Why are Salesforce account names changing to numbers?

Question

After setting up the data sync from Salesforce to Zendesk, the names of our accounts in Salesforce are changed to numbers. Why is this happening?

Answer

This can happen due to the configuration of the Synced organization mapping field within the Account Sync settings in Admin Center. The field itself is used to display the synced Zendesk record ID. After the first successful sync of an account, the integration writes the ID of the Zendesk organization (either the newly created organization or one found through the matching criteria) back into the Synced organization mapping field.

For example, if the configuration has been set with Account Name in that field, the integration would overwrite the name of the account with an organization ID after its first successful sync.

You can confirm this change within the integration logs. The change to the account name will often trigger a second sync within a few seconds of the first.

Resolution

Map the Synced organization mapping to a field that is not the account name. Because this is an optional field, it can be left with no mapping, as shown below.