Bulk importing user data with the data importer

Admins can add many users in a bulk import rather than adding users manually one at a time. To do this, you create a comma-separated values (CSV) file that contains the user's data. In addition to essential user data, such as email address and phone number, you can also set user roles, define an agent's privileges, and add users to an organization. You can use bulk import to either add new users or update existing ones. Bulk import through a CSV file only works for Support users and roles.


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Summary: ◀▼
You can bulk import or update user data using a CSV file, including emails, phone numbers, roles, and organization memberships. The import supports up to 500,000 rows and 200 columns, with some data appended and others replaced. You can control welcome email notifications and must ensure proper CSV formatting. Bulk import is limited to Support users and requires admin permissions and prior enabling by support.





Location: Admin Center > Objects and rules > Tools > Data importer

Admins can add many users in a bulk import rather than adding users manually one at a
time. To do this, you create a comma-separated values (CSV) file that contains the
user's data. In addition to essential user data, such as email address and phone number,
you can also set user roles, define an agent's privileges, and add users to an
organization. You can use bulk import to either add new users or update existing ones.
Bulk import through a CSV file only works for Support users and roles.
You must be an administrator to bulk import users and organizations.


Important:

To protect the data in your Zendesk account, data imports are not enabled by
default. The account owner or an admin must contact Zendesk Customer Support to enable
data imports and access to the imports
page.
If you want to bulk import both users and organizations, you must import organizations first.



This article contains the following topics:
Considerations for bulk importing users
Creating the CSV user data file
Using the data importer to import user data




Considerations for bulk importing users

There are a variety of limitations and considerations you should review prior to bulk
importing users:
Limitations for bulk importing
with the data importer
Updating existing user profile data
Deciding whether to send an email to users imported in bulk




Limitations for bulk importing with the data importer

You can import a core set of data about users and organizations. To import data not listed
in the table below, you must use the Zendesk REST API instead. See Importing
users with the Zendesk API.

When using the data importer, the import CSV file can't exceed 1 GB in size. We
recommend a maximum of 500,000 rows. That is one header row and up to 499,999 rows of
data. Furthermore, each row can't exceed 128 KB in size.
The import CSV file can contain a maximum of 200 columns.
The import CSV file can't guarantee import order for rows.
Don't include the same user or organization more than once within a CSV file. Doing so
can cause your import to fail.
There's no guarantee that records are created or updated in the order they appear in the
CSV file.
You can only import one CSV file at a time. Therefore, if you have more data than the
maximum number of rows supported for the CSV file, you must create separate files for each
batch and import them one after another. When you're not using the data importer, up to
two batches are queued and run in the background. If you want to import more than two
batches, you need to wait until the first batches are finished importing to add more.
You cannot use the bulk importer to import contact information from end-user Facebook or
X (formerly Twitter) accounts. Instead, use the Zendesk REST API. See Importing
users with the Zendesk API.




Updating existing user profile data

When performing a bulk import, you can update existing users. Be aware that some
data is replaced, and some is just appended to the existing data.
Note: To update an existing user, the CSV file must include
the user's name, email address, or external_id so that Zendesk can identify
them.



How data is updated by the data importer

When using the data importer, only the following user data is appended (added
to the existing data):
phone (added as a secondary phone number)
email (added as a secondary email address)


All other data is replaced by the data importer.




Deciding whether to send an email to users imported in bulk

Before you perform a bulk import of users, it's important to check your welcome email settings.
When you add new users via a bulk import while Guide is enabled, each user
receives the welcome email message. The welcome email contains a link to verify
their email address, which prompts them to select a password and then sign in.
You can prevent the welcome email from being sent to these users.
To prevent the welcome email message being sent to users


In Admin Center, click
People in the sidebar, then select Configuration > End users.
In the User welcome email section, deselect Also send a
verification email when a new user is created by an agent or
administrator.

Click Save.






Creating the CSV user data file

When you create a list of users to import, you'll probably generate this list from
some other user management system, such as an employee database. Most of these
systems have some facility for creating a CSV export file. If you need to create the
list from scratch, you can use a program like Microsoft Excel or OpenOffice.org
Calc.
Here are some important things to keep in mind when creating your file:
You can download a CSV template in Admin Center > Data importer > Import >
Download a CSV template.
The file must be properly formatted CSV and saved using UTF-8 character
encoding.
The first row of the CSV file is the header row, and you must include it in
the file.
The header row must contain any required fields in the table below, plus any
other fields listed in the table below that you want to include.
Included fields must appear in the header row in the order they are listed
below.
If you are not importing data for a field, do not list it in the header row.
Empty columns of data in the file will overwrite most existing data for that
user. For exceptions, see Updating existing user profile data.
Add line breaks to notes or multiline custom fields by pressing ALT+ENTER on
Windows or CTRL+OPTION+RETURN on a Mac.




Note: Microsoft Excel cannot save your file immediately. To
save your file, upload it to Google Sheets, re-download it, and then upload it
to Zendesk. You can also use Open Office to save the file.

The following table lists the fields that you can include in the file. The name,
email, and restriction fields are all required when importing new users. When
existing users are updated via bulk import, only one unique identifier is required
(such as an email or external ID).



Table 1. User import data






Field
Description




name

Required for importing new users. User's full name.



emails

Required for importing new users. User's full email
address (someuser@mycompany.com). If including more than one
email address for a user, separate them by a pipe (|). For
example:
first@yourcompany.com|second@yourcompany.com



alias
An alias displayed to end users.


brand_id
If the account has multiple brands, include the ID of the
brand the user should be associated with.


custom_role
When the role is set to Agent, specify the custom role name,
as listed on the Roles page in Admin
Center. Light agent is also accepted.


default_group_id

New team members (admins and agents) are automatically added
to the account's default group.
However, you can use this field to specify alternative
default groups for users during bulk imports.
End users can't be added to groups.



details
Detailed information concerning this user, such as an
address. This information is visible to team members only, not
to end users.


external_id
If you have an ID other than the user's email address (such
as an employee ID or customer reference number), you can include
it here. External IDs must be unique for each user, or data will
be overwritten. If you need to configure multiple email
addresses or phone numbers for a single user, you can do so
by creating multiple entries for the user in the CSV file
and using the same external_id column for all rows you want
associated with a single user. With the exception of the
additional email or phone numbers, the values in all other
columns should remain the same for each row.
If any
external ID, email address, or phone number matches more
than one existing user, that row is rejected from the bulk
import.

Note: If you import users
with the external_id field as their only identifier (meaning
you're not also including email address), you still need to
include the email field in the CSV file with no data. For
example:




locale
The user's locale. A BCP-47 compliant tag for the locale
(e.g. en-US). If both locale and locale_id are present,
locale_id is ignored and only locale is used.


local_id
The user's language identifier.


moderator
Boolean. Designates whether the user has forum moderation
capabilities.


notes
Notes concerning this user. Notes are visible to team members
only, not to end users.


only_private_comments
Boolean. When set to true, the user can only create
private comments.


organizations
The name of the organization that the user will be added to.
The organization must already exist, or the import will fail.
On Professional and Enterprise plans, you can add a user
to multiple organizations by separating the organization
names with a pipe character. For example:
Organization1|Organization2|Organization3.
A maximum of 50 organizations are allowed.

A user's default organization
is set to the first organization alphabetically. It isn't
possible to set a different default organization during a
bulk import. However, the default organization for a user
can be adjusted manually or with the Support API - Set Membership as
Default endpoint.



phones
The user's telephone numbers. Unique phone numbers are added
as direct lines. Phone numbers that already exist are added as
secondary lines. If you're including more than one phone number
for a user, separate the phone numbers with a pipe (|). To work with Zendesk,
phone numbers should be formatted with the internationally
standardized E.164 format.



remote_photo_url
A URL pointing to the user's profile picture.


role
Case sensitive: end-user or agent. If you don't
set a role, the user is set to end-user.


shared_phone
The user's shared telephone number. To work with Zendesk,
phone numbers should be formatted with the internationally
standardized E.164 format.



signature
The user's signature. Only agents and admins can have
signatures.


skip_verify_email
If you need to create users without sending out a
verification email, set this value to true.


suspended
Boolean. Indicates whether the user is suspended. Tickets
from suspended users are also suspended, and these users cannot
sign in to the end-user portal.


tags
When user and organization tagging has been enabled for
Zendesk Support (see Adding tags and users to
organizations), you can add user tags. Separate each
tag with a comma.


ticket_restriction
Restriction sets the team member's or end user's privileges,
the tickets they have access to, etc. This is required to import
new users when the user's role is set to Agent. On
non-Enterprise plans, the following restriction values are
supported:

assigned: The team member can access only
tickets assigned to them.

groups: The team member can access only
tickets within their group(s). To add a team member
to a group, see Viewing and
managing team member group membership or
use the Support
API.

none: The user has no restrictions and can
access all tickets.

organization: The user can access only
tickets requested by them or other users in their
organization.

requested: The user can access only their own
tickets. They must be listed as the ticket's
requester.


Restriction values of organization and
requested can be assigned when the user's role is set
to End-user. All others apply only to team members.

Note: On Enterprise plans, agent roles
override the standard agent restrictions. This means that
you can't use any of the standard restrictions listed in the
table above to import or update an agent. You must specify
an agent role. If you accidentally use a role name that
doesn't exist in Support, the user's role defaults to Light
Agent.



time_zone
Consists of a string such as "Eastern Time (US &
Canada)". For a list of valid names, view the Time zone list
menu on the Localization page (Account &gt; Appearance &gt;
Localization) in Admin Center. Example: If the menu lists
"(GMT+02:00) Berlin", then use "Berlin" as the time_zone
name.


custom_fields.<field key>

When you perform a bulk user import, you can import a custom
user field by specifying
the custom_fields. prefix and the field
key. For example, for the field
key subscription_date, use the
following to set the imported values for this field.

custom_fields.subscription_date

Custom field keys are case-sensitive and must be entered
in lowercase letters.
If you are importing
information into a checkbox, enter true to have it
checked or false to leave it unchecked. To set the
value of drop-down list options, use the tag you added when
you created the drop-down list. For custom date fields, use
either the YY/MM/DD or YYYY-MM-DD format.
To locate
the key for a custom user field:

In Admin Center, click
People in the sidebar, then select Configuration > User fields. Then, click the name of the custom field.
The field key appears in the properties panel on the
right.


If a field value is not formatted correctly, the
import will fail, and you will receive an error report
specifying which records failed to save.

Note: If the custom user field you're
importing is a lookup relationship
field, enter the ID of the related object as the
value for this field. For example, for an organization,
enter the organization's ID; for a user, enter the user's
ID; for a custom object record, enter the record's ID. To
find an organization, user, or custom object record ID, you
can export data from your
account or use the Organizations API,
Users API, or
Custom Object Records
API.









Using the data importer to import user data

You can use the data importer to import a CSV file that creates or updates existing
users, and captures logs of all imports attempted through the Data importer
page.

To add or update users with the data importer
In Admin Center, click
Objects and rules in the sidebar, then select Tools > Data importer.
Click Import.
Under Target destination, select Users.
Under Import type, choose one of the following:

Create only: Only new users are added. Any data in the CSV
file pertaining to existing users is ignored.

Update only: Update data for the existing users listed in
your CSV file.

Create and update: Add new users and update data for the
existing users listed in your CSV file.


Note: If any external ID, email address, or phone
number matches more than one existing user, that row is rejected from
the bulk import. Check your import history.

Under File upload, drag and drop your file or click to upload
and select your CSV file from the file browser. If you need to change the
file you've selected, click the delete icon ( ) next to the file name.

Click Next.
Review the Field mapping list.
If the field mapping is correct, click Next.
If the field mapping isn't correct, click Back. Edit your CSV
file to adhere to the format requirements, then reupload the file.


Review the summary of import details in the confirmation dialog and then
click Start import. After the import starts, the imported changes
can't be reverted. To check the status of an import, check your import history.





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