Announcing custom tasks and task lists

Announced on | Rollout starts | Rollout ends
August 19, 2026 | August 19, 2026 | August 25, 2026

Zendesk is excited to introduce the ability for agents and admins to add custom tasks and custom task lists directly to tickets.

This announcement includes the following topics:

What is changing?

Why is Zendesk making this change?

What do I need to do?

What is changing?

Until now, task lists were pre-defined by admins and could only be used as-is within tickets. With this release, agents have the ability to create custom task lists and add custom, one-off tasks directly within a ticket without any admin setup required. This gives teams a clearer way to track one-off actions required to resolve a ticket and makes task lists more adaptable to the unique needs of individual customer requests.

Each ticket can have one task list at a time, and each task list can have a maximum of 20 tasks, counting both predefined and custom tasks. If the ticket's task list already contains 20 tasks, no new custom tasks can be created.

Specifically, this release enables the following capabilities:

Agents adding custom tasks added to a ticket's existing task list

Agents creating custom task lists on tickets that don't already have one.

Zendesk recording custom task and task list activity in the task event log.

API-based creation of custom tasks and task lists, making it possible to integrate into automated workflows

For more information, see Using task lists within tickets.

Why is Zendesk making this change?

Zendesk understands that task list templates created by admins work well for repeatable processes, but they can't predict every customer request. Letting agents create task lists directly in a ticket allows the agents to efficiently and transparently adapt workflows when the need arises.

Custom tasks and task lists give agents more flexibility while ensuring their work, task ownership, and completion is visible in Zendesk. Tracking custom task and task list activity also creates a foundation for stronger task reporting and audit history.

What do I need to do?

Custom tasks and task lists are being rolled out to all accounts with access to task lists. Review where and how agents have been tracking their notes and reminders for ticket-specific follow-up actions until now, and train agents to replace those systems and processes with custom tasks and task lists going forward. See Using task lists within tickets.

If you have feedback or questions related to this announcement, visit our community forum where we collect and manage customer product feedback. For general assistance with your Zendesk products, contact Zendesk Customer Support.