The default Zendesk interface lets you add either a public or a private comment to a ticket. But there are many times that I find I want to add both. I want to respond to the customer, but also add a private note for future reference.

Markdown is a simple way to add formatting to your Zendesk tickets. It allows you to add the following formatting to your tickets:

Zendesk has always given you a lot of options for customizing your knowledge base site. In the old version of the Zendesk knowledge base this was done by adding "Extensions". These extensions could be javascript widgets, html snippets, CSS widgets, or integrations with other applications.

In this article we are going to talk about a few javascript/css tricks you can use in the Zendesk Help Center. We had a situation where we want to display some quick navigation links along the top of the help center for ScreenSteps/Zendesk integration, but we only wanted to display these links if the current user was a Zendesk agent or admin.

We have hooked up our error submission in our desktop applications (ScreenSteps and Clarify) so that when a user submits an error report it creates a ticket in Zendesk. 

During the summer months, especially during August, a lot of agents go on vacation. What happens if an agent is on vacation and a customer responds to a pending ticket? The agent will get notified but since they are on vacation they won't be responding.

Keyboard shortcuts can really speed things up when responding to tickets and Zendesk has a few that you should be using.

In our last tip we talked about how to set up a documentation to-do list in Zendesk. That involved adding a custom field as well as a custom view. But there is one more step. When we mark a ticket as Solved we want the Needs Documentation value to be set to No. We can do that by editing one of our automations.

This week's Zendesk tip comes from ScreenSteps customer Kevin Sullivan from KAVI. It is a great tip for tracking what knowledge base articles need to get created in your Zendesk help desk.

At KAVI, Kevin set up a custom ticket field called "Needs Documentation." Agents can check the box and the ticket will get added to a custom view in Zendesk that lists all tickets that need documentation. His content authors can go to the view, see what documentation needs to be created and start writing.

Once the article is written, the author just un-checks the "Needs Documentation" box.

Here is how to set it up.

When I work I like to focus. For me focus means eliminating all distractions and only seeing items that need my attention right now. By focusing my attention I can get more done in less time. 

You may have heard of Inbox Zero. Inbox zero means that you don't see any items in your inbox that don't require your attention right now. In Zendesk your inbox is essentially the default view titled "Your unsolved tickets."