Complying with Privacy and Data Protection Law in Zendesk Guide

<div class="body">
<p class="p">This guide describes how certain features and functionality in Zendesk
Guide can assist with your obligations under privacy law.</p>
<p class="p">To learn more about meeting your obligations in other Zendesk products, see <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408834005530" target="_blank">Complying with Privacy and Data
Protection Law in Zendesk products</a>.</p>
<p class="p">In this guide, <em class="ph i">users</em> can be End-Users or Agents as the terms are defined
in the <a class="xref" href="https://www.zendesk.com/company/agreements-and-terms/zendesk-customer-agreement/" target="_blank">Zendesk Customer Agreement</a>.</p>
<p class="p">Knowledge users are managed in Zendesk Support. </p>
<p class="p">Topics covered in this article:</p>
<ul class="ul">
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_qdm_yhk_gs">Meeting an access obligation</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_ezm_pcv_4v">Meeting a correction obligation</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_p3p_zhk_gs">Meeting an erasure or deletion obligation</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_ekz_13k_gs">Meeting a data portability obligation</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_gcn_swl_ycb">Meeting an objection obligation</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_mvj_lyf_gdb">Disclaimer</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title2" class="topic nested1" id="topic_qdm_yhk_gs">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title2">Meeting an access obligation</h2>
<div class="body">
<div class="bodydiv">
<p class="p">Individuals from certain regions have a <em class="ph i">right of access</em>. On request, you may
have an obligation to inform an end user or agent where their personal data is being
held and for what purposes.</p>
</div>
<p class="p">If a user requests their personal data, you can export the data from
Zendesk as described in <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408823195930#topic_ekz_13k_gs" target="_blank">Meeting a data portability
obligation</a> in the article for Zendesk Support.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title3" class="topic nested1" id="topic_ezm_pcv_4v">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title3">Meeting a correction obligation</h2>
<div class="body">
<div class="bodydiv">
<p class="p">Individuals from certain regions have a <em class="ph i">right to rectification</em>, or the right to have
inaccuracies in their personal data corrected. On request, you may have an
obligation to provide the individual with their personal data and fix inaccuracies
or add missing information.</p>
</div>
<p class="p">See <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408823195930#topic_ezm_pcv_4v" target="_blank">Meeting a correction
obligation</a> in the article for Zendesk Support.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title4" class="topic nested1" id="topic_p3p_zhk_gs">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title4">Meeting an erasure or deletion obligation</h2>
<div class="body">
<div class="bodydiv">
<p class="p">Individuals from certain regions have a <em class="ph i">right to erasure</em>, or the right to be forgotten or
deleted. On request, you may have an obligation to delete the personal data of an
individual.</p>
</div>
<p class="p">See <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408823195930#topic_p3p_zhk_gs" target="_blank">Meeting an erasure or
deletion obligation</a> in the article for Zendesk
Support.</p>
<p class="p">Personal data may also be contained in Help Center articles, community
posts, and comments. See the following topics:</p>
<ul class="ul" id="topic_p3p_zhk_gs__ul_yr3_3kw_zcb">
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_fhk_pgt_ycb">Deleting personal data in content</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_dyv_5c2_1db">Searching and deleting personal data with the API</a></li>
</ul>
<p class="p">Article comments, community posts, and community comments are soft
deleted. The inline images won't be accessible through the URL.</p>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title5" class="topic nested2" id="topic_fhk_pgt_ycb">
<h3 class="title topictitle3" id="ariaid-title5">Deleting personal data in content</h3>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">You can remove personal data that appears in knowledge base
articles, community posts, and comments, or delete the
content item itself. Knowledge admins can edit or delete any
item. Authors can edit or delete any item they created
themselves, including articles, posts, and comments.</p>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title6" class="topic nested3" id="topic_klb_cwd_1db">
<h4 class="title topictitle4" id="ariaid-title6">Knowledge base articles</h4>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">Do one of the following to remove personal data from an
article:</p>
<ul class="ul" id="topic_klb_cwd_1db__ul_wn1_mtd_1db">
<li class="li">
<p class="p">Edit the article to remove the personal data.
See <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408839258778#topic_1rt_tdq_cy" target="_blank">Editing articles in
the knowledge base</a>.</p>
<p class="p">The data is deleted from the knowledge base but
is maintained in the system to show <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408829321498" target="_blank">article revisions
and history</a> on the Zendesk Suite Growth
plan or above and the Guide Professional or
Enterprise plan. </p>
</li>
<li class="li">
<p class="p">Archive the article. See <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408838947738" target="_blank">Archiving an
article to remove it from your knowledge
base</a>.</p>
<p class="p">The article is removed from the knowledge base,
along with any attachments and translations
associated with it, and added to a deleted
articles list. Knowledge admins can view and restore
articles in the list. Articles can't be deleted
from the list.</p>
</li>
<li class="li">
<p class="p">Delete the article. See <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408832480154" target="_blank">Deleting an article
from your knowledge base</a>.</p>
<p class="p">The article is soft deleted from the knowledge
base, making it unavailable for everyone including
Knowledge admins in the UI or the API. The article
will still be in the Zendesk database and
accessible on a limited basis to employees with
certain database privileges. Soft deleting the
article will also soft delete any inline and block
attachments..</p>
</li>
<li class="li">Delete an attachment from the article. See <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408839258778" target="_blank">Creating and
editing articles in the knowledge
base</a>.<p class="p">The attachment is removed from the
article and is no longer available to anyone
including Knowledge admins. However, due to caching,
the attachment might still be visible for up to
seven days after it is deleted.</p>
</li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title7" class="topic nested3" id="topic_wv2_hwd_1db">
<h4 class="title topictitle4" id="ariaid-title7">Community posts</h4>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">Edit or delete the community post to remove the personal
data. </p>
<p class="p">Deleting the post soft deletes it, meaning it's no longer
accessible by anybody, including admins, in the
Knowledge admin interface. Any comments and inline
attachments associated with the post are soft
deleted too. The attachments will no longer be
accessible through the URL.</p>
<p class="p">See <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408823846170#topic_gzn_4hf_4k" target="_blank">Editing and
deleting community posts and comments</a>.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title8" class="topic nested3" id="topic_swc_mwd_1db">
<h4 class="title topictitle4" id="ariaid-title8">Article and post comments</h4>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">Edit or delete the comment to remove the personal data. </p>
<p class="p">Deleting a comment soft deletes it, meaning it's no
longer accessible by anybody, including admins, in
the Knowledge admin interface. Any inline
attachments associated with the comment are soft
deleted too. The attachments will no longer be
accessible through the URL.</p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title9" class="topic nested2" id="topic_dyv_5c2_1db">
<h3 class="title topictitle3" id="ariaid-title9">Searching and deleting personal data with the API</h3>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">You can use the <a class="xref" href="https://developer.zendesk.com/rest_api/docs/help_center/introduction" target="_blank">Help Center
API</a> to find and remove content that contains
a user's personal data. </p>
<p class="p"><strong class="ph b">To search for personal data in articles</strong></p>
<ul class="ul" id="topic_dyv_5c2_1db__ul_ysh_5dg_gdb">
<li class="li"><code class="ph codeph">GET
/api/v2/help_center/articles/search.json?query={search_string}</code></li>
</ul>
<p class="p">See <a class="xref" href="https://developer.zendesk.com/rest_api/docs/help_center/search#search-articles" target="_blank">Search
Articles</a>.</p>
<p class="p"><strong class="ph b">To archive an article</strong></p>
<div class="p">
<ul class="ul">
<li class="li"><code class="ph codeph">DELETE
/api/v2/help_center/articles/{id}.json</code></li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="note note">
<span class="notetitle">Note:</span> Archived articles are still visible in the Knowledge admin
interface. You can use the interface to soft delete articles
archived with the API. A soft deleted article will still be
in the Zendesk database and accessible on a limited basis to
employees with certain database privileges. Soft deleting
the article will also soft delete any inline and block
attachments. </div>
<p class="p"><strong class="ph b">To delete a community post</strong></p>
<ul class="ul" id="topic_dyv_5c2_1db__ul_fyv_5c2_1db">
<li class="li">
<code class="ph codeph">DELETE
/api/v2/community/posts/{post_id}.json</code>
</li>
</ul>
<p class="p">See <a class="xref" href="https://developer.zendesk.com/rest_api/docs/help_center/posts#delete-post" target="_blank">Delete
Post</a>.</p>
<p class="p">
<strong class="ph b">To delete a comment</strong></p>
<ul class="ul" id="topic_dyv_5c2_1db__ul_gyv_5c2_1db">
<li class="li"><code class="ph codeph">DELETE
/api/v2/help_center/articles/{id}/comments/{comment_id}.json</code></li>
<li class="li"><code class="ph codeph">DELETE
/api/v2/community/posts/{post_id}/comments/{comment_id}.json</code></li>
</ul>
<p class="p">See <a class="xref" href="https://developer.zendesk.com/api-reference/help_center/help-center-api/article_comments/#delete-article-comment" target="_blank">Delete Article
Comment</a> and <a class="xref" href="https://developer.zendesk.com/rest_api/docs/help_center/post_comments#delete-comment" target="_blank">Delete Post
Comment</a>.</p>
<p class="p">
<strong class="ph b">To delete an article attachment</strong></p>
<ul class="ul" id="topic_dyv_5c2_1db__ul_hyv_5c2_1db">
<li class="li"><code class="ph codeph">DELETE
/api/v2/help_center/articles/attachments/{attachment_id}.json</code></li>
</ul>
<p class="p">See <a class="xref" href="https://developer.zendesk.com/rest_api/docs/help_center/article_attachments#delete-article-attachment" target="_blank">Delete Article
Attachment</a>.</p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title10" class="topic nested1" id="topic_ekz_13k_gs">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title10">Meeting a data portability obligation</h2>
<div class="body">
<div class="bodydiv">
<p class="p">Individuals from certain regions have a <em class="ph i">right to data portability</em>. On request, you may
have an obligation to provide an individual with their personal data or to transmit
the data to another organization. </p>
</div>
<p class="p">To export an agent's or end user's personal data, see <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408823195930#topic_ekz_13k_gs" target="_blank">Meeting a data portability
obligation</a> in the article for Zendesk Support.</p>
<p class="p">If an agent or user requests that everything be exported, you can export
what the person posted or commented on in Help Center using the
API.</p>
<p class="p" dir="ltr" id="topic_ekz_13k_gs__docs-internal-guid-ff6e0860-54e3-930a-5209-7d5e19bbbbf4"><strong class="ph b">To get all articles for a user</strong></p>
<ul class="ul" id="topic_ekz_13k_gs__ul_brk_2s4_gdb">
<li class="li" dir="ltr">
<p class="p" dir="ltr">GET
/api/v2/help_center/users/{id}/articles.json</p>
</li>
</ul>
<p class="p" dir="ltr">See <a class="xref" href="https://developer.zendesk.com/rest_api/docs/help_center/articles#list-articles" target="_blank">List Articles</a>.</p>
<p class="p"><strong class="ph b">To get all article comments for a user</strong></p>
<ul class="ul" id="topic_ekz_13k_gs__ul_hc4_qr4_gdb">
<li class="li" dir="ltr">
<p class="p" dir="ltr"><code class="ph codeph">GET
/api/v2/help_center/users/{user_id}/comments.json</code></p>
</li>
</ul>
<p class="p" dir="ltr">See <a class="xref" href="https://developer.zendesk.com/api-reference/help_center/help-center-api/article_comments/#list-article-comments" target="_blank">List Comments</a>.</p>
<p class="p" dir="ltr"><strong class="ph b">To get all community posts for a user</strong></p>
<ul class="ul" id="topic_ekz_13k_gs__ul_ic4_qr4_gdb">
<li class="li" dir="ltr">
<p class="p" dir="ltr"><code class="ph codeph">GET
/api/v2/community/users/{user_id}/posts.json</code></p>
</li>
</ul>
<p class="p" dir="ltr">See <a class="xref" href="https://developer.zendesk.com/rest_api/docs/help_center/posts#list-posts" target="_blank">List Posts</a>.</p>
<p class="p" dir="ltr"><strong class="ph b">To get all community comments for a user</strong></p>
<ul class="ul" id="topic_ekz_13k_gs__ul_jc4_qr4_gdb">
<li class="li" dir="ltr">
<p class="p" dir="ltr"><code class="ph codeph">GET
/api/v2/community/users/{user_id}/comments.json</code></p>
</li>
</ul>
<p class="p" dir="ltr">See <a class="xref" href="https://developer.zendesk.com/rest_api/docs/help_center/post_comments#list-comments" target="_blank">List Post
Comments</a>.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title11" class="topic nested1" id="topic_gcn_swl_ycb">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title11">Meeting an objection obligation</h2>
<div class="body">
<div class="bodydiv">
<p class="p">Individuals from certain regions have a <em class="ph i">right of objection</em>, or the right to object to
direct marketing. You may have an obligation to stop processing personal data for
direct marketing purposes when you receive an objection from an individual.</p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title12" class="topic nested1" id="topic_mvj_lyf_gdb">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title12">Disclaimer</h2>
<div class="body">
<div class="bodydiv">
<p class="p">This document is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Readers should always seek legal advice before taking any action with respect to the matters discussed herein.</p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
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