# Using an External Ticketing System

***

## Customer Support with External Ticketing System

This guide helps you set up ClearFeed to manage customer conversations in Slack while keeping everything synced with your existing ticketing platform.

### Sign Up & Connect

1. Go to [ClearFeed Web App](https://web.clearfeed.app/)
2. Sign up with **Google, Microsoft, or Email** (use your Slack workspace email)
3. During onboarding, select:
   * **Primary use case:** Supporting Customers
   * **How to use ClearFeed:** Integrate with External Ticketing System
4. **Authorize ClearFeed** when prompted to connect to your Slack workspace
5. **Connect Your Ticketing System** (optional - can be done later)

   You can connect to your external ticketing system during signup or skip this step and do it later. ClearFeed supports: Zendesk, Jira Service Management, Salesforce, Linear, Freshdesk, HubSpot, ClickUp, Intercom, and more.

### Understanding Your Setup

After signing up, ClearFeed automatically sets up your account with:

* **All Customers** Collection - A default collection where your first customer and their channel is added.
* **Test Customer** - A sample customer added to help you get started, visible in All Customers collection.
* **#cf-request-channel** - An example customer channel where users can post questions and issues that belongs to Test Custsomer.
* **#cf-triage-channel** - A triage channel where requests from customer channels can be seen internally. Here you can see the status, assignee, post private comments etc.

<figure><img src="/files/hj8clqVyrTLfgYDJp7KX" alt="" width="250"><figcaption><p>New Account Collection and Customer Setup</p></figcaption></figure>

#### Request Channel (`#cf-request-channel`)

Your **request channel** is where customers post questions and issues. When a message is posted:

* ClearFeed starts tracking this as a request
* Depending on the configuration - it automatically creates a ticket in your external system for this request
* The ticket syncs bi-directionally between Slack and your Ticketing platform and the Triage channel
* By default, Customers see a message posted on the thread showing Ticket details
* Customers can also get automated answers from AI Agents or OOO messages - depending on configuration.

#### Triage Channel (`#cf-triage-channel`)

Your **triage channel** is your team's command center within Slack. Here you'll see:

* All incoming requests with status, assignment, and ticket IDs
* All messages posted in the request channel and replies posted from your Ticketing platform
* You can also reply to tickets from this channel and/or post private comments that are not visible to customers
* Private answer suggestions by AI Agents (if they are configured)

### Integrating with External Ticketing System

**If you connected your ticketing system during initial account setup, you can skip this section**. Otherwise, follow these steps:

1. Go to **Settings > Integrations** from the left navigation in the ClearFeed app
2. Connect to your desired ticketing system (Zendesk, Intercom, Freshdesk, etc.)
3. Go to the **Inbox** and click on the **All Customers** collection
4. Click **Settings** in the top right corner
5. Expand the **Ticketing** section
6. Enable **Ticketing** and change the **Ticketing type** to your integrated system

For detailed integration guides, refer to:

* [Zendesk](/clearfeed-help-center/integrations/zendesk.md)
* [Intercom](/clearfeed-help-center/integrations/intercom.md)
* [Salesforce](/clearfeed-help-center/integrations/salesforce.md)
* [HubSpot](/clearfeed-help-center/integrations/hubspot.md)
* [ClickUp](/clearfeed-help-center/integrations/clickup.md)
* [Linear](/clearfeed-help-center/integrations/linear.md)
* [Freshdesk](/clearfeed-help-center/integrations/freshdesk.md)

### Create and Manage Requests and Tickets

💡 **Tip:** New to ClearFeed? Learn about the difference between [Requests, Tickets, and Tasks](/clearfeed-help-center/how-it-works/request-tickets-tasks.md).

#### From Slack Channels

**Create a Ticket in `#cf-request-channel`:**

1. Post a message in the channel (e.g., "How do I reset my password?")
2. If automatic ticketing is enabled - CF creates a ticket in your external system immediately
3. If manual ticketing is enabled - add 🎫 emoji to manually ensure ticket creation if needed
4. A ticket message with the ID of the ticket will be posted as a reply

**Manage Tickets in `#cf-triage-channel`:**

* Reply in the triage channel thread → syncs to your ticketing system and the customer channel
* Update status, priority, or assignment → reflects in external system
* Add internal notes (prefix with :lock: emoji) → visible only to your team in both Slack and external system

#### From your Ticketing system

* Find the Ticket in the external Ticketing platform using the Ticket ID shown by ClearFeed
* Reply from the Ticketing platform - the reply should show up in linked Slack thread
* Replies from Slack should also show up in the Ticket
* Depending on the specific ticketing system, internal comments maybe synced between Triage channel and Ticketing platform

#### From the ClearFeed WebApp

* You can also see the requests in the customer channel from the CF webapp
* Click on a specific request and post replies from there - these are also synced back to Slack

### Adding More Channels

As you grow, you can add more channels to handle different customer segments or product lines:

1. Hover over the **All Customers** collection in the left sidebar
2. Click the triple dot menu (⋯)
3. Select **New Channel**
4. Follow the prompts to connect additional Slack channels

<figure><img src="/files/30bDDh3i9N72WRMbxTHt" alt="" width="300"><figcaption><p>Add new channels from the collection menu</p></figcaption></figure>

### FAQs

1. **How do I stop creating requests from my team's messages?**\
   **Answer:** When a new ClearFeed account is set up, it creates requests from all users. You can turn off request and ticket creation from your own team in the "Responders" section of the Collection Settings:

   * Click on the **All Customers** collection from the Inbox
   * Click **Settings** in the top right corner
   * Expand the **Responders** section
   * Turn off "Create requests from responder threads"

   <figure><img src="/files/gFGeqz4gP7ENa41xcHOv" alt="" width="300"><figcaption><p>Turn off request creation from responders</p></figcaption></figure>
2. **How do I change whether tickets are created automatically or manually?**\
   **Answer:** This can be done from the Collection Settings:
   * Click on the **All Customers** collection from the Inbox view in ClearFeed
   * Go to **Settings > Ticketing** from the top right
   * Toggle between automatic and manual ticket creation
   * Configure the emoji to be used as a trigger for manual ticket creation

### AI Agents

ClearFeed comes with an AI Agent pre-configured to answer questions from the World Wide Web by default. The AI Agent is triggered whenever a new customer request is detected, and when it finds relevant answers, it posts suggestions privately to your team. Your team can review the automated answer and copy and post it as a reply if its correct.

#### Customize or Disable

**To add your own knowledge sources:**

1. Go to **Settings > AI > Knowledge Sources**
2. Connect your documentation (Confluence, Notion, Zendesk Help Center, etc.)
3. Go to **Settings > AI > Agent Studio** and select your knowledge sources

**To disable the AI Agent:**

1. Go to **Collection > Settings > AI Agent**
2. Turn off the AI Agent

### Next Steps

Your ClearFeed setup is ready to use! Start by:

1. Inviting your team to the `#cf-triage-channel` and the ClearFeed webapp
2. Testing a few customer requests in `#cf-request-channel`
3. [Whitelabeling the ClearFeed bot](/clearfeed-help-center/account-setup/whitelabel-clearfeed.md) to match your brand
4. Importing forms from your ticketing system ([Zendesk](/clearfeed-help-center/integrations/zendesk/forms.md), [ClickUp Lists](/clearfeed-help-center/integrations/clickup/forms.md), [Intercom Forms](/clearfeed-help-center/integrations/intercom/forms.md), etc.)
5. [Set up Out of Office responses](/clearfeed-help-center/clearfeed-helpdesk/workflows.md) - Automatic responses when your team is unavailable

Need help? [Contact our team](https://clearfeed.ai/contact) for personalized onboarding.


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