ScreenSteps / Integrations / Zendesk Integration

Set up your Zendesk integration

Updated on Apr 06, 2022

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This guide will walk you through the steps of setting up your Zendesk integration with ScreenSteps.

Note: You must have a Zendesk account and a ScreenSteps account with one available site for this integration to work.

Create the integration in ScreenSteps

1. Go to Account > Integrations

Click on Zendesk Help Center

Enter your Zendesk account name

Your Zendesk account name is the name at the front of your Zendesk URL. For example, if your help desk is at https://mycompany.zendesk.com then the account name would be mycompany.
Your Zendesk host name is an optional parameter. This should be the host name where your customers come to view your Zendesk site.

Important: If you are using a custom domain name on your Zendesk account then you will need to enter the full domain name with protocol. For example: https://support.mydomain.com.

Enter your username and API Token

The email should be the email address you use to login to Zendesk––Important: must be a Zendesk Admin login.
You can retrieve your Zendesk API Token by following these instructions.

Enter Locale and click Create

The Locale setting defaults to US English. If you would like to push to a different language in your Zendesk account then you should set the locale here. Note that ScreenSteps can only push content to a single locale.
Select Create.

You will be taken to your newly created ScreenSteps site that is connected to Zendesk.

Do you already have existing content in Zendesk that you want to import into ScreenSteps?

Import the structure from Zendesk

First, let's import the structure.

1. Select Import structure from Zendesk

From the TOC/Manuals section (1), select Import structure from Zendesk HC from the TOC Actions menu (2).

2. Select Import

Confirm that you want to import your structure from Zendesk.

3. View imported manuals

Click a manual title for one of the manuals that were imported from Zendesk.

Before you import articles from Zendesk...

Importing an article from Zendesk will connect the ScreenSteps article to the Zendesk article so that when you publish updates from ScreenSteps, the updates will go to the correct page in Zendesk.

Important: If you further edit the article in Zendesk later on, the changes will not be imported back into ScreenSteps. You should make all edits in ScreenSteps going forward.

Import articles from Zendesk

Go to Imports and Select the Manual and Chapter you want to import from

Click on Import

Once the article is imported you will see the text "Connected". Clicking on the text will take you to the article in ScreenSteps.

This is what you will see after you click Connected.

The article shows as "Unpublished" in ScreenSteps, but...

The article will show as "Unpublished" in ScreenSteps. That does not mean that it is not published in Zendesk. It simply means that any updates you make in ScreenSteps will not be published until you "Save & Publish". The reason for this is to allow you to cleanup the article in ScreenSteps before you publish changes to Zendesk.

See how to create content in ScreenSteps

If you don't have any content in Zendesk already, no problem! These next few steps will show you how to create the basic structure in ScreenSteps (which will then be pushed to Zendesk).

You should also check out our documentation on creating content in ScreenSteps so that you can be proficient when building out your knowlede base.

Create a new Manual

A manual in ScreenSteps is the same as a category in Zendesk. When you create and publish a manual in ScreenSteps, it will create and publish a category in Zendesk.

Give the manual a title and save

Your new manual appears (unpublished)

Your new manual will be unpublished so that your end users do not see it right away. You can publish and unpublish manuals at any time.

Add an article to the default chapter

Click on the manual and chapter

You will create articles in chapters. Click on the manual title to load the manual table of contents. Click on the Default chapter to load the chapter table of contents. This is where you will add an article.

Create a new Article

An article in ScreenSteps is the same as an article in Zendesk. When you create and publish an article in ScreenSteps, it will create and publish an article in Zendesk.

Click Create New Article

When you create a new article, it will be created in the Manual and Chapter that are selected.

Write the title > click Create Article

Publish changes (when you're ready)

When you are ready to publish content to Zendesk, publish the manual.

From the manual menu you will see one of two options. Publish in Zendesk HC will appear if the manual hasn't been connected to Zendesk yet. Push update to Zendesk HC will appear if the manual is already connected to Zendesk.

Publish

By default the chapter positions and titles will be updated along with other changes you've made to the manual. To only update the manual uncheck this checkbox. If you uncheck Update chapter positions and titles then only the Manual title and sort order will be updated in Zendesk.
Click either the Publish (manual doesn't exist in Zendesk yet) or Push Changes (manual is connected to Zendesk already) button.

Add ScreenSteps features and styles to Zendesk

In order for the features and styles that you use in your ScreenSteps articles to work in Zendesk you will need add some JavaScript and CSS files to your Zendesk template. Follow the instructions in our article Add ScreenSteps Styles, Foldable Sections, and Workflow features to Zendesk HC

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