Forms

Streamline ticket creation and editing on Zendesk using Ticketing Forms

Configuring Zendesk Forms

Each Zendesk Form has two parts - When creating a ticket and When editing a ticket.

• Navigate to Forms on the ClearFeed web console, toggle Zendesk Ticketing under Objects, and click on Add Form -> Create from Scratch.

• Provide a suitable name for the form (the Form name will be visible to the requestors when creating the ticket).

Create Form

1. For each Zendesk Form, Requester Email, Subject, and Description fields are automatically added to the form.

   • These fields are pre-filled by ClearFeed when a ticket is created. If ClearFeed cannot fetch the email address, it will prompt the user to fill out the form in the Request Channel.

     Pro-Tip:

     • Enable "Ask for Requester Email" option in Collection's Ticketing settings to prompt responders to provide the requester email for tickets they initiate.

     • If the requester's email address isn't available, they are prompted to provide it via an ephemeral Slack message. However, this prompt can sometimes be missed—resulting in the ticket not being created. To streamline the ticket creation process and reduce friction, ClearFeed offers two solutions:

       • Set a Default Requester Email When configuring a Form, you can specify a default email address. If the requester's email isn't available, this default will be used automatically, no prompt shown to the user.

       • Use Slack User ID as Fallback In Slack workspaces where user emails aren't shared, and no default email is configured, tickets can still be created using the requester's Slack User ID. To enable this option, contact our team.

2. Add additional fields from the Zendesk Fields table to customize your form.

3. Configure properties for each field:

   • Make fields optional or required

   • Set default values

   • Hide fields from the form

   • Learn more about field properties here.

4. After completing your configuration, save your changes and proceed to configure the Edit Action form (optional).

Fields added in the Create form will be visible to responders on the triage channel when working on tickets.

Configuring the Create Action Form

Edit Zendesk Form

If the Edit Form is enabled - users will see an Edit Ticket button when they create a ticket. You can provide requestors and responders the exclusive ability to modify fields after ticket creation.

Only the fields that are a part of the Edit form can be modified from the triage channel after a ticket is created.

1. Add fields from the Zendesk Fields table available on the right-hand side.

2. Configure properties such as making fields optional, setting a default value, or hiding a field.

   • Learn more about field properties here.

Pro tip: Use the Add all Create Form fields button to quickly add fields that are a part of the Create form to the Edit form.

Configuring Edit Action Form

Zendesk Ticket Creation Without a Form

• If all fields in a form are hidden, both responders and requesters will be able to create a ticket without filling out a form.

  • Responders would still be able to enter a requestor email ID.

• If all fields in a Form are set to be editable by only responders, requesters will be able to create a ticket without filling out a form.

  • Note: In both cases, the pre-filled or default value of fields will be populated.

Zendesk Form Field Properties

If you use distinct field names for Agents and Customers in Zendesk, Clearfeed will display distinct fields for Agents and Customers, as configured in Zendesk.

• Removing Fields: Remove fields from a Form using the Delete icon.

  • Note: Requestor Email, Subject, and Description are non-removable in the Create Action form. However, they can be hidden to prevent modification.

• Reordering Fields: To customize the order of the fields, click and hold a field in the left column, then drag and drop it to your desired position in the sequence.

  • Note: Non-removable fields will always be on top, while hidden fields will automatically move to the bottom once the changes are saved.

• Non-responder Field Label: This determines the field name that would be displayed to the requestors when they use the form.

  • This information is pulled directly from Zendesk where you set the Title shown to customers. You can read more about the same here.

• Placeholder Text: The text that is shown inside the field before users enter their information.

• The Description field is a system default, non-removable field in the Create form. It is pre-filled by ClearFeed using a summary of the thread messages followed by the messages themselves or only the messages. Learn more about AI-Summarization Setting

• This pre-filled behavior cannot be disabled or changed (for example, you cannot make Description "not pre-filled" or editable if it appears greyed out and marked as Pre-filled in the form). Because Description is auto-populated, any placeholder text you configure for this field will not be shown to users at ticket creation time.

• Note: For non-removable fields that are pre-filled by ClearFeed (such as Description), the placeholder text will not be visible to users when the field is auto-populated.

• Hint Text: The hint text that is shown below the field to guide users on what to enter. Think of this as the field description.

• Default Values: Adds default values to the fields. Default values automatically populate the corresponding Zendesk fields when a ticket is created.

  • Note: Default values cannot be entered for non-removable fields.

• Hidden Fields: To ensure specific fields are not modified during ticket creation, you can hide them from the Create Action Form.

  • Note: When hiding a field, it is mandatory to assign a default value to it.

• Permissions: Specify who is required to fill a given field when creating or editing a ticket using the Editable by column. Choose between All users or Only responders.

  • Note: Only users with the specified permission for a field will see it in the form when creating a ticket on Slack. However, they must mandatorily fill it to proceed.

• Required Field: Specify if the field is optional or mandatory when creating or editing a ticket in the Required field column.

  • Note: By default, the 'Required field' value corresponds to the Zendesk Required field setting. If a field is marked as required in Zendesk, it will automatically be set to 'Required'.

Modifying Zendesk Field Properties

Importing Zendesk Forms

Zendesk should be integrated with ClearFeed to make these forms visible. Learn how to integrate with Zendesk here.

• You would need existing forms created on Zendesk that can be imported.

• Make sure the Forms that you want to import are set as Active in Zendesk.

1. Hover over the Add Form button, and you will notice an option to Import from Zendesk.

2. Under the Select Form dropdown, you will notice all the active forms on Zendesk.

3. Select the form that you want to import into ClearFeed and click on Import Form.

4. Once the Zendesk Form is imported, you can configure the Create and Edit action forms by following the steps mentioned:

   • Configure the form for creating a ticket

   • Configure the form for editing a ticket

5. Once the forms are configured, click on Save

Importing existing Zendesk Forms

Form Names and Zendesk Sync

When importing forms from Zendesk, ClearFeed uses the internal form name (the name shown in the Zendesk admin UI next to the Edit button), not the end‑user display name shown in your Help Center.

As a result:

• The form name you see in ClearFeed may differ in spacing or wording from the name shown to customers in your Help Center.

• Updating only the Help Center display name in Zendesk will not change how the form name appears in ClearFeed.

How to align form names

• In Zendesk, go to Admin Center → Objects and rules → Tickets → Forms.

• Edit the form and update the internal name (the name next to the Edit button) to match your desired label/spacing.

• Save the form in Zendesk, then re‑import or re‑sync the form in ClearFeed if needed.

This ensures the form name shown in ClearFeed matches the internal form name configured in Zendesk.

Mapping Zendesk Forms to Collection

By default, all active Zendesk Forms are available for ticket creation in Collections with Zendesk ticketing enabled. However, you can map specific Forms to a Collection to restrict the available Forms for ticket creation.

Zendesk Ticketing needs to be enabled for a Collection.

• Only Forms with an active Create Action Form will be available for mapping.

• A form can be mapped to multiple collections.

How to map a Zendesk form to a Collection?

1. Navigate to Collections -> Settings.

2. Go to Ticketing Settings.

3. In the Forms Availability section, select the Specific Forms option.

4. From the available Forms, select the ones you'd like to associate with this Collection.

Supported Zendesk Field Types and Limitations

ClearFeed supports the following Zendesk field types when creating and editing tickets:

Standard Zendesk Field Types

Field Type	Description	Validation Limits
Text	Single-line text input	Up to 3,000 characters
Multi-line Text	Multi-line text area	Up to 3,000 characters
Drop-down	Single-select from predefined options	For lists with 100+ options, users see a searchable menu instead of a dropdown
Multi-select	Select multiple options from list	For lists with 100+ options, users see a searchable menu instead of a dropdown list
Checkbox	Boolean true/false field	—
Number (Integer)	Whole numbers	Supports very large numbers (up to 10 trillion)
Number (Decimal)	Decimal numbers	Supports decimal values with very large ranges
Date	Date picker	—
Date & Time	Date and time picker	—
Attachments	File upload field	See Attachment Limits below
Email	Email address field	Standard email format validation
Phone Number	Phone number input	—

System Fields (Auto-filled by ClearFeed)

These fields are automatically populated by ClearFeed when creating tickets:

Field	Description
Subject	Auto-populated from thread context
Description	Auto-populated with thread messages (with or without AI summary)
Requester Email	Auto-populated from Slack user or prompt if unavailable
Status	Set to "New" by default for new tickets
Priority	Can be pre-filled or set by user
Assignee	Can be pre-filled or set by user
Group	Can be pre-filled or set by user

Additional Fields

Field	Description
Tags	Comma-separated tags for categorization
Attachments	Files uploaded via form (also posted to Slack thread)

Attachment Limits

When using the Attachments field in forms:

Limit Type	Value	Notes
Per-file size	50 MB	Enforced by ClearFeed before upload to Zendesk
Total attachment size	750 MB	Maximum combined size for all attachments (15 × 50MB)
File type restrictions	Configurable	Can restrict by file type (e.g., ["png", "jpg", "pdf"])
Failed attachments	Listed in description	URLs of failed attachments are appended to ticket description

How Attachments Work: When you attach files to a ticket:

1. Files are uploaded through the Slack form

2. ClearFeed transfers them to Zendesk

3. Successfully uploaded files are also shared in the original Slack conversation

FAQs

1. Which Zendesk field types are supported by ClearFeed? Answer: ClearFeed supports most common Zendesk field types including text fields, drop-downs, multi-select lists, checkboxes, numbers, dates, email, phone numbers, and file attachments. For detailed information on field types and their limits, see Supported Zendesk Field Types and Limitations. Unsupported fields will show a warning and cannot be added to your forms.

2. What is the Default Zendesk Ticket Form and can I modify it? Answer: The Default Zendesk Ticket Form is pre-built with your ClearFeed account. By default, it doesn't show any fields when creating a ticket. However, you can customize this form and add the specific fields you need to fit your purposes.

3. Can all Create action forms in ClearFeed be disabled? Answer: The Create action form is enabled by default and cannot be disabled unless you create a new form with its Create action enabled. It is mandatory to have at least one form with an enabled Create action at all times to ensure seamless ticket creation.

4. What happens if all fields in a form are hidden? Answer: If all fields in a form are hidden, both responders and requesters can create a ticket without filling out a form. The pre-filled or default values of the fields will automatically be populated in the ClearFeed ticket.

5. Does ClearFeed automatically capture the placeholder text, hint text, and field alias for fields that are a part of the Create action form to the Edit form? Answer: Yes - once you set up your Create action form - move to the Edit form and click on the button that says + Add all Create form fields. That should copy all fields and the relevant properties. If you have existing fields set up in the Edit form - removing them and re-adding would also copy all properties from the Create form.

6. Can requesters create a ticket without filling out a form if all fields are editable only by responders? Answer: Yes, if all fields in a form are set to be editable by only responders, requesters can still create a ticket without filling out a form. The pre-filled or default values of the fields will be populated in the ClearFeed ticket.

7. Will the pre-filled or default values be used if the form fields are hidden or set to be editable only by responders? Answer: Yes, in both cases—whether the form fields are hidden or set to be editable only by responders—the pre-filled or default values of the fields will be used in the ClearFeed ticket.

8. Is it necessary for responders to fill out the form if the fields are hidden or set to be editable only by them? Answer: No, responders don't need to fill out the form in these scenarios. The ticket creation process will rely on the pre-filled or default values of the fields.

9. What happens if the Parent Form or its Edit action is inactive? Answer: If the Parent Form used for creating a ticket, or its underlying Edit action, is inactive, you will be unable to edit existing tickets that were filed through that Form.

10. What happens if all fields in an Edit Form are hidden when responders and requesters click the Edit ticket button? Answer: If all fields in an Edit Form are hidden, clicking the Edit ticket button will update the respective default values of the ClearFeed ticket fields without showing any form on Slack.

11. What happens when fields are removed from the parent Zendesk form? Answer: Removed fields are automatically deleted from both the Create and Edit forms in ClearFeed and are no longer selectable for future configurations. However, the original fields remain accessible when editing existing tickets.

12. What occurs when fields are added to the parent Zendesk form? Answer: Newly added fields become available for selection in the imported form on ClearFeed, allowing you to include them as needed. Additions to the Edit form won't reflect on previously created tickets.

13. Will newly added fields in the Zendesk form be available for editing existing tickets? Answer: No, users will see only the original set of fields when editing existing tickets.

14. How does ClearFeed ensure synchronization with the parent Zendesk form? ClearFeed keeps imported forms in sync with the parent Zendesk form in two ways:

    • Automatic sync for structure changes: When fields are added or removed on the Zendesk form, ClearFeed updates the imported form to match the parent form's fields.

    • Manual refresh for form Name: If you change the form name in Zendesk, ClearFeed does not automatically refresh these. To pull the latest renamed form, go to the Forms page for Zendesk in the ClearFeed web app and click the Re-Sync button. This will refresh the form name from Zendesk without needing to delete or re-import the form.

15. How do I set the brand for my Zendesk form when creating a ticket? Answer: Currently, Clearfeed does not support specifying a ticket brand directly within its interface. However, you can achieve the desired result by using Zendesk's form-brand mapping.

    Follow these steps:

    1. In Zendesk, associate the desired form with the appropriate brand.

    2. Once the form is linked to a brand, import the form into Clearfeed.

    This ensures that any ticket created using that form in Clearfeed is automatically mapped to the correct brand in Zendesk.

16. What happens when I try to attach files larger than 50MB? Answer: When you attach files larger than 50MB (or if the total size of all attachments exceeds 750MB), ClearFeed cannot upload these files to Zendesk. Instead, the file names and download links are automatically added to the ticket description in Zendesk so the information isn't lost. Smaller files that are within the size limits will still be uploaded successfully.