How to create or edit Ticket Fields

Understanding and Using Ticket Fields in Zendesk

Ticket fields are data points within Zendesk tickets that store information about a support request. They help agents categorize, prioritize, and resolve tickets efficiently. They also allow you to report on the types of requests you're receiving.

Types of Ticket Fields

• Standard Ticket Fields: Predefined fields that come with Zendesk. Examples include Requester, Assignee, Subject, Description, Status, Type, Priority and Tags.
• Custom Ticket Fields: Additional fields created to gather specific information. These can be tailored to an organisation's needs, such as product name or model number.

Standard Ticket Fields Explained

• Requester: The person who submitted the support request. All tickets require a requester.
• Follower: Agents, light agents or admins who receive notifications on ticket updates and can create internal notes.
• Assignee: The agent or group assigned to the ticket.
• CCs: People who are copied on the ticket and receive updates.
• Share: Only displayed if ticket sharing is enabled with other Zendesk Support accounts.
• Subject: The subject line of the support request, typically included by the requester. Limited to 255 characters.
• Description: The body of the support request, becoming the first comment in the ticket.
• Status: Indicates the current state of the ticket:
  • New: Request received but not yet opened or assigned.
  • Open: Assigned to an agent who is working on it.
  • Pending: Agent waiting for more information from the requester.
  • On-hold: Awaiting resolution from a third party.
  • Solved: Agent has resolved the issue.
  • Closed: Ticket is complete and cannot be reopened.
• Type: Categorizes tickets:
  • Question: Requester has a question.
  • Incident: A single occurrence of a larger problem affecting multiple users.
  • Problem: An issue affecting multiple users that needs to be resolved.
  • Task: A task assigned to a specific agent, with a due date.
• Priority: Indicates the urgency of the ticket: Low, Normal, High, and Urgent.
• Tags: Keywords added to tickets for workflow and reporting.

Setting Up Custom Ticket Fields

1. Navigate to Admin Center > Objects and rules > Tickets > Fields.
2. Click Add field.
3. Select a field type and enter a Display name.
4. (Optional) Add a Description for admins only.
5. Under Permissions, choose who can view and edit the field:
   • Agents can edit: Only agents can view and edit the field.
   • Customers can edit: Both agents and end-users can view and edit the field.
   • Customers can view: Agents can edit, while end-users can only view the field.
6. If visible to customers, enter a Title shown to customers and Description shown to customers.
7. To make the field mandatory, select:
   • Required to solve a ticket: Agents must complete the field to solve the ticket.
   • Required to submit a request: End-users must complete the field to submit the ticket.
8. Configure additional options based on the field type:
   • Checkbox fields: Enter a tag to apply when the checkbox is selected.
   • Regex fields: Enter a regular expression to validate the entry.
   • Drop-down and Multi-select fields: Enter field options for the list. Use "::" to create nested drop-down lists.
9. (Optional) Specify a Default value for the custom field.
10. Click Save.
11. For multiple ticket forms, add the field to the desired forms.

Cloning Custom Ticket Fields

1. Go to Admin Center > Objects and rules > Tickets > Fields.
2. Hover over the field to clone, click the options menu (...), and select Clone.
3. Edit the Display name to make it unique.
4. Adjust other field options as needed.
5. Click Save.

Understanding Tag Mapping in Drop-Down, Multi-Select, and Checkbox Fields

• Tag Generation: Drop-down list, multi-select, and checkbox* custom fields generate tags based on the selected values. *Checkbox tags are optional but recommended.
• Usage: These tags can be used in automations, macros, triggers, reports, and views.
• Persistence: If one of these custom fields is deleted, the data in tickets persist as tags.

Editing and Managing Ticket Fields

1. Go to Admin Center > Objects and rules > Tickets > Fields.
2. Hover over the field to edit, click the options menu (...), and select Edit.
3. Update the options as needed.
4. Click Save.

Reordering Ticket Fields

1. Go to Admin Center > Objects and rules > Tickets > Fields.
2. Click Actions and select Edit order.
3. Drag the rows to the desired order or use the arrows to move them up or down.
4. Click Save.

Deactivating and Reactivating Ticket Fields

1. Go to Admin Center > Objects and rules > Tickets > Fields.
2. Hover over the field to deactivate, click the options menu (...), and select Deactivate.
3. Confirm by clicking Deactivate.
4. To reactivate, click the Show and hide columns icon, select Status, find the inactive field, click the options menu (...), and select Activate.

Deleting Ticket Fields

1. Go to Admin Center > Objects and rules > Tickets > Fields.
2. Hover over the field to edit, click the options menu (...), and select Edit.
3. Deactivate the field if it is active.
4. Click the options menu (...) at the top of the page and select Delete.
5. Confirm by clicking Delete.

Adding and Removing Ticket Fields from Forms

1. Go to Admin Center > Objects and rules > Tickets > Forms.
2. Click the form to edit.
3. To add a field, type the name in the search field or use the filters, then drag and drop or click the Plus sign (+).
4. To remove a field, click the X next to its name.
5. Click Save.

Editing Ticket Forms

1. Go to Admin Center > Objects and rules > Tickets > Forms.
2. Click the form to edit.
3. Reorder the custom fields or make other changes.
4. Click Save.

Reordering Fields in a Ticket Form

1. Go to Admin Center > Objects and rules > Tickets > Forms.
2. Click the form to edit.
3. Drag the ticket field to the desired position.
4. Click Save.

Important Considerations

• Administrators are required to create custom ticket fields and add them to ticket forms.
• Custom ticket fields can be used in triggers, automations, macros and views.
• If the Priority ticket field is deactivated, Zendesk SLA targets will not apply.
• If the Type field is deactivated, all tickets default to Incident.
• Deleting a custom field will remove its data from existing tickets unless the field adds a tag to a ticket.