Switch to Cliedesk
Move your help desk into WordPress, with a preview and an undo.
Migrate from Zendesk to WordPress — or from Freshdesk, Help Scout, Intercom, Gorgias, Crisp or a WordPress help desk plugin — with your conversations, contacts, saved replies and rules. See what will come over before you start, keep both in sync while you switch, and roll back any batch.
Switching help desks feels risky.
- “Years of conversations live in the old tool — we can’t just leave them behind.”
- “Our macros and automations took ages to build.”
- “What if something goes wrong halfway through?”
- “Old help center links are everywhere: in emails, forums and search results.”
Sources
Where you can move from
Help desks
- Zendesk
- Freshdesk
- Help Scout
- Intercom
- Gorgias
- Crisp
- Fluent Support WordPress plugin
- Awesome Support WordPress plugin
- SupportCandy WordPress plugin
Help center articles
- Zendesk Guide
- Intercom
- Gorgias
- Help Scout Docs
- Crisp
- Freshdesk
- Document360
- HelpDocs
- BetterDocs Another WordPress site
- weDocs Another WordPress site
Files
- CSV Contacts, organizations and articles
- HTML, Markdown, TXT and DOCX One article per file
What comes over
What each help desk import brings
Conversations come with every message, internal note, file and tag. Agents are matched by email address in every import; agents without a match keep their name on their messages.
| Action | Contacts | Organizations | Custom fields | Saved replies | Conversations | Rules (as drafts) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zendesk | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Freshdesk | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Help Scout | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Intercom | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No |
| Gorgias | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Crisp | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | No |
| Fluent Support | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | No |
| Awesome Support | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | No |
| SupportCandy | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | No |
-
Zendesk
- Contacts
- Yes
- Organizations
- Yes
- Custom fields
- Yes
- Saved replies
- Yes
- Conversations
- Yes
- Rules (as drafts)
- Yes
-
Freshdesk
- Contacts
- Yes
- Organizations
- Yes
- Custom fields
- Yes
- Saved replies
- Yes
- Conversations
- Yes
- Rules (as drafts)
- Yes
-
Help Scout
- Contacts
- Yes
- Organizations
- Yes
- Custom fields
- Yes
- Saved replies
- Yes
- Conversations
- Yes
- Rules (as drafts)
- Yes
-
Intercom
- Contacts
- Yes
- Organizations
- Yes
- Custom fields
- Yes
- Saved replies
- No
- Conversations
- Yes
- Rules (as drafts)
- No
-
Gorgias
- Contacts
- Yes
- Organizations
- No
- Custom fields
- Yes
- Saved replies
- Yes
- Conversations
- Yes
- Rules (as drafts)
- Yes
-
Crisp
- Contacts
- Yes
- Organizations
- No
- Custom fields
- No
- Saved replies
- Yes
- Conversations
- Yes
- Rules (as drafts)
- No
-
Fluent Support
- Contacts
- Yes
- Organizations
- No
- Custom fields
- No
- Saved replies
- Yes
- Conversations
- Yes
- Rules (as drafts)
- No
-
Awesome Support
- Contacts
- Yes
- Organizations
- No
- Custom fields
- No
- Saved replies
- No
- Conversations
- Yes
- Rules (as drafts)
- No
-
SupportCandy
- Contacts
- Yes
- Organizations
- No
- Custom fields
- No
- Saved replies
- No
- Conversations
- Yes
- Rules (as drafts)
- No
Saved replies include macros and canned answers. Rules are triggers, automations and SLA policies, imported as paused drafts. Views are not imported; help center articles have their own import.
How it works
From the old help desk to Cliedesk, step by step
- 1
Connect
Choose the tool and enter the account and API key — for a WordPress help desk plugin, the site address and an application password. The key is stored encrypted and never shown again.
- 2
Preview
See how many contacts, organizations and conversations there are, the agent matches and 20 sample conversations. Map each field: create it, use an existing one, or skip it. Nothing is imported yet.
- 3
Import
The import runs in the background with progress and notes. Try it first with a limit on conversations. If it stops, it goes on where it stopped, and running it again creates nothing twice.
- 4
Keep in sync
Until you switch over, Cliedesk brings new conversations and messages every 15 minutes and follows status, tags and fields.
- 5
Switch or roll back
Move your channels when you are ready. Each import and sync is a batch you can roll back — conversations your team answered here since are kept.
Quiet by design
Nobody notices the move but you
-
No emails to customers
Nothing is sent to customers during an import or a sync, and your agents get no notifications.
-
No rules fire
Your rules do not run on imported conversations, and imported rules arrive paused.
-
No false verification
Imported email addresses and phone numbers are not marked as verified.
-
Undo per batch
Roll back keeps contacts who were already here, contacts who gave consent here and the conversations your team answered.
✦ Your rules come too
AI turns your old triggers into Cliedesk rules
Select Translate with AI and Cliedesk turns imported triggers, automations and SLA policies into paused draft rules, with an explanation and a list of anything it could not translate. Simulate shows which conversations of the last 30 days a rule would have matched before you turn it on.
Automation in Cliedesk- Drafts stay paused until you approve them
- Untranslatable parts are listed, not guessed
- The import itself works without AI
Your help center
Bring your articles — and keep old links working
- Articles always arrive as drafts, with a preview that marks duplicate titles.
- Categories and sub-categories are kept; scripts are removed, YouTube and Vimeo embeds stay.
- Images are copied to your site, and links between articles point to the new articles.
- Translations come over from Freshdesk, Document360 and HelpDocs.
- Point the old help center’s domain to your site, and old article addresses redirect (301) to the new ones.
- Import again later and existing articles are updated, not duplicated.
Before you switch
A short checklist
- Export a copy of your data from the old tool for your records.
- Pick a switch-over date and tell your team.
- Set up your channels in Cliedesk: chat widget, mailboxes and messaging.
- Invite your team, so agents are matched by email address during the import.
- Turn on sync, and keep the old tool read-only for a while after you switch.
Compare before you move
In the free plugin: contact and organization CSV import, and full data export at any time. Cliedesk Pro adds: the help desk importers with preview, sync and rollback, the article importers and AI rule translation.
Compare plansFrequently asked questions
Can’t find your answer? Search the docs or ask us.
Search the docs →Get support →How long does an import take?
It depends on how much you have. The import runs in the background in batches, so you can keep working, and the progress shows for each kind of record.
Will my old help center links break?
Not if you point the old help center’s domain to your site. Cliedesk remembers each article’s old address and redirects it (301) to the published article.
Can I test first?
Yes. The preview shows counts, field mapping and 20 sample conversations before anything is imported. You can stop after a set number of conversations, and roll back any batch.
Is importing free?
The help desk and article importers are part of Cliedesk Pro. Importing contacts and organizations from a CSV file is free.
What if something doesn’t transfer?
The import notes list what could not come over, such as a file over the size limit or a macro action Cliedesk doesn’t have. Translated rules list the parts they could not translate.
Will customers get emails during the import?
No. Nothing is sent to customers during an import or sync, and your rules don’t run on imported conversations.
See your own data in the preview before you decide.
Connect your old help desk, check the preview, and import only when it looks right.
