Zendesk connector for Simpplr Enterprise Search

Introduction

The Zendesk connector lets Simpplr Enterprise Search index your Zendesk Support data tickets and articles making support context discoverable directly in Simpplr.

With this connector, you can:

• Surface tickets and knowledge articles in Simpplr Enterprise Search and Smart Answers

• Preserve Zendesk visibility via ACLs.

• Use advanced features like autocomplete, hybrid ranking, and Smart Answers on top of Zendesk content.

Indexed content from Simpplr Enterprise Search is available in:

• In main search listing

• Smart Answer

• Autocomplete

Capabilities at a glance

Objects and content supported

Objects: 

Following are the object type indexed:

• Ticket

• Article

Metadata:

For each indexed item, Zendesk capture:

• title

• url

• Created time and last modified time

• Subject

• Description

• Body

• Assignee Email

• Priority

• Tags

• Name

• Article Text

• Created By

• Vote count

• Status

Permissions model

Permissions are read from Zendesk and enforced in Simpplr Enterprise Search:

• How user and group permissions are synchronized

  • User and group permissions are synchronized from Zendesk users, organizations, groups, ticket participants, and article authors.

  • When a user is added to or removed from the organization or a specific group, the ACL index is updated the next time the sync runs (by default, every hour).

• How public or link-shared content is handled

  • Content that is only available via anonymous or public shared links is not indexed in the current version

• What happens when access is removed for a specific document

  • When a user loses access to a Ticket or Article, the updated permissions are applied during the next sync cycle.

  • The file will no longer appear in that user’s Simpplr search results after the sync completes.

Versions and editions supported

• Zendesk Support (cloud) with API tokens

• Not supported: On-prem/self-hosted Zendesk, end-user tokens, legacy environments without API token support

Prerequisites

Before you begin, ensure the following:

1. Source system permissions

• A Zendesk user (Agent or Admin recommended) able to create API tokens

• Read access to users, organizations, groups, tickets, comments and articles in scope

2. Application / service account

• Ability to create an API token for a service user

• Ability to grant that user access to required orgs, groups, and tickets

• Ensures the connector can see all intended content while minimizing over-privilege.

Authentication and security

1. Authentication mechanism

   • Describe how Simpplr Enterprise Search connects to Zendesk:

• Auth type: Basic Auth using Admin Email and API token

• Token creator must have visibility into target orgs, groups, tickets, articles

2. Data security

• Data storage and residency: Indexed content  from Zendesk are stored within your Simpplr Enterprise Search environment, in the same region as your Simpplr tenant.

• Encryption in transit: Server-side encryption with Amazon S3 managed keys (SSE-S3), TLS encryption in Kafka.

• Encryption at rest: SSL (TLS 1.2 or higher), Auth: OAuth 2.0 Bearer tokens (client-credential).

• Permission enforcement:  Zendesk access controls (users and channels) are stored in the ACL index and applied at query time. Search results are always filtered by the signed-in user’s identity orgs, groups, and ticket/article relationships.

Setup and configuration

Step 1 - Create API Token at Zendesk Admin Center.

1. Go to your Zendesk instance (e.g., https://your-company.zendesk.com)

2. Click on the Admin icon (gear icon) in the sidebar

3. Select Admin Center

   

4. Navigate to Apps and Integrations
   

5. Go to API Configuration and enable Allow API token access
   

6. Go to API Tokens and click Add API Token
   

7. Provide Description and click save.
   

8. After Saving API Token will appear on screen and Copy that token and keep it safe.

   

Step 2 - For knowledge articles:

1. In the Zendesk Admin center page go to Knowledge
   

2. In the Knowledge page select Knowledge admin from top right of page.
   

3. Once in Knowledge Admin Select setting and then Help Center Settings
   

4. In this page Select Activate Help center and save.

   

Step 3 - Create the connector in Enterprise Application

1. In Simpplr, go to: Enterprise Search → Connectors → Add connector.
   

2. Select “Zendesk”.
   

3. Enter basic information:

   • Name: (Connector Name for this instance)

4. Provide authentication details:

   • Zendesk subdomain (for e.g. https://your-company.zendesk.com sub-domain will be your-company)

   • API token

   • Email (from which API Token is generated and has required access)

   

5. Click Save Configuration.

Step 4 - Define Filters

1. Configure inclusion rules:

   • Not configurable in the current version

2. Configure exclusion rules:

   • Not configurable in the current version

3. Configure Audience based filtering.

   • Include audiences

   • Exclude audiences

   

Step 5 - Monitor the sync

1. Monitor the initial full sync status (starts automatically) in the connector dashboard.
   

Crawling and sync behavior

Describe how the connector works over time:

1.  Initial full crawl: All relevant Zendesk content is indexed during the first run, including:

• Tickets

• Articles (Help Center)

How long it may take: Depends on the volume of tickets and articles in scope.

2. Incremental updates

• Mechanism: Cursor-based incremental sync using Zendesk timestamps from the previous sync.

• Incremental entities:

  • Organizations (cursor = updated_at)

  • Tickets (cursor = updated_at)

  • Articles (cursor = updated_at)

• Full refresh (special case):

  • Users are periodically re-fetched in full to ensure accurate membership and ACL consistency

• What changes trigger reindexing:

  • New or updated tickets or articles

  • Ticket status, priority, or assignee changes

3. Deletion and permission changes

• Deleted items are removed from index at next sync.

• Changes in user access, group membership, or organization visibility are also updated in the next sync

4. Expected latency

• With the default schedule (incremental sync every hour), changes made to Zendesk content (such as new tickets or article updates) are generally reflected in Simpplr search results within a few hours of the update, subject to content volume and system load.

Field mapping and search experience

1. Default field mapping

Source field (Zendesk) → Index field Simpplr

• ticket

• article

2.  Search experience

How content from this connector appears in search:

• Result layout: (Icon, Connector name, title as link, body(excerpt), Updated Date/ Created Date, object type)
  

  

• Available filters and facets:

  • Source = Zendesk

  • Updated Date

• Participation in advanced features:

  • Smart Answers / Q&A: Yes

  • Autocomplete: Yes

  • Recommendations / “Suggested for you”: N/A

  • Trending / popular results: N/A

  • Semantic / hybrid ranking: Yes

3. Limits and known limitations

Monitoring and troubleshooting

1. Connector health and monitoring - Describe where admins can see status information:

• Enterprise Search -> Connector name

• Available metrics:

  • Last sync status (Success / Warning / Failed)

  • Last sync time

  • Next scheduled sync

  • Sync Type

  • Total items indexed count
    

2. Common issues and resolutions. Example pattern:

   • Issue: Authentication failed (invalid credentials or missing scopes)
     Possible causes:

     1. Incorrect subdomain  or API Token (Credentials)

     2. Incorrect email id.

     3. Not have the required permissions

• Resolution:

  1. Verify and re-enter credentials

  2. Confirm API configuration and Help center is enabled.

  3. Re-run admin consent flow
     
     

3. When to contact support.

   • Authentication error persists even after trying the above-mentioned resolutions

   • Sync is stuck in the Pending state.

   • Sync is in progress but no documents are getting ingested.

   • Sync failure with cancelled error (when not cancelled manually)

   • Incomplete or Partial sync. 

4. When contacting, Support, include:

• Connector name and instance ID (if available)

• Organization URL

• Approximate time and date of the issue

• Error messages or screenshots

• Steps you already tried
  
  

Frequently asked questions (FAQ)

Q1. Can I connect multiple Zendesk tenants or domains?
A.Yes. Each Zendesk instance is configured as a separate connector in Simpplr. Go to Enterprise Search > Connectors > Add connector, and create a new Zendesk connector for each tenant with its own email, subdomain and API token.

Q2. How often does Zendesk sync data?
A. The connector runs a full crawl on first setup and then once per week. Incremental sync runs every hour by default.

Q3. What happens when a user loses access to an item in Zendesk?
A. The updated access permissions will be indexed during the next sync cycle.

Q4. Can I exclude certain orgs/groups/tickets from being indexed?
A. Documents can be included or excluded based on audiences.

Q5. How are deletions handled?
A. Objects deleted from the source are permanently deleted from the index.