Understanding custom objects

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<p id="docs-hc-snippet" style="display: none;">Zendesk provides many types of native data objects for storing and managing your customer data, including tickets, users, organizations, and more. We call thesestandard objects. However, standard objects can't provide every possible type of data object that your organization might want. With the custom objects, admins can create custom objects to capture data that doesn't fit into those standard objects. Extending the Zendesk data model with custom objects enables you to seamlessly integrate your custom data with tickets, triggers, and Explore analytics. All of this functionality is built directly into Zendesk, so these features can be configured and used in Admin Center and the Zendesk Agent Workspace. No coding is required.</p>
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<div class="note important">
<span class="importanttitle">Important:</span> This article doesn't apply to <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408834725402" target="_blank">legacy custom objects</a>.</div>
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<p class="p">Zendesk provides many types of native data objects for storing and managing your customer
data, including tickets, users, organizations, and more. We call these <em class="ph i">standard
objects</em>. However, standard objects can't provide every possible type of data
object that your organization might want. With the custom objects, admins can create
custom objects to capture data that doesn't fit into those standard objects. Extending
the Zendesk data model with custom objects enables you to seamlessly integrate your
custom data with tickets, triggers, and Explore analytics. All of this functionality is
built directly into Zendesk, so these features can be configured and used in Admin
Center and the Zendesk Agent Workspace. No coding is required.</p>
<div class="p">This article contains the following topics:<ul class="ul" id="topic_ljc_hwv_jyb__ul_abp_mxv_jyb">
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_osr_zxv_jyb">About custom objects and records</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_jvp_ryv_jyb">Requirements and limitations of custom objects</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_i3h_1yv_jyb">Modeling your data</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_llg_dyv_jyb">Putting it altogether</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
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<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title2" class="topic nested1" id="topic_osr_zxv_jyb">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title2">About custom objects and records</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p" id="topic_osr_zxv_jyb__d8e13">A custom object is a user-defined object with unique fields and permissions.
Custom objects can be almost anything, including a product, contract, delivery
driver, asset, or event. Think of a custom object as a data table. Each of the
custom object's fields is a column in the table. After the table is created and the
columns are added, agents can add data to the table. Each row of data in the table
represents a custom object record. Another way to think of a custom object is as a
schema or model, which is created and made available to users to add data, such as
in a ticket or form. Every time an agent uses the custom object to add data to
Zendesk or an admin bulk uploads data for an object, new records are created. These
records can then interact with business rules, such as triggers and lookup
relationship fields. </p>
<p class="p">Here's an example. Let's say you're a car rental company. A Zendesk admin at your company created
two custom objects to track vehicles and reservations: <em class="ph i">vehicles</em> and <em class="ph i">rental
agreements</em>. Using these custom objects, every vehicle and reservation can be
tracked within Zendesk. Now, when a customer contacts the company to rent a car, a
ticket is created for them. The standard ticket and user objects hold information
about the customer and their request. In your account, an admin defined lookup
relationship fields connecting the rental agreements and vehicles to tickets and
users, so everything the agents need to resolve the request is now available in the
ticket. They're able to search records of available cars in the requested location
and date, create a rental agreement, and relate the rental agreement to the vehicle
and user.</p>
<p class="p">Later, the customer has an issue with their rental car, and they contact your company again.
Again, a ticket is created for them and is associated with the user, the vehicle,
and the rental agreement. Because each of these custom objects has been added to the
ticket form, agents can see details about both the vehicle and the rental agreement within
the ticket while they assist the customer.</p>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title3" class="topic nested2" id="topic_cqn_x2g_xyb">
<h3 class="title topictitle3" id="ariaid-title3">How does it work?</h3>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">Watch the demo below to see Custom Objects in action, or read on for information
about the feature.</p>
<p class="p">The following video shows a basic workflow for getting started with custom
objects.</p>
<p class="p"></p>
<div class="non-responsive"><iframe allowfullscreen="true" class="iframe embed-responsive-item" controls="controls" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Ah99UaPAqzA?si=WWFkJoq9aW00zHAo" width="560"></iframe></div>
<p class="p">"How to use custom objects (3:20)"</p>
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<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title4" class="topic nested1" id="topic_jvp_ryv_jyb">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title4">Requirements and limitations of custom objects</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">There are a few requirements for using custom objects and some limitations you should
consider before turning on the feature.</p>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title5" class="topic nested2" id="topic_mmx_dyn_lyb">
<h3 class="title topictitle3" id="ariaid-title5">Requirements</h3>
<div class="body">
<div class="p">Your account must meet the following requirements to use custom objects: <ul class="ul" id="topic_mmx_dyn_lyb__ul_lpv_chb_myb">
<li class="li">You must have a Zendesk Suite or Support Enterprise plan.</li>
<li class="li">The <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408821259930" target="_blank">Agent Workspace</a> must be
activated for your account.</li>
<li class="li">To use the AI object builder EAP, you must be on Zendesk Suite
Professional or higher and have <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/10013995711386" target="_blank">Admin Copilot</a> enabled. </li>
</ul>
</div>
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<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title6" class="topic nested2" id="topic_jlr_jnq_mwb">
<h3 class="title topictitle3" id="ariaid-title6">Limitations</h3>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">Custom objects are a powerful tool for gathering more data in Zendesk, but the
following limits exist to avoid performance issues.</p>
<p class="p"><strong class="ph b">Custom object and field limitations</strong></p>
<ul class="ul" id="topic_jlr_jnq_mwb__ul_o23_q4q_mwb">
<li class="li">Your maximum number of custom objects depends on your plan:<ul class="ul" id="topic_jlr_jnq_mwb__ul_ejy_rrk_kyb">
<li class="li">Suite Team: 3 custom objects</li>
<li class="li">Suite Growth: 5 custom objects</li>
<li class="li">Suite Professional, Support Enterprise: 30 custom objects</li>
<li class="li">Suite Enterprise and Enterprise Plus: 50 custom objects</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li class="li">The following limits exist for fields on custom objects:<ul class="ul" id="topic_jlr_jnq_mwb__ul_nmp_lwx_ryb">
<li class="li">Each custom object can have a maximum of 100 fields.</li>
<li class="li">Suite Team and Growth plans can have a maximum of 5 <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4591924111770" target="_blank">lookup relationship fields</a>
per object.</li>
<li class="li">Support Enterprise and Suite Professional and above can have a
maximum of 10 <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4591924111770" target="_blank">lookup relationship fields</a>
per custom object.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li class="li">The following limits exist when using the AI object builder:<ul class="ul" id="topic_jlr_jnq_mwb__ul_gsr_vrt_1jc">
<li class="li">The schema designer can display a maximum of five custom objects at
a time. This limit applies to the visual preview, not your account's
total object capacity.</li>
<li class="li">The AI builder can only create or modify custom objects. It cannot
add custom fields to standard objects.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li class="li">Only admins can create custom objects. Admins and <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408882153882" target="_blank">agents in custom roles with
permission</a> can view, edit, add, and delete custom object
records.</li>
<li class="li">Sandboxes don't copy custom object records, lookup fields, or triggers that
reference custom objects. </li>
</ul>
<p class="p"><strong class="ph b">Custom object record limitations</strong></p>
<ul class="ul" id="topic_jlr_jnq_mwb__ul_hwf_r4q_mwb">
<li class="li">Each record has a maximum size of 32 KB. </li>
<li class="li">Custom object records are counted toward your account's storage. </li>
<li class="li">Regardless of the storage capacity, accounts can't exceed 50 million custom
object records.</li>
<li class="li">Light agents and contributors have view-only access to custom object
records.</li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title7" class="topic nested1" id="topic_i3h_1yv_jyb">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title7">Modeling your data</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">There are two aspects to defining your data model: individual custom objects and how
custom objects are related to other objects in your Zendesk account.</p>
<p class="p">Each object has its own schema, defined by <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4420210121114" target="_blank">custom fields</a>. These fields represent the properties of
the custom object and are used by agents when creating records. You can use many
types of custom fields to capture the data exactly how you want to.</p>
<p class="p">Then, you must connect the custom object to other standard and custom objects within
Zendesk. This network of relationships completes the data model. To define a custom
object's relationship to standard Zendesk objects (tickets, users, and
organizations) and other custom objects, use <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4591924111770" target="_blank">lookup relationship fields</a>. Lookup fields are a special
type of custom field used to describe single-direction relationships as <strong class="ph b">source
object</strong> → <strong class="ph b">related object</strong>. The source object is the object that
contains the lookup relationship field (among other fields). The related object is
the object specified by the lookup relationship field.</p>
<p class="p">It's important to understand that relating objects doesn't automatically create an
association between two specific records. Instead, it describes the possible
relationship and enables agents to associate records this way. </p>
<div class="p">You can add relationships for a custom object to:<ul class="ul" id="topic_i3h_1yv_jyb__ul_pmz_2fm_lwb">
<li class="li">another custom object</li>
<li class="li">a standard object</li>
</ul>
</div>
<p class="p">If you want the custom object to contain the lookup relationship field, see <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/5392409465370#topic_bwf_zmy_kwb" target="_blank">Adding object relationships to a custom
object</a>. Alternatively, if you'd like a different object to include the
custom object as a lookup relationship field, see <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408883152794" target="_blank">Adding custom fields to your tickets</a>, <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408822051866" target="_blank">Adding custom fields to users</a>, or <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408842677786" target="_blank">Adding custom fields to organizations</a>.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title8" class="topic nested1" id="topic_llg_dyv_jyb">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title8">Putting it altogether</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">You can use your custom objects and relationships to solve real-world problems or
improve existing processes. When you <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4591924111770" target="_blank">add lookup relationship fields</a> to your ticket forms that
point to custom objects, you gain the ability for agents to capture more customized
data in Zendesk and enable agents to view more relevant data within the ticket
interface. By eliminating the need for agents to move back and forth between
external systems and Zendesk, they can deliver faster and more complete support to
your customers.</p>
<p class="p">Custom data captured in object records can also be used in business rules, such as
<a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408831658650" target="_blank">routing</a> and <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408822236058" target="_blank">triggers</a>. Additionally, you can integrate your custom
data into Explore analytics and reports. Reporting on custom data can provide a
better picture of your customers and business as a whole.</p>
</div>
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