Advanced use without the Power Actions app

This article will cover how to change ticket data within Zendesk that normally wouldn't be possible via a trigger or automation. This can be useful if you would like to:

• Automatically add a public/internal comment to a ticket.
• Updating the contents of text, multi-line, numeric and regex ticket fields.
• Changing the subject line of a ticket.
• Add Collaborators/CC's to a ticket.

The process involves two parts. The first is creating a webhook that will push data into the ticket and the second is creating a trigger that contains the data you wish to push to the ticket. If you've already created the webhook, you can skip to part 2.

This article contains the following sections:

• 1. Enable API
• 2. Create an API token
• 3. Create a webhook
• 4. Create a trigger
• 5. Input JSON body

1. Enable API

The first step for creating a webhook is to ensure you have enabled API access which is required in order to get a successful authentication.

1.1 Navigate to the Admin Center.

1.2. Select Apps and integrations, then select API configuration.

Enable Allow API token access and then click Save.

2. Create an API token

2.1. Also under Apps and integrations, select API tokens and then click Add API token.

2.2. Give your token a name and then click Save. This will then generate a new token, select Copy so you can use this as the password in the next step.

3. Create a webhook

3.1. From the Admin Center, select Apps and integrations, then select Webhooks.

3.2. Select Actions, then from the drop-down menu, select Create webhook.

3.3. Input the following configuration:

3.4. Select Basic authentication, then input your credentials.

4. Create a trigger

Now that we've successfully created a webhook that determines where the data will be pushed – in this case it is the current ticket – we need to create a trigger that will decide when this occurs and what data will be updated on the ticket.

4.1. From the Admin Center, select Objects and rules, then select Triggers under Business rules.

4.2. Select Add trigger.

4.3. Input a Trigger name and Description relevant to what you're updating on the ticket followed by the Conditions for when you would like the update to occur.

4.4. Select Add action, then select Notify active webhook and finally, select Update ticket which we created in the previous section.

5. Input JSON body

You can now configure what changes should occur to the ticket when the trigger fires by inputting the JSON body.

Below are a few examples of what you can do. For more information on setting things on a ticket using the Zendesk API see this article. 

Make a public comment: 

{
"ticket": {
"comment": {
"body": "This a public ticket update regarding ticket {{ticket.id}}.",
"public": true
}
}
}

Make a private comment: 

{
"ticket": {
"comment": {
"body": "This a private ticket update regarding ticket {{ticket.id}}.",
"public": false
}
}
}

Change the subject line: 

{
"ticket": {
"subject": {"My printer is on fire"}
}
}

Setting custom ticket fields:

{
"ticket": {
"custom_fields": [{"id": 45844587, "value":"09:00"},{"id": 45844607, "value":"Melbourne"},{"id": 45844547, "value":"Support (1022)"},{"id": 45844627, "value":"60"}]
}
}

Add CCs: 

{
"ticket": {
"email_ccs": [{"user_email": "zendeskagent1@gmail.com", "user_email": "zendeskdemonstration@gmail.com", "action": "put"
}],
"comment": {
"body": "This is an email notification regarding ticket {{ticket.id}} regarding {{ticket.subject}}. Here's what it's about - {{ticket.description}} ",
"public": true
}
}
}

Need Help?

Consider reaching out to a Zendesk implementation partner for professional advice and recommendations relating to the user of webhooks and your workflow.

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