Why do I get an "access denied" error?

Question

Why do I see the error message below?

Access Denied. You do not have access to this page. Please contact the account owner of this Zendesk for further help.

Answer

The Access Denied error message appears when someone attempts to access a page they don't have permission to view.

Various scenarios can display this error message. These include:

Access a third-party app or source not connected with yoursubdomain

Access the agent portal as an end user

Access an article without the required permission level

Access a feature not available on your current plan level

Access a page not permitted by your role

Access a third-party app or source not connected with yoursubdomain

The issue may be specific to a Zendesk app within another provider, for example: Microsoft Teams.

To verify the source:

Verify the URL of the page you tried to click and the URL that returns an error. Check the origin of the page you're trying to access.

Compare the URL with your Zendesk subdomain

If it's a third party, ensure that:

You have an account with valid permission on the third-party source

An app integration exists in your Zendesk account

The integration also exists with Zendesk on the third-party platform settings

The email address linked to your Zendesk profile is exactly the address from the other integration

Note: Zendesk cannot guarantee integrations with a third party. Contact the admin or support from any external source for help.

Access the agent portal as an end user

This error often happens when an end-user tries to access the agent portal or an agent tries to sign in to the help center as a customer.

To solve this issue:

Navigate to yoursubdomain.zendesk.com/access/logout to end your previous session

Navigate to yoursubdomain.zendesk.com/access/normal and sign in using your agent credentials

Replace the string yoursubdomain with the subdomain of your account.

Access an article without the required permission level

If the issue relates to an article, ask another agent or admin with the correct permission level to check that the article restrictions are set appropriately. For more information, see Setting view permissions on articles with user segments.

Access a feature not available on your current plan level

This error can appear when you try to access a feature that your plan level doesn't include. For more information on plan inclusions, visit the Zendesk pricing page.

Access a page not permitted by your role

If you have a role other than owner or admin, you may have limited access to tickets or features within your Zendesk account.

An admin can help if you need to adjust the permissions within your role or if you need a different role. For more information, see Creating custom roles and assigning agents.