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Sync content from your Zendesk help center

How to set up a regular sync of your Zendesk help center articles into Fin.

Updated over a week ago

Syncing your Zendesk help center allows you to use your existing articles to power Fin AI Agent and Copilot. It also makes them fully searchable and browsable directly in the Fin Messenger, improving your customers' self-serve experience

Note: You must have access to Zendesk Guide to use this feature. Your help center will remain on Zendesk; this process only syncs the content into Fin

How to sync your Zendesk help center

To get started, navigate to Train > Content in Fin.

There are two ways to begin the sync:

  1. Click the + New content button in the top right, then select Zendesk articles from the "Add content" modal.

  2. Alternatively, scroll down to the "Add content" list and click the + icon next to Sync content from Zendesk.

This will open the "Sync content from Zendesk" window.

From here:

  1. In the banner that appears prompting you to "Upgrade to our new Zendesk importer", click Try it now. This ensures you experience faster syncs and improved reliability.

  2. Enter your unique Zendesk subdomain. This is the part of your Zendesk URL that comes before .zendesk.com. For example, if your URL is https://yoursubdomain.zendesk.com, your subdomain is yoursubdomain.

  3. For the authentication method, select "API key".

  4. Enter the "Email address" associated with your Zendesk admin account.

  5. Enter your Zendesk "API token". You can generate this from your Zendesk admin settings.

  6. Choose which articles to sync using the toggles:

    • Sync articles for signed-in users: This allows Fin to access articles with viewing permissions set to "Signed in users" in Zendesk.

    • Sync articles for staff members: This allows Fin to access articles with viewing permissions set to "Staff" in Zendesk.

  7. Finally, click Sync to begin the process.

Note: Articles synced with "Staff" permissions are only enabled for Copilot by default and won't be used in answers to end customers.

After the first sync is complete, you’ll receive an email confirmation listing how many articles were synchronized. The content will appear in a flat list inside a synced folder you can view from the left sidebar in Train > Content.

Important: The first sync cannot be stopped once it has started. You can only remove the integration after the initial sync is complete.

Managing your synced content

Once your Zendesk content is synced, it will appear in a list under Your content.

Editing articles

Synced articles are view-only within Fin and cannot be edited directly in the content library. All changes to article content must be made in Zendesk. These changes will automatically be updated in Fin during the next sync.

However, you can manage settings for each article in Fin, such as enabling them for Fin AI Agent or Copilot, from the "Details" panel.

How Zendesk metadata is managed

The importer automatically brings the structure of your Zendesk knowledge base into Intercom to save you time.

Zendesk metadata like labels, categories, and content tags are all imported and converted into tags on your Intercom articles. With these tags automatically applied, you can:

  • Filter your content to see all articles from a certain category.

  • Exclude irrelevant content from Fin AI Agent.

  • Create specific Fin AI Agent audiences based on article tags to route answers to the right customers.

Pro tip: For example, if you have content in Zendesk labeled "EMEA-only," that label becomes a tag in Intercom. You can then create an audience for your European customers and configure Fin AI Agent to only use articles with the "EMEA-only" tag for that audience.

Automatic re-syncs

Fin automatically re-syncs with your Zendesk help center every hour to pull in any changes. This includes new articles, content edits, and article deletions. You won't receive an email for these automatic syncs.

Manually re-sync or remove the integration

If you need to manually trigger a re-sync or remove the integration entirely, go to Train > Content. Click the three-dot menu next to the Zendesk help center source and select Re-sync or Remove Zendesk.

You’ll see a green confirmation banner indicating the removal has been successful and synced articles will be deleted from Fin.

Using synced articles with Fin

After syncing your Zendesk articles with Fin, you can use them to power the following:

Important differences between your articles in Zendesk and the Fin Messenger

There are slight differences with how synced articles look in the Fin Messenger compared to your Zendesk help center. Differences can include:

  • Content formats such as, additional headings, text styling, table formatting, etc.

  • If a customer clicks the “Open in Help Center” link at the bottom of a synced article in the Fin Messenger, this will open a new tab with the article in your Zendesk help center.

  • We exclusively support videos added through Zendesk's 'Add video' button, typically embedded via iframe, and compatible with all providers available in Zendesk's article editor (e.g., YouTube, Vimeo, Wistia, JWPlayer, Brightcove, Vidyard, Loom, Guidde). Custom HTML, CSS, or JavaScript-based video embeds are not supported.

  • If articles appear blank in the Fin Messenger, it could be due to your site's Content Security Policy (CSP) blocking third-party resources required for proper loading, such as external images or scripts.

FAQs

Will tables from my Zendesk articles also be synced?

Yes, if you have a table in your Zendesk article, it will be synced and used by Fin. You will be able to see the table synced in the content of your Fin workspace, exactly as it is in your Zendesk help center.

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