Importing help center content into Zendesk Guide

In this post we describe the process for importing categories, sections, articles and comments into Zendesk Guide using our Help Center Import app.

When creating a help center it’s important to choose the right theme for Zendesk Guide, but populating your knowledge base with content is equally important. Our Help Center Import app for Zendesk Support, available through the Zendesk App Marketplace, has been built to make importing categories, sections, articles and comments as easy as possible.

Overview

The process for importing content into Zendesk Guide can be summarized as follows:

1. Create

   The first step is to create rows representing your objects within the app. There are two ways to do this:

   1. One at a time by clicking on the Add Row button and entering the data manually.
   2. In bulk by adding rows from a CSV file.

   

   The app provides an editable table in which you can:

   • Edit individual fields directly within the table
   • Receive immediate visual feedback if a field value is invalid
   • Select and edit/clone/delete rows in bulk

   

   When creating rows or editing individual fields, you will be visually alerted to potential validation issues.

   Table columns can be added, removed and reordered by clicking on the Manage Columns button within the table’s dropdown menu.

   

   The table (and each subsequent import) supports up to:

   • 500 categories
   • 500 sections
   • 1000 articles
   • 1000 comments

2. Review

   Once you have populated the table with your data, the next step is to review it before starting the actual import. To make this easy, the app allows you to:

   • Sort rows in the table by any column
   • Filter rows in the table by:
     • Column, using one or more keywords
     • Whether or not the row contains one or more validation errors

   Only the columns present within the table will be imported.

   If you have more than 50 rows to import, pagination links will allow you to view each page.

3. Import

   If you’re satisfied that the data is complete and accurate, you can import all rows by clicking the Import button.

   A progress indicator will guide you through the import itself. When the import has finished you can download a completion report containing all data, the newly created record IDs and status information (created, updated or failed with details where necessary).

Creating the CSV file

In order to ensure that your CSV file can be imported properly:

• The file must be properly formatted CSV and saved using UTF-8 character encoding.
• The first row of the CSV file must contain the headers that you want to import.
• The headers should match those described in the sections below (invalid headers will be removed by the app).
• If you are not importing data for a field, do not list it in the header row.
• Add line breaks to notes or multiline custom fields by pressing ALT + ENTER on Windows or CTRL + OPTION + RETURN on a Mac.

Importing categories

The following table outlines the column headers that can be specified when creating a CSV file containing your category data:

Name	Type	Description
id	integer	The ID of the category (required when updating a category)
name	text	The category name (required)
description	text	The category description
locale	text	The category locale (required when updating a category)
position	integer	The position of the category
draft	boolean	True if the category is a draft

To update an existing category you must provide both an id and locale.

If specifying a locale you must ensure that it corresponds to a language that is supported by your help center.

Importing sections

The following table outlines the column headers that can be specified when creating a CSV file containing your section data:

Name	Type	Description
id	integer	The ID of the section (required when updating a section)
name	text	The section name (required)
description	text	The section description
category_id	integer	The ID of the parent category
parent_section_id	integer	The ID of the parent section (if nested sections are used)
locale	text	The section locale (required when updating a section)
position	integer	The position of the section
draft	boolean	True if the section is a draft
sorting	text	The sort order of articles within the section (options: manual, creation_desc, creation_asc or title)

As with categories, to update an existing section you must provide both an id and locale.

Importing articles

The following table outlines the column headers that can be specified when creating a CSV file containing your article data:

Name	Type	Description
id	integer	The ID of the article (required when updating an article)
title	text	The article title (required)
body	text	The article body, which can contain HTML
section_id	integer	The ID of the parent section (required)
permission_group_id	integer	The ID of the permission group which defines who can edit and publish this article (required)
user_segment_id	integer	The ID of the user segment which defines who can see this article (required)
author_id	integer	The ID of the article author
locale	text	The article locale (required when updating an article)
position	integer	The position of the article
promoted	boolean	True if the article is promoted
draft	boolean	True if the article is a draft
comments_disabled	boolean	True if comments should not be allowed on the article
label_names	text	A list of label names to apply to the article, separated by a |

As with categories and sections, to update an existing article you must provide both an id and locale.

Importing comments

The following table outlines the column headers that can be specified when creating a CSV file containing your article comment data:

Name	Type	Description
id	integer	The ID of the comment (required when updating a comment)
body	text	The comment body, which can contain HTML
article_id	integer	The ID of the associated article (required)
author_id	integer	The ID of the comment author
locale	text	The article locale (required when updating an article)

Summary

As you may have guessed, this app can be used for more than just imports. Examples of other use-cases made easy by the app include:

• Creating regular proactive ticket campaigns
• Updating agent roles (or downgrading agents) in bulk due to seasonal staffing changes
• Flagging tickets for inclusion in a business rule or report
• And the list goes on.

If you’ve been struggling with one-off or ongoing imports, you can now save time and money and take control over the process.

Updated on 1 February 2022