About connecting external content to Zendesk for use across knowledge experiences

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<p id="docs-hc-snippet" style="display: none;">You might already have internal or customer-facing content in sources outside of Zendesk. If you do, you can connect certain external content with your Zendesk account so that you can incorporate it into various workflows, including help center search results.</p>
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<p id="docs-ai-summary-toggle">Summary: <span id="up-triangle">◀</span><span id="down-triangle">▼</span></p>
<p id="docs-ai-summary-content">Connect external content from websites or knowledge sources so you can reuse existing articles across help center search, Agent Workspace quick answers, and AI agent responses. This helps you surface external knowledge in search results and AI-generated answers without recreating content, with support for up to 50 sources.</p>
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<p class="p" dir="ltr">You might already have internal or customer-facing content in sources outside
of Zendesk. If you do, you can connect certain external content with your Zendesk
account so that you can incorporate it into various workflows, including help center
search results.</p>
<p class="p" dir="ltr">Connecting external content lets you leverage content you’ve already created
without having to spend the time recreating it in your Zendesk help center.</p>
<div class="p">This article contains the following topics:<ul class="ul" id="topic_iz3_2ds_ygc__ul_ejf_wds_ygc">
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_hrq_xds_ygc">Understanding which external content sources you can connect</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_cwq_c2s_ygc">Understanding where you can use external content</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_opg_phs_ygc">Using external content in workflows</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title2" class="topic nested1" id="topic_hrq_xds_ygc">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title2">Understanding which external content sources you can connect</h2>
<div class="body">
<div class="p" dir="ltr">You can connect the following external content sources to your Zendesk
account:<ul class="ul" id="topic_hrq_xds_ygc__ul_fhx_yds_ygc">
<li class="li" dir="ltr">
<strong class="ph b">Websites.</strong> You can configure a web crawler or an API call to
index content from external web sites, such as your marketing or product
website.</li>
<li class="li" dir="ltr">
<strong class="ph b">Knowledge connectors</strong>. You can connect knowledge sources to
bring content into Zendesk and make it available everywhere external content
is used.</li>
</ul>
</div>
<p class="p">You can connect a maximum of 50 external content sources.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title3" class="topic nested1" id="topic_cwq_c2s_ygc">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title3">Understanding where you can use external content</h2>
<div class="body">
<div class="p">After you connect an external content source to your account, you can use it in the
following places:<ul class="ul" id="topic_cwq_c2s_ygc__ul_tdg_wfs_ygc">
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Help center search results</strong><strong class="ph b">.</strong> You can show external content
results alongside your Zendesk help center articles when customers search
your Zendesk help center. If <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/8888178335898" target="_blank">generative search</a> (sometimes
called quick answers) is turned on, external content is also used to create
AI-generated answers to customers’ search queries in the help
center.<p class="p"><img class="image" id="topic_cwq_c2s_ygc__image_wwf_1gs_ygc" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/guide-gensearch-search-results.png" width="500"></p>
<p class="p">If you've installed or
<a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4500748175258" target="_blank">embedded the Web Widget</a> and
<a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/8008427696410" target="_blank">turned on multi-conversations</a>,
users can enter a follow-up question about the generative search results
to continue the conversation in Web Widget. While the follow-up flow is
functional even with a default messaging response, serving mainly as an
entry point to Messaging, its full capabilities are unlocked when used
in conjunction with AI Agents. When paired with an essential or advanced
AI agent, users can engage with AI through your help center and receive
automated, in-depth assistance. If the customer's questions are resolved
during the AI agent conversation, this consumes an <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/5352026794010" target="_blank">automated resolution</a>.</p>
<div class="p">
<div class="note note" id="topic_cwq_c2s_ygc__note_ist_5br_1jc">
<span class="notetitle">Note:</span> If your account reaches the <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408831783962" target="_blank">monthly generative search
limit</a> and you do not have extended searches, this field
won't appear for end users.</div>
</div>
<p class="p"><img class="image" id="topic_cwq_c2s_ygc__image_hh4_3hz_v3c" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/Conv-help-center.png" width="600"></p>
</li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Knowledge in Agent Workspace</strong><strong class="ph b">.</strong> If <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/6942763726106" target="_blank">quick answers is turned on for Agent
Workspace</a>, external content is used to create AI-generated
answers to agents' queries in the context panel. To optimize your
experience, <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/7263163614874#topic_gwh_mr3_k5b" target="_blank">configure the default search
filters</a> for the knowledge section in the context panel to include
external content.<p class="p"><img class="image" id="topic_cwq_c2s_ygc__image_kqg_1g3_zgc" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/GenSearch-SearchResult.png" width="300"></p>
</li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">AI agent responses.</strong> Your AI agents can use external content to create
AI-generated answers to questions from your customers without requiring you
to script every response. External content is available for AI agents on the
<a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/6970583409690#topic_zps_zmk_f2c" target="_blank">Essential and Advanced
levels</a>.<p class="p"><img class="image" id="topic_cwq_c2s_ygc__image_qmd_tcp_2hc" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/aiae_ai_agent_coffee_example.png" width="250"></p>
</li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">(Copilot add-on only) Sources for auto assist.</strong> You can use external
content as additional sources for auto assist. Auto assist can use these
sources to generate text replies for your agents to help them handle
tickets. See <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/8013454025114#topic_rdn_byh_wjc" target="_blank">Managing sources for auto assist</a>.
<p class="p"><img class="image img-screenshot" id="topic_cwq_c2s_ygc__image_nxm_153_zjc" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/auto_assist_sources_list.png" width="500"></p>
</li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title4" class="topic nested1" id="topic_opg_phs_ygc">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title4">Using external content in workflows</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">To get started leveraging external content in your Zendesk workflows, perform the
following steps:</p>
<ol class="ol" id="topic_opg_phs_ygc__ol_mtl_23s_ygc">
<li class="li" dir="ltr">
<p class="p" dir="ltr"><strong class="ph b">Connect an external content source.</strong> Choose from one or more
of the following sources:</p>
<ul class="ul" id="topic_opg_phs_ygc__ul_ntl_23s_ygc">
<li class="li" dir="ltr">
<strong class="ph b">Website (web crawler):</strong>
<a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4593564000410" target="_blank">Using a web crawler to index external
web site content</a>
</li>
<li class="li" dir="ltr">
<strong class="ph b">Website (API call):</strong>
<a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4593564000410" target="_blank">Using an API call to index external
web site content</a>
</li>
<li class="li" dir="ltr">
<strong class="ph b">Knowledge connectors:</strong>
<a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/9796599390874" target="_blank">Connecting external knowledge sources
to your Zendesk account</a>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li class="li" dir="ltr">
<p class="p" dir="ltr"><strong class="ph b">Configure workflows to use the external content.</strong> Choose from
one or more of the following workflows:</p>
<ul class="ul" id="topic_opg_phs_ygc__ul_otl_23s_ygc">
<li class="li" dir="ltr">
<strong class="ph b">Help center search results:</strong>
<a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4593607942298" target="_blank">Including external content in your
help center search results</a>
</li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Knowledge in Agent Workspace:</strong>
<a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/6942763726106" target="_blank">Using quick answers for generative
search in tickets</a>
</li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">AI agent responses:</strong><ul class="ul" id="topic_opg_phs_ygc__ul_ysf_cjr_jhc">
<li class="li">Essential: <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/9521463831578" target="_blank">Connecting external content
sources to an AI agent to power AI-generated
answers</a>
</li>
<li class="li">Advanced: <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/8357749301658" target="_blank">Connecting knowledge sources
to power generative replies in advanced AI
agents</a>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ol>
</div>
</div>
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