Connecting SharePoint as an external knowledge source

You can set up a SharePoint connection to connect and sync content from your SharePoint site. After you connect a SharePoint site, you canconfigure workflows to use this external content. When you sync a SharePoint site, all supported content files are automatically synced.


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Summary: ◀▼
You can connect SharePoint to sync Microsoft Word, Excel, and Markdown files as external knowledge sources. Manage connections to add or remove content by updating your SharePoint site and syncing. Set viewer permissions to control access for user segments. You can manually resync or disconnect SharePoint sites, removing their content from your external knowledge sources.




You can connect SharePoint to your Zendesk account to make the content available wherever external content is used. You must be
a Knowledge admin to set up and manage external content connections.
Note: Sharepoint connections currently support Microsoft Word,
Microsoft Excel, and Markdown file types.

This article contains the following topics:
Setting up a SharePoint connection
Adding or removing content from your SharePoint connection
Managing SharePoint sites connected to your Zendesk account



Related articles:
About connecting external content to Zendesk
for use across knowledge experiences
Knowledge product limits for your help
center




Setting up a SharePoint connection

You can set up a SharePoint connection to connect and sync content from your
SharePoint site. After you connect a SharePoint site, you can configure workflows to use this external
content. When you sync a SharePoint site, all supported content files are
automatically synced.

To set up a SharePoint connection
In Knowledge admin, click Manage articles
( ) in the sidebar.
Click External content > Connections.

Under the Available sources section, click Connect on the source that
you want to connect.

Click Continue.

Log into Microsoft with a user account that has the correct permissions for
content you want to sync to Zendesk.
Select your SharePoint site from the drop-down list, then click
Finish.
SharePoint is added to
your Connections page and your site begins syncing.







Adding or removing content from your SharePoint connection

When you set up your SharePoint connection, you specify the site you want to connect.
You can create multiple SharePoint connections, but each connection contains a
single site. All supported content within the site is synced to the connection.
To add or remove content from a SharePoint connection, you can add or delete the
content from your SharePoint site, then either wait for an automatic sync, or
manually resync your site. The new content item will be reflected in the Items
number for the SharePoint connection on your Connections page.




Managing SharePoint sites connected to your Zendesk account

Once you've created a SharePoint connection, you can view information about the
connection, set viewer permissions for content, and manually resync or remove the
connection.
This section contains the following topics:
Viewing SharePoint connection details
Managing viewer permissions for SharePoint content
Manually resyncing SharePoint content
Disconnecting a SharePoint site




Viewing SharePoint connection details

You can use the information panel to view information about the SharePoint
connection, when it was created and by whom, and when it was last synced.

To view SharePoint connection details
In Knowledge admin, click Manage articles
( ) in the sidebar.
Click External content > Connections.

Click the options menu ( ) on the row for the connection you want to
manage, then select Manage.

View details about the connection:

Created: When the connection was created

Connected by: Name of the Knowledge admin who created the
connection

Items: Number of connected pages in the site

Status: Sync status

Last synced: When the last sync occurred. Syncs are
automatically performed every 24 hours, though they can also be
initiated
manually









Managing viewer permissions for SharePoint content

You can set the viewer permissions for who can view connected
SharePoint content in your Zendesk workflows.

To manage viewer permissions for SharePoint content
In Knowledge admin, click Manage articles
( ) in the sidebar.
Click External content > Connections.

Click the options menu ( ) on the row for the connection you want to
manage, then select Manage.
Under Viewing permissions, select one of the following options to
determine which user segments can view content
from this space:

Only visible to selected user segments: Select a user segment from the following. On Enterprise plans, you can select up to 10:

Signed-in users: Includes internal and external
users who create an account and sign in to your help
center.

Agents and admins: Includes team members only, so
that you can create content that is internal-only.
Note: Light agents are included in
this segment. For a list of light agent permissions,
see Understanding and
setting light agent
permissions.


Custom user segment: Allows you to restrict
viewing access to specific users based on tags,
organizations, or groups by applying user segments. See
Creating user
segments to restrict access.



Visible to everyone: Includes anyone who visits your help
center and doesn't require sign in.



Click Save.





Manually resyncing SharePoint content

When you connect SharePoint as an external content source, a sync process runs
every 24 hours to update new or changed content within the site.

To manually resync SharePoint content
On the Connections page, click the options menu ( ) for the connection you want to
sync.

Select Sync again. The SharePoint connection syncs immediately,
and the Last synced column is updated with the most recent sync
time.






Disconnecting a SharePoint site

You can remove the connection to SharePoint if you no longer want to sync its
content. If you remove a connection, all site content within that connection
will be removed.
When you remove a connection, the related content is no longer available wherever external content is used.

To disconnect a SharePoint site
On the Connections page, click the options menu ( ) for the site you want to
disconnect.

Select Remove connection.
Review the message, then click Remove connection.
The SharePoint site is
removed from the Connection list and unavailable as an
external content source.





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