellation or termination of your Sunshine Conversations Account in accordance with the terms of this Deletion Policy.

Migration

In certain instances, the migration of Service Data to another data center location may be required. In this process, a copy of your Service Data will be created for the purposes of assuring that it has been fully migrated to another data center location. This assurance process conducted by Zendesk may take up to thirty (30) days from the date of the commencement of such migration. After the migration process has been completed and confirmed, the deletion of the copy of your Service Data in the former data center location will commence under this policy in accordance with the timelines set forth in the tables below. Customers should expect that migrations will likely require downtime.

Data Deletion Timeline for Structured Service Data

Structured Service Data is data in your Account for a Service that is viewable within the Service such as Ticket Data, Live Chat Content, Call Recordings, and Agent and End-User information.

The following table details the applicable Zendesk Service or functionality, the types of Structured Service Data in the Service or functionality, and the associated deletion details once the deletion process has commenced:

Ticketing System Functionality (excluding Agent Workspace Functionality)

Structured Data Description | Timeline for Deletion (after deletion process begins) for Cancellation, Termination or Migration
Ticket Data | 40 days
User Data | 40 days
Attachments | 40 days
SSL Certificates | 40 days

Help Center Functionality

Structured Data Description | Timeline for Deletion (after deletion process begins) for Cancellation, Termination or Migration
Help Center Content | 40 days
Attachments and Images | 40 days
Spam Filter | 40 days

Community Forum Functionality

Structured Data Description | Timeline for Deletion (after deletion process begins) for Cancellation, Termination or Migration
Community Forum Content | 40 days
Images | 40 days
Spam Filter | 40 days

Live Chat Functionality

Structured Data Description | Timeline for Deletion (after deletion process begins) for Cancellation, Termination or Migration
Live Chat Content | 120 days
Tags | 120 days
Shortcuts | 120 days
Bans | 120 days
Analytics | 120 days
Message Conversations | 120 days

Voice and Contact Center

Structured Data Description | Timeline for Deletion (after deletion process begins) for Cancellation, Termination or Migration
Call Recordings (Voice only) | 40 days
SMS Messages (Voice only) | 40 days
Transcriptions | 40 days
Call Data | 40 days

Analytics Functionality

Structured Data Description | Timeline for Deletion (after deletion process begins) for Cancellation, Termination or Migration
Analytics Data | 90 days
Zendesk Connector Data | 90 days

Zendesk Sunshine

Structured Data Description | Timeline for Deletion (after deletion process begins) for Cancellation, Termination or Migration
Sunshine Data | 90 days

Zendesk Sell

Structured Data Description | Timeline for Deletion (after deletion process begins) for Cancellation, Termination or Migration
Domain Objects | 40 days
Call Recordings | 40 Days
Emails | 40 Days
Documents and Attachments | 40 Days
Account and Agent Data | 40 Days

Zendesk Sunshine Conversations

Structured Data Description | Timeline for Deletion (after deletion process begins) for Cancellation, Termination or Migration
Sunshine Conversations Data | 60 days

Zendesk Agent Workspace

Structured Data Description | Timeline for Deletion (after deletion process begins) for Cancellation, Termination or Migration
Agent Workspace Social Messaging Data | 120 days
Other Agent Workspace Data | 120 days

Zendesk Messaging

Structured Data Description | Timeline for Deletion (after deletion process begins) for Cancellation, Termination or Migration
Messaging conversations (including web/mobile/social messaging conversations) | 120 days
Shortcuts | 120 days
Flow Builder / Answer Bot conversations | 90 days

Zendesk WFM (Tymeshift) Functionality

Structured Data Description | Timeline for Deletion (after deletion process begins) for Cancellation, Termination or Migration
Workforce Management Data | 120 days

Zendesk QA (Klaus)

Structured Data Description | Timeline for Deletion (after deletion process begins) for Cancellation, Termination or Migration
QA Data | 40 days

AI agents - Advanced (Ultimate)

Structured Data Description | Timeline for Deletion (after deletion process begins) for Cancellation, Termination or Migration
AI agents - Advanced (Ultimate) Data | 120 days

Forethought AI Agents

Structured Data Description | Timeline for Deletion (after deletion process begins) for Cancellation, Termination or Migration
Forethought AI Agents Data | 90 days

Definitions

Ticket Data: includes ticket comments, tags, custom fields and audit events.

User Data: includes identities, hashed passwords and names for both Agents and End-Users.

Attachments: includes files attached to tickets or articles.

SSL Certificates: includes SSL certificates used when Customer securely accesses its custom branded Support domain.

Help Center Content: includes data posted on a Customer's Help Center Functionality such as articles and any comments thereto.

Community Forum Content: includes data posted on a Customer's Community Forum Functionality such as posts and any comments thereto.

Images: includes image files attached to articles, posts, or comments in Help Center Functionality and Community Forum Functionality.

Live Chat Content: includes content inserted into a Live Chat session by an End-User or Customer.

Tags: includes labels a Customer can add to Live Chat sessions to help categorize and sort Live Chat sessions.

Shortcuts: includes macro responses used in Live Chat Functionality.

Bans: includes End-User numerical id and IP address used by Customer to ban certain End-Users in Live Chat Functionality.

Analytics: includes contents of reporting dashboard for Customer to analyze Live Chat and activities in Live Chat Functionality.

Message Conversations: includes content inserted into a Message thread by End-Users or Agents.

Call Recordings: includes live call recordings and voicemails.

Transcriptions: includes written transcriptions of call recordings and voicemails. Transcriptions are also stored in Ticketing System Functionality tickets.

SMS Messages: includes content exchanged through Zendesk Text by Agents and End-Users. This data is also stored in Ticketing System Functionality Tickets.

Call Data: includes metadata about the call such as time and duration.

Analytics Functionality Data: includes data that is stored as part of the Analytics Functionality, such as accounts, users, and metric/query/dashboard metadata.

Zendesk Connector Data: includes data that is ingested into Analytics Functionality from other Zendesk Services and functionality as part of the Zendesk integration (such as Suite and Support).

Sunshine Data: includes all data that Customer inputs into Zendesk Sunshine functionality (e.g. Custom Objects, Custom Events and Unified Profiles).

Domain Objects: includes leads, deals, contacts, custom fields, products, notes input into Zendesk Sell by Customers.

Call Recordings: includes live call recordings and voicemails processed in Zendesk Sell Voice.

Emails: includes emails exchanged by Customer and End-Users within Zendesk Sell.

Documents and Attachments: includes all documents and attachments uploaded into Zendesk Sell.

Account and Agent Data: includes Customer account information and Agent Data processed in the provision of Zendesk Sell.

Sunshine Conversations Data: includes all data that Customer inputs into Zendesk Sunshine Conversations functionality.

Agent Workspace Social Messaging Data: includes Ticket Data and User Data associated with Agent Workspace tickets created via social messaging channels.

Other Agent Workspace Data:  includes all Service Data inserted into Agent Workspace functionality other than Social Messaging Data.

Messaging conversations: includes ticket data and user data for web/mobile/social messaging conversations within Zendesk messaging.

Shortcuts: includes macro responses used in Zendesk messaging.

Flow Builder / Answer Bot conversations: includes conversations between end-users and bots.

Workforce Management Data: includes all data ingested by Zendesk WFM (Tymeshift) from Zendesk as well as Customer profile information, authentication information, and user inputs and interactions within Zendesk WFM (Tymeshift).

QA Data: includes all data ingested by Zendesk QA (Klaus) from Zendesk as well as Customer profile information, authentication information, evaluations of support interactions, agent development insights, and quality improvement metrics.

AI agents - Advanced (Ultimate) Data: includes all data ingested by AI agents - Advanced (Ultimate) from Zendesk and/or other integrated data sources, as well as Customer profile information, authentication information, End-User and Customer communication data, categorical training data for machine learning models, model performance metrics, and platform settings.

Forethought AI Agents Data: includes all data ingested by Forethought AI Agents from Zendesk and/or other integrated data sources, as well as Customer profile information, authentication information, End-User and Customer communication data, categorical training data for machine learning models, model performance metrics, and platform settings.

Data Deletion Timeline For Unstructured Service Data

Unstructured Service Data is Service Data that cannot be viewed by Customer in the Service or functionality and includes Service Data that, for example, is maintained in backups, logs and search indices. Unstructured Service Data is deleted according to the deletion timelines described below.

The following table details types of Unstructured Service Data in the Service and functionality and the associated timelines for deletion once the deletion process has started:

Ticketing System Functionality, Help Center Functionality, and Community Forum Functionality

Unstructured Service Data Description | Timeline for Deletion (after deletion process begins) for Cancellation, Termination or Migration
Backups | 130 days
Logs | 365 days
Archived Emails | 90 days
Search Indices | 70 days

Live Chat Functionality

Unstructured Service Data Description | Timeline for Deletion (after deletion process begins) for Cancellation, Termination or Migration
Backups | 90 days
Logs | 180 days
Emails | 90 days
Search Indices | 90 days
Message Logs | 90 days

Analytics Functionality

Unstructured Service Data Description | Timeline for Deletion (after deletion process begins) for Cancellation, Termination or Migration
Logs | 90 days

Zendesk Sunshine

Unstructured Service Data Description | Timeline for Deletion (after deletion process begins) for Cancellation, Termination or Migration
Backups | 130 days
Logs | 365 days

Zendesk Sell

Unstructured Service Data Description | Timeline for Deletion (after deletion process begins) for Cancellation, Termination or Migration
Backups | 90 days
Logs | 365 days
Search Indices | 40 days

Zendesk Sunshine Conversations

Unstructured Service Data Description | Timeline for Deletion (after deletion process begins) for Cancellation, Termination or Migration
Backups | 95 days

Zendesk WFM (Tymeshift) Functionality

Unstructured Service Data Description | Timeline for Deletion (after deletion process begins) for Cancellation, Termination or Migration
Backups | 90 days
Logs | 365 days

Zendesk QA (Klaus)

Unstructured Service Data Description | Timeline for Deletion (after deletion process begins) for Cancellation, Termination or Migration
Backups | 7 days
Logs | 365 days

AI agents - Advanced (Ultimate)

Unstructured Service Data Description | Timeline for Deletion (after deletion process begins) for Cancellation, Termination or Migration
Backups | 14 days
Logs | 365 days

Forethought AI Agents

Unstructured Service Data Description | Timeline for Deletion (after deletion process begins) for Cancellation, Termination or Migration
Backups | 90 days
Logs | 365 days

Definitions

Ticketing System Functionality

Backups: includes regular backups of any database data and logs.

Logs: includes logs generated by applications and infrastructure.

Archived Emails: includes raw copies of emails retained for troubleshooting purposes after transforming into ticket data.

Search Indices: includes indices created to optimize search performance.

Live Chat Functionality

Backups: includes backup of MySQL data for certain Account data.

Logs: includes record of Account and Live Chat information saved for debugging purposes.

Emails: includes logs of the header responses and status of emails sent to Customers.

Search Indices: includes Live Chat data that is indexed in Elastic search for Customer search purposes.

Analytics Functionality

Logs: includes logs used for the debugging of issues within Analytics Functionality.

Zendesk Sunshine

Backups: includes regular backups of any database data and logs.

Logs: includes logs generated by applications and infrastructure.

Zendesk Sell

Backups: includes regular backs created in performance of Zendesk Sell.

Logs: includes all logs generated by Zendesk Sell.

Search Indices: includes Zendesk Sell data that is indexed in elastic search for Customer search purposes.

Zendesk Sunshine Conversations

Backups: includes regular backups of any database data and logs.

Zendesk WFM (Tymeshift) Functionality

Backups: includes regular backups of any Zendesk WFM (Tymeshift) database data and logs

Logs: includes logs generated by Zendesk WFM (Tymeshift) applications and infrastructure.

Zendesk QA (Klaus)

Backups: regular backups of any Klaus database data and logs and other data redundancy strategies of any Klaus database data and logs.

Logs: includes logs generated by Zendesk QA (Klaus) applications and infrastructure.

AI agents - Advanced (Ultimate)

Backups: regular backups of any AI agents - Advanced (Ultimate) database data.

Logs: includes logs generated by AI agents - Advanced (Ultimate) applications and infrastructure.

Forethought AI Agents

Backups: regular backups of any Forethought AI Agents database data.

Logs: includes logs generated by Forethought AI Agents applications and infrastructure.

Policy Limitations

This Deletion Policy is applicable only to the specific Service Data described above. As described in greater detail in our Privacy Notice and Zendesk Customer Agreement, Zendesk collects certain information from Customers to the Services, such as: the names and email addresses of Agents; billing address; and other information which may be used for billing, business analytics, marketing, and notification purposes (collectively, “Customer Information”).

The deletion procedures in this Deletion Policy do not apply to Customer Information, which is maintained by Zendesk in accordance with its Privacy Notice and Zendesk Customer Agreement. Similarly, Zendesk collects and retains usage data, other metadata and statistical information concerning the use of the Zendesk Services which are not subject to the deletion procedures in this Deletion Policy.

Zendesk reserves the right not to adhere to this Policy when deleting Service Data in cases where Zendesk terminates an Account for violation of our Privacy Notice or Zendesk Customer Agreement.

Expedited Service Data Deletion

We do not offer expedited deletion of Service Data. Except as otherwise noted, all Service Data is deleted according to the schedules presented above.