Freshdesk Product Expert for Admins cheat sheet

Account-level settings (Company Profile, Localization, Business Hours, Email) apply to every agent and portal; only Account Admins can open Admin > Account.

A fresh trial account has one Account Admin; add at least one second admin so verification and billing emails are not tied to a single mailbox.

Company name, logo, and portal URL subdomain are set under Admin > Account > Company Profile; the subdomain cannot be changed after verification without support intervention.

Localization sets default language, time zone, date format, and currency; ticket timestamps display in the agent's own profile time zone, not the account default.

Product/plan tier gates features: sandbox, audit log retention, custom roles, and advanced SLA options vary by plan; confirm entitlements before designing workflows.

Email verification and DNS (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) records are configured at account setup; unverified sending domains degrade deliverability and can cause replies to be rejected.

Deleting an agent frees a paid seat but reassigns or orphans owned tickets depending on the reassignment option chosen at deletion.

Account-level API access and integration tokens are created by admins; rotate them at onboarding and offboarding checkpoints.

Default roles are Account Admin, Admin, Agent, and occasional Collaborator; custom roles are available on higher plans and are built from granular scope toggles.

Role scope is evaluated per module (Tickets, Contacts, Companies, Solutions, Reports, Admin); a role can read a module without being able to edit it.

Ticket scope options include own tickets, group tickets, restricted-by-group, and all tickets; 'all tickets' overrides group membership restrictions.

Account Admin is the only role that can create or modify roles, billing, and account-level security settings; Admin covers configuration but not role creation on all plans.

An agent must be a member of a group to act on that group's tickets under group-scoped permissions; group membership is separate from role.

Occasional agents (Collaborators) can only view and reply on tickets explicitly shared with them and consume no full seat.

Permission changes take effect on next page load; existing ticket assignments are not retroactively altered when scope narrows.

Audit role changes by exporting the agent list with role and group columns before and after any restructuring.

Default statuses are Open, Pending, Resolved, and Closed; custom statuses add states but must map to one of these lifecycle categories for reporting.

New inbound tickets open as Open; an agent reply sets status to Pending by default, and a customer reply reopens a Pending or Resolved ticket.

Resolved tickets auto-close after the 'Automatically close resolved tickets' interval set in Admin > Account > Ticket settings (commonly 48-72 hours).

Closed tickets cannot be edited; a customer reply to a closed ticket either reopens it or creates a linked follow-up ticket depending on the setting.

Merging tickets moves conversations to a primary ticket; the merged ticket becomes Closed and is linked for audit.

Spam and deleted tickets are excluded from most reports; deletion is soft and recoverable for a limited window via the Trash view.

Ticket fields (requester, source, priority, group, agent, tags, custom fields) drive routing, SLA, and reporting; blank required fields block form submission on the portal.

The activity log on a ticket records status, assignee, group, priority, and field changes with timestamps and actor names.

Dispatch'r runs on ticket creation only; Observer runs on ticket creation and updates; Supervisor runs on time elapsed since a condition was met.

Rule evaluation order is top-down within a rule set and stops at the first matching rule unless 'continue to next rule' is configured.

Dispatch'r and Observer conditions use AND across fields within one rule; OR logic requires separate rules or grouped condition sets on plans that support them.

Observer actions include assign agent/group, set priority/status, add tags, send email to requester or agent, and trigger a webhook.

Supervisor is time-based: conditions such as 'status is Pending for more than 24 hours' fire an action once the duration passes.

Supervisor timers reset when the triggering field changes; a status flip from Pending to Open and back restarts the clock.

Rules apply to new events only; running a rule against existing tickets requires a bulk action or a one-time manual edit.

Test automation in a sandbox or with a scoped test group and distinctive tags so rules can be traced and rolled back.

A group is a routing and permission container combining agents, a business hours calendar, and optionally an automatic ticket assignment strategy.

Group-level business hours override account business hours for SLA and Supervisor timing on tickets in that group.

Automatic ticket assignment within a group can be round-robin, balanced, or load-based; 'balanced' considers current open load, round-robin ignores it.

An agent can belong to multiple groups; the 'primary group' affects default views and some assignment fallbacks.

Group-scoped agents see only their groups' tickets; ungrouped tickets fall to agents with all-ticket scope.

Deleting a group requires reassigning its open tickets and agents; otherwise tickets become unassigned and breach SLA timers.

Group email addresses (support aliases) can route inbound mail directly into a group, bypassing manual triage.

Skills are attributes (language, product, tier) attached to agents with a proficiency level; they enable skill-based routing.

Skill-based assignment requires a matching rule or automation that filters candidate agents by skill before applying the assignment strategy.

Proficiency levels (e.g., beginner to expert) can be used to weight or restrict assignment to higher-proficiency agents.

Skills are defined at account level and then assigned per agent; removing a skill definition detaches it from all agents.

Skills do not restrict visibility by themselves; they influence assignment only when a rule references them.

Combine skills with groups: group narrows the pool, skill selects within it, and the assignment strategy picks the final agent.

Audit skill coverage against ticket volume by language or product before enabling skill-based routing to avoid starvation.

Business hours define the working calendar (days, start/end, holidays) used to pause SLA and Supervisor clocks outside working time.

SLA policies can be set to run on calendar hours (24x7) or business hours; mixing the two across policies produces inconsistent first-response metrics.

Holiday lists are attached to a business hours calendar and exclude those dates from elapsed-time calculations.

Assignment logic order: automation rule selects group, group strategy selects agent, then fallback assigns to the group's default agent if no one qualifies.

Round-robin rotates through eligible agents; balanced targets the agent with the fewest open tickets; load-based uses weighted capacity.

If no agent is online or eligible, the ticket stays unassigned in the group and escalates via Supervisor or SLA breach.

First response and resolution SLA targets are measured from ticket creation or from the last customer reply, depending on the policy setting.

Support email addresses are configured under Admin > Email > Support Addresses; each address can map to a group and a default priority.

Freshdesk generates a forwarding address; the customer's MX record must point to the mail provider and forward to Freshdesk for inbound processing.

SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records must be published for the sending domain to reduce spam classification and spoofing.

The portal is a self-service web channel with a customizable knowledge base, ticket form, and branding; portal URL is account-subdomain based.

Channels include email, portal, chat, phone, social, and API; each ticket records its source for reporting and routing.

Multi-channel inboxes consolidate tickets from all sources into shared views; channel-specific forms can require different fields.

Threading relies on ticket ID in the subject; stripping or rewriting the subject breaks reply matching and creates duplicate tickets.

Outbound email uses templates and placeholders; the reply-to and from addresses must be verified to avoid deliverability failures.

Canned responses are reusable reply templates with placeholders such as {{ticket.requester.name}} and {{ticket.id}} that render at insert time.

Responses can be shared account-wide or restricted to specific groups/agents via folder permissions.

Placeholders resolve against the current ticket; unresolved placeholders appear literally and must be checked before sending.

Canned responses can include attachments and formatted HTML; large attachments count against per-ticket limits.

Inserting a canned response replaces the cursor position content; agents should review merged fields before sending.

Canned responses are distinct from ticket templates (prefilled ticket fields) and from Solution articles (customer-facing content).

Audit usage via reports or by tagging replies to identify responses that need updating after policy changes.

Solutions are organized into categories, folders, and articles; visibility can be public (portal), logged-in only, or agent-only.

Article statuses include Draft, Published, and Archived; drafts are invisible to customers and archived articles are hidden from search.

Search relevance uses article title, body, tags, and keywords; SEO fields (title, description, URL slug) improve portal discoverability.

Feedback (thumbs up/down) and view counts feed article quality reports; low-rated articles should be revised or retired.

Suggested articles appear on the portal ticket form based on keywords, deflecting tickets before submission.

Multilingual solutions require separate articles per language; the portal serves the language matching the user's locale.

Article versioning and approval workflows are available on higher plans; otherwise maintain a change log in the article body.

An SLA policy defines targets for first response and resolution, measured in hours/minutes against business or calendar hours.

Policies are applied by matching conditions (priority, group, company, source, custom fields); the first matching policy applies.

SLA targets can escalate in stages (e.g., first response 1h, resolution 8h, next response 4h) with separate breach actions.

Breach actions include email notification, escalation to a group/agent, and priority change; configure these per target.

SLA timers pause when the ticket is set to Pending and resume on customer reply, depending on policy settings.

Multiple policies can coexist; ordering and condition specificity determine which applies, so overlapping conditions must be reviewed.

SLA reports show met/breached counts by policy, group, and agent; use them to tune targets rather than to judge individuals alone.

Escalations are time-based automations (Supervisor rules or SLA breach actions) that fire after a threshold elapses.

Supervisor conditions use elapsed time since a field value was set, e.g., 'priority is Urgent for more than 30 minutes'.

Escalation actions include reassigning to a senior group, raising priority, notifying a manager, and posting to a webhook.

SLA breach escalation is tied to the policy target; Supervisor escalation is independent and can coexist.

Timers respect business hours when configured; a 2-hour escalation across a weekend may fire Monday morning.

Escalation chains should be tiered (agent, then team lead, then manager) to avoid duplicate notifications.

Track escalation effectiveness with time-to-first-response and reassignment counts in reports.

Custom fields exist for tickets, contacts, and companies; each has a type (text, dropdown, checkbox, date, dependent) that cannot be changed after data exists.

Field visibility can be set for agents only, customers on the portal, or both; required fields block form submission.

Ticket templates prefill fields (subject, priority, group, custom fields) for common request types and can be exposed on the portal.

Dependent dropdowns chain values (e.g., product then version) and require parent/child field configuration.

Data hygiene: use consistent picklist values, validate required fields, and archive unused fields rather than deleting them.

Deleting a custom field removes its data from reports; export field data before deletion.

Naming conventions and descriptions on fields reduce agent error and improve report clarity.

Reports cover ticket volume, first response time, resolution time, SLA compliance, agent performance, and customer satisfaction.

Filters (date range, group, agent, priority, source) determine the dataset; saved reports preserve filter sets for recurring review.

Dashboards aggregate widgets (charts, tables) from reports; widget refresh cadence depends on plan and data volume.

CSAT is calculated from survey responses; response rate affects reliability, so report both score and sample size.

Backlog and aging reports show tickets open beyond thresholds; pair with SLA breach reports for operational reviews.

Scheduled report delivery emails exports (CSV/PDF) to stakeholders on a cadence; verify recipients and data scope.

Metrics use ticket timestamps in the account time zone; cross-time-zone teams should standardize on one reporting zone.

API keys are per-agent credentials; use them for server-side integrations and rotate on offboarding. Never embed keys in client-side code.

Webhooks POST ticket events to an external URL; payloads include ticket fields and can be filtered by event type.

Apps (marketplace or custom) extend Freshdesk UI and server logic; custom apps require a signed app package and scopes.

Integration scopes should follow least privilege: request only the modules the integration needs.

Rate limits apply to API calls; batch operations and backoff on HTTP 429 to avoid throttling.

Webhook retries occur on failure; idempotency keys on the receiver prevent duplicate processing.

Audit installed apps and active API keys quarterly; remove integrations no longer in use.

Security settings include SSO (SAML), MFA enforcement, IP allowlisting, password policy, and session timeout.

Audit logs record admin actions (role changes, deletions, settings) with actor, timestamp, and before/after values; retention varies by plan.

Sandbox is a separate environment for testing automations and integrations before production rollout; data is not shared live.

Data governance covers retention policies, export and deletion requests, PII handling, and consent for customer data.

Role changes and API key creation should be reviewed in audit logs during security incidents.

Backups and exports: schedule regular exports of tickets, contacts, and solutions for disaster recovery.

Compliance features (GDPR, HIPAA options) depend on plan and contract; confirm data residency before onboarding regulated customers.

Set the account time zone and default language first; these affect SLA timers, report dates, and portal rendering for all users.

Verify the support email domain with SPF and DKIM before sending customer replies; unverified domains risk spam placement.

Create at least two Account Admins so account recovery does not depend on one mailbox.

Confirm plan entitlements for sandbox, custom roles, and audit retention before designing workflows that depend on them.

Configure business hours and holidays before SLA policies, because SLA clocks reference the calendar.

Review the portal subdomain and branding early; changing the subdomain later requires support and breaks links.

Document API key ownership and rotation at setup to avoid orphaned integrations.

Default roles: Account Admin, Admin, Agent, Collaborator; custom roles add granular module scope on eligible plans.

Ticket scope options are own, group, restricted, and all; 'all' bypasses group membership restrictions.

Only Account Admin manages roles, billing, and account-level security; Admin handles configuration within assigned scope.

Group membership is required for group-scoped ticket access; role alone does not grant it.

Collaborators consume no full seat and see only explicitly shared tickets.

Permission changes apply on next page load and do not retroactively reassign tickets.

Export the agent roster with roles and groups before restructuring permissions for rollback reference.

Statuses: Open, Pending, Resolved, Closed; custom statuses must map to a lifecycle category for reporting.

Agent reply sets Pending by default; customer reply reopens Pending and Resolved tickets.

Resolved tickets auto-close after the configured interval (commonly 48-72 hours).

Closed tickets are read-only; a customer reply either reopens or creates a linked follow-up per settings.

Merging closes the secondary ticket and links it to the primary for audit.

Spam and deleted tickets are excluded from most reports; deletion is soft and recoverable for a window.

The ticket activity log records status, assignee, group, and field changes with actor and timestamp.

Dispatch'r fires on creation only; Observer fires on creation and updates; Supervisor fires on elapsed time.

Rules evaluate top-down and stop at the first match unless 'continue' is enabled.

Conditions within one rule are AND; OR requires separate rules or grouped conditions where supported.

Observer actions include assign, set priority/status, add tags, send email, and trigger webhooks.

Supervisor timers reset when the triggering field changes value.

Rules apply to future events only; retroactive changes need bulk edits.

Test rules in sandbox or a scoped test group with distinctive tags before enabling.

A group bundles agents, business hours, and an assignment strategy.

Group business hours override account hours for SLA and Supervisor timing on that group's tickets.

Assignment strategies: round-robin (rotation), balanced (fewest open), load-based (weighted capacity).

Agents can belong to multiple groups; primary group affects default views and fallbacks.

Group-scoped agents see only their groups' tickets; ungrouped tickets need all-ticket scope agents.

Deleting a group requires reassigning open tickets or they become unassigned and breach SLA.

Group email aliases route inbound mail directly to the group, skipping manual triage.

Skills are account-level attributes (language, product, tier) assigned to agents with a proficiency level.

Skill-based routing requires a rule that filters candidates by skill before the assignment strategy runs.

Proficiency levels can weight or restrict assignment to higher-skill agents.

Removing a skill definition detaches it from all agents and breaks rules that reference it.

Skills influence assignment only; they do not restrict ticket visibility.

Combine group (pool) with skill (filter) and strategy (final pick) for deterministic routing.

Audit skill coverage against volume by language or product before enabling skill routing.

Business hours define working days, hours, and holidays used to pause SLA and Supervisor clocks.

SLA policies run on calendar (24x7) or business hours; mixing them skews first-response metrics.

Holiday lists attach to a business hours calendar and exclude those dates from elapsed time.

Assignment order: rule selects group, group strategy selects agent, fallback assigns default agent.

Round-robin rotates; balanced targets fewest open tickets; load-based uses weighted capacity.

No eligible agent means the ticket stays unassigned in the group until escalation or SLA breach.

SLA clocks start at creation or last customer reply depending on the policy setting.

Support addresses are configured under Admin > Email; each maps to a group and default priority.

Inbound mail requires MX forwarding to the Freshdesk forwarding address.

Publish SPF, DKIM, and DMARC for the sending domain to improve deliverability.

The portal provides self-service with a ticket form, knowledge base, and branding.

Channels include email, portal, chat, phone, social, and API; source is recorded per ticket.

Threading relies on the ticket ID in the subject; rewritten subjects create duplicate tickets.

From and reply-to addresses must be verified to avoid rejection.

Canned responses are reusable reply templates with placeholders rendered at insert time.

Sharing can be account-wide or restricted to groups/agents via folder permissions.

Unresolved placeholders appear literally; review merged fields before sending.

Responses can include attachments and HTML; size limits apply per ticket.

Canned responses differ from ticket templates (prefilled fields) and Solution articles (customer-facing).

Tag replies to track usage and identify outdated responses.

Update responses after policy changes to avoid stale wording.

Solutions are organized into categories, folders, and articles with public, logged-in, or agent-only visibility.

Article statuses are Draft, Published, and Archived; drafts and archived items are hidden from customers.

Search relevance uses title, body, tags, and keywords; SEO fields improve discoverability.

Feedback and view counts feed article quality reports.

Suggested articles on the portal form deflect tickets based on keywords.

Multilingual solutions need separate articles per language matching the user's locale.

Versioning and approval workflows depend on plan; otherwise maintain a change log.

SLA policies define first-response and resolution targets measured in business or calendar hours.

Policies apply by matching conditions; the first matching policy wins.

Targets can escalate in stages with separate breach actions.

Breach actions include notification, reassignment, and priority change.

Timers pause on Pending and resume on customer reply per policy settings.

Overlapping policies require ordering review to avoid unintended application.

SLA reports show met/breached counts by policy, group, and agent.

Escalations are time-based automations from Supervisor rules or SLA breach actions.

Supervisor conditions use elapsed time since a field value was set.

Actions include reassignment, priority raise, manager notification, and webhook.

SLA breach escalation and Supervisor escalation are independent and can coexist.

Timers respect business hours, so weekend gaps delay firing.

Tier escalations (agent, lead, manager) to avoid duplicate notifications.

Measure effectiveness with time-to-first-response and reassignment counts.

Custom fields exist for tickets, contacts, and companies; field type cannot change after data exists.

Visibility can target agents, portal customers, or both; required fields block submission.

Ticket templates prefill fields for common request types and can appear on the portal.

Dependent dropdowns chain parent and child values.

Use consistent picklist values and archive unused fields instead of deleting them.

Deleting a field removes its data from reports; export before deletion.

Field descriptions and naming conventions reduce agent error.

Reports cover volume, first response, resolution, SLA compliance, agent performance, and CSAT.

Filters (date, group, agent, priority, source) define the dataset; saved reports preserve filters.

Dashboards aggregate report widgets; refresh cadence depends on plan and data volume.

CSAT reliability depends on response rate; report score with sample size.

Backlog and aging reports highlight tickets open beyond thresholds.

Scheduled delivery emails exports to stakeholders; verify recipients and scope.

Metrics use the account time zone; standardize one reporting zone for cross-region teams.

API keys are per-agent; rotate on offboarding and never embed them in client code.

Webhooks POST ticket events to an external URL and can be filtered by event type.

Apps extend UI and server logic; custom apps need a signed package and scopes.

Apply least privilege: request only needed module scopes.

Respect rate limits; back off on HTTP 429.

Webhook retries require idempotency keys on the receiver.

Audit installed apps and active keys quarterly.

Security settings include SSO, MFA, IP allowlisting, password policy, and session timeout.

Audit logs record admin actions with actor, timestamp, and before/after values; retention varies by plan.

Sandbox is a separate environment for testing automations and integrations before production.

Governance covers retention, export and deletion requests, PII handling, and consent.

Review audit logs during incidents for role changes and key creation.

Schedule regular exports of tickets, contacts, and solutions for disaster recovery.

Compliance features depend on plan and contract; confirm data residency before regulated onboarding.

Account time zone and language drive SLA timers, report dates, and portal rendering.

Verify sending domain with SPF and DKIM before customer replies.

Maintain two Account Admins for recovery resilience.

Confirm plan entitlements before relying on sandbox, custom roles, or long audit retention.

Configure business hours and holidays before SLA policies.

Changing the portal subdomain later requires support and breaks existing links.

Document API key ownership and rotation at setup.

Roles: Account Admin, Admin, Agent, Collaborator; custom roles add module scope on eligible plans.

Ticket scope: own, group, restricted, all; 'all' bypasses group restrictions.

Account Admin alone manages roles, billing, and account security.

Group membership is required for group-scoped access.

Collaborators use no full seat and see only shared tickets.

Permission changes apply on next page load without retroactive reassignment.

Export the agent roster before permission restructuring.

Statuses: Open, Pending, Resolved, Closed; custom statuses map to lifecycle categories.

Agent reply sets Pending; customer reply reopens Pending and Resolved.

Auto-close interval for Resolved is configured in account ticket settings.

Closed tickets are read-only; replies reopen or create follow-ups per settings.

Merging closes the secondary ticket and links it to the primary.

Spam and deleted tickets are excluded from most reports.

Activity log records status, assignee, group, and field changes.

Dispatch'r: creation only; Observer: creation and update; Supervisor: elapsed time.

Rules evaluate top-down and stop at first match unless 'continue' is set.

Conditions within a rule are AND; OR needs separate rules.

Observer actions include assign, status, tags, email, and webhooks.

Supervisor timers reset on field value change.

Rules affect future events only; retroactive edits require bulk actions.

Test in sandbox or a tagged test group before enabling.

A group combines agents, business hours, and an assignment strategy.

Group business hours override account hours for SLA and Supervisor timing.

Strategies: round-robin, balanced (fewest open), load-based (weighted).

Agents can belong to multiple groups; primary group affects defaults.

Group-scoped agents see only group tickets; ungrouped tickets need all-ticket scope.

Deleting a group requires reassigning open tickets.

Group email aliases route inbound mail directly to the group.

Skills are account-level attributes with proficiency levels assigned per agent.

Skill routing needs a rule that filters candidates by skill before assignment.

Proficiency can weight or restrict assignment.

Removing a skill definition detaches it from all agents.

Skills affect assignment, not visibility.

Group narrows the pool, skill filters, strategy picks the agent.

Audit skill coverage against volume before enabling routing.

Business hours define working days, hours, and holidays for SLA clocks.

Calendar-hours vs business-hours SLA settings must be consistent across policies.

Holidays attach to a calendar and exclude those dates.

Assignment order: rule, group strategy, fallback agent.

Round-robin rotates; balanced uses fewest open; load-based uses capacity.

No eligible agent leaves the ticket unassigned until escalation.

SLA clocks start at creation or last customer reply per policy.

Support addresses map to groups and default priorities.

Inbound mail requires MX forwarding to the Freshdesk address.

SPF, DKIM, and DMARC improve deliverability.

The portal offers a ticket form, knowledge base, and branding.

Channels include email, portal, chat, phone, social, and API.

Threading depends on ticket ID in the subject.

From and reply-to addresses must be verified.

Canned responses are reusable templates with placeholders rendered at insert.

Sharing is account-wide or folder-restricted to groups/agents.

Unresolved placeholders appear literally in the reply.

Attachments and HTML are supported within size limits.

Canned responses differ from ticket templates and Solution articles.

Tag replies to track usage and find outdated responses.

Update responses after policy changes.

Solutions use categories, folders, and articles with public, logged-in, or agent-only visibility.

Statuses are Draft, Published, and Archived; drafts and archived items are hidden.

Search uses title, body, tags, and keywords; SEO fields aid discovery.

Feedback and views feed quality reports.

Suggested articles deflect tickets based on keywords.

Multilingual solutions need per-language articles matching locale.

Versioning and approvals depend on plan; otherwise keep a change log.

SLA policies set first-response and resolution targets in business or calendar hours.

First matching policy applies based on conditions.

Targets can escalate in stages with breach actions.

Breach actions include notification, reassignment, and priority change.

Timers pause on Pending and resume on customer reply per settings.

Overlapping policies require ordering review.

SLA reports show met/breached counts by policy, group, and agent.

Escalations come from Supervisor rules or SLA breach actions.

Supervisor conditions use elapsed time since a field value was set.

Actions include reassignment, priority raise, notification, and webhook.

SLA and Supervisor escalations are independent.

Timers respect business hours, delaying weekend firing.

Tier escalations to avoid duplicate notifications.

Measure with time-to-first-response and reassignment counts.

Custom fields exist for tickets, contacts, and companies; type is fixed after data exists.

Visibility targets agents, portal customers, or both; required fields block submission.

Ticket templates prefill fields and can appear on the portal.

Dependent dropdowns chain parent and child values.

Archive unused fields rather than deleting them.

Export field data before deletion to preserve reports.

Field descriptions and naming conventions reduce errors.

Reports cover volume, response, resolution, SLA, agent performance, and CSAT.

Filters define datasets; saved reports preserve filter sets.

Dashboards aggregate report widgets with plan-dependent refresh.

Report CSAT score with sample size for reliability.

Backlog and aging reports show tickets open beyond thresholds.

Scheduled delivery emails exports; verify recipients and scope.

Metrics use the account time zone; standardize reporting zone.

API keys are per-agent; rotate on offboarding and never embed in client code.

Webhooks POST ticket events and can be filtered by event type.

Custom apps need a signed package and scopes.

Request only needed module scopes.

Back off on HTTP 429 rate limits.

Use idempotency keys on webhook receivers for retries.

Audit apps and keys quarterly.

Security includes SSO, MFA, IP allowlisting, password policy, and session timeout.

Audit logs capture admin actions with actor, timestamp, and before/after values.

Sandbox is a separate environment for testing before production.

Governance covers retention, export and deletion, PII handling, and consent.

Review audit logs during incidents for role changes and key creation.

Schedule regular exports for disaster recovery.

Confirm data residency and compliance options before regulated onboarding.

Set account time zone and language first; they affect SLA timers, reports, and portal rendering.

Verify sending domain with SPF and DKIM before customer replies.

Keep two Account Admins for recovery resilience.

Confirm plan entitlements for sandbox, custom roles, and audit retention.

Configure business hours and holidays before SLA policies.

Changing the portal subdomain later requires support and breaks links.

Document API key ownership and rotation at setup.

Default roles: Account Admin, Admin, Agent, Collaborator; custom roles add module scope.

Ticket scope: own, group, restricted, all; 'all' bypasses group restrictions.

Account Admin alone manages roles, billing, and security.

Group membership is required for group-scoped access.

Collaborators use no full seat and see only shared tickets.

Permission changes apply on next page load without retroactive reassignment.

Export the agent roster before restructuring permissions.

Statuses: Open, Pending, Resolved, Closed; custom statuses map to lifecycle categories.

Agent reply sets Pending; customer reply reopens Pending and Resolved.

Resolved tickets auto-close after the configured interval.

Closed tickets are read-only; replies reopen or create follow-ups per settings.

Merging closes the secondary ticket and links it to the primary.

Spam and deleted tickets are excluded from most reports.

Activity log records status, assignee, group, and field changes.

Dispatch'r fires on creation only; Observer on creation and update; Supervisor on elapsed time.

Rules evaluate top-down and stop at first match unless 'continue' is set.

Conditions within a rule are AND; OR needs separate rules.

Observer actions include assign, status, tags, email, and webhooks.

Supervisor timers reset on field value change.

Rules affect future events only; retroactive edits need bulk actions.

Test in sandbox or a tagged test group before enabling.

A group combines agents, business hours, and an assignment strategy.

Group business hours override account hours for SLA and Supervisor timing.

Strategies: round-robin, balanced (fewest open), load-based (weighted).

Agents can belong to multiple groups; primary group affects defaults.

Group-scoped agents see only group tickets; ungrouped tickets need all-ticket scope.

Deleting a group requires reassigning open tickets.

Group email aliases route inbound mail directly to the group.

Skills are account-level attributes with proficiency levels assigned per agent.

Skill routing needs a rule that filters candidates by skill before assignment.

Proficiency can weight or restrict assignment.

Removing a skill definition detaches it from all agents.

Skills affect assignment, not visibility.

Group narrows the pool, skill filters, strategy picks the agent.

Audit skill coverage against volume before enabling routing.

Business hours define working days, hours, and holidays for SLA clocks.

Calendar-hours vs business-hours SLA settings must be consistent across policies.

Holidays attach to a calendar and exclude those dates.

Assignment order: rule, group strategy, fallback agent.

Round-robin rotates; balanced uses fewest open; load-based uses capacity.

No eligible agent leaves the ticket unassigned until escalation.

SLA clocks start at creation or last customer reply per policy.

Support addresses map to groups and default priorities.

Inbound mail requires MX forwarding to the Freshdesk address.

SPF, DKIM, and DMARC improve deliverability.

The portal offers a ticket form, knowledge base, and branding.

Channels include email, portal, chat, phone, social, and API.

Threading depends on ticket ID in the subject.

From and reply-to addresses must be verified.

Canned responses are reusable templates with placeholders rendered at insert.

Sharing is account-wide or folder-restricted to groups/agents.

Unresolved placeholders appear literally in the reply.

Attachments and HTML are supported within size limits.

Canned responses differ from ticket templates and Solution articles.

Tag replies to track usage and find outdated responses.

Update responses after policy changes.

Solutions use categories, folders, and articles with public, logged-in, or agent-only visibility.

Statuses are Draft, Published, and Archived; drafts and archived items are hidden.

Search uses title, body, tags, and keywords; SEO fields aid discovery.

Feedback and views feed quality reports.

Suggested articles deflect tickets based on keywords.

Multilingual solutions need per-language articles matching locale.

Versioning and approvals depend on plan; otherwise keep a change log.

SLA policies set first-response and resolution targets in business or calendar hours.

First matching policy applies based on conditions.

Targets can escalate in stages with breach actions.

Breach actions include notification, reassignment, and priority change.

Timers pause on Pending and resume on customer reply per settings.

Overlapping policies require ordering review.

SLA reports show met/breached counts by policy, group, and agent.

Escalations come from Supervisor rules or SLA breach actions.

Supervisor conditions use elapsed time since a field value was set.

Actions include reassignment, priority raise, notification, and webhook.

SLA and Supervisor escalations are independent.

Timers respect business hours, delaying weekend firing.

Tier escalations to avoid duplicate notifications.

Measure with time-to-first-response and reassignment counts.

Custom fields exist for tickets, contacts, and companies; type is fixed after data exists.

Visibility targets agents, portal customers, or both; required fields block submission.

Ticket templates prefill fields and can appear on the portal.

Dependent dropdowns chain parent and child values.

Archive unused fields rather than deleting them.

Export field data before deletion to preserve reports.

Field descriptions and naming conventions reduce errors.

Reports cover volume, response, resolution, SLA, agent performance, and CSAT.

Filters define datasets; saved reports preserve filter sets.

Dashboards aggregate report widgets with plan-dependent refresh.

Report CSAT score with sample size for reliability.

Backlog and aging reports show tickets open beyond thresholds.

Scheduled delivery emails exports; verify recipients and scope.

Metrics use the account time zone; standardize reporting zone.

API keys are per-agent; rotate on offboarding and never embed in client code.

Webhooks POST ticket events and can be filtered by event type.

Custom apps need a signed package and scopes.

Request only needed module scopes.

Back off on HTTP 429 rate limits.

Use idempotency keys on webhook receivers for retries.

Audit apps and keys quarterly.

Security includes SSO, MFA, IP allowlisting, password policy, and session timeout.

Audit logs capture admin actions with actor, timestamp, and before/after values.

Sandbox is a separate environment for testing before production.

Governance covers retention, export and deletion, PII handling, and consent.

Review audit logs during incidents for role changes and key creation.

Schedule regular exports for disaster recovery.

Confirm data residency and compliance options before regulated onboarding.

Set account time zone and language first; they affect SLA timers, reports, and portal rendering.

Verify sending domain with SPF and DKIM before customer replies.

Keep two Account Admins for recovery resilience.

Confirm plan entitlements for sandbox, custom roles, and audit retention.

Configure business hours and holidays before SLA policies.

Changing the portal subdomain later requires support and breaks links.

Document API key ownership and rotation at setup.

Default roles: Account Admin, Admin, Agent, Collaborator; custom roles add module scope.

Ticket scope: own, group, restricted, all; 'all' bypasses group restrictions.

Account Admin alone manages roles, billing, and security.

Group membership is required for group-scoped access.

Collaborators use no full seat and see only shared tickets.

Permission changes apply on next page load without retroactive reassignment.

Export the agent roster before restructuring permissions.

Statuses: Open, Pending, Resolved, Closed; custom statuses map to lifecycle categories.

Agent reply sets Pending; customer reply reopens Pending and Resolved.

Resolved tickets auto-close after the configured interval.

Closed tickets are read-only; replies reopen or create follow-ups per settings.

Merging closes the secondary ticket and links it to the primary.

Spam and deleted tickets are excluded from most reports.

Activity log records status, assignee, group, and field changes.

Dispatch'r fires on creation only; Observer on creation and update; Supervisor on elapsed time.

Rules evaluate top-down and stop at first match unless 'continue' is set.

Conditions within a rule are AND; OR needs separate rules.

Observer actions include assign, status, tags, email, and webhooks.

Supervisor timers reset on field value change.

Rules affect future events only; retroactive edits need bulk actions.

Test in sandbox or a tagged test group before enabling.

A group combines agents, business hours, and an assignment strategy.

Group business hours override account hours for SLA and Supervisor timing.

Strategies: round-robin, balanced (fewest open), load-based (weighted).

Agents can belong to multiple groups; primary group affects defaults.

Group-scoped agents see only group tickets; ungrouped tickets need all-ticket scope.

Deleting a group requires reassigning open tickets.

Group email aliases route inbound mail directly to the group.

Skills are account-level attributes with proficiency levels assigned per agent.

Skill routing needs a rule that filters candidates by skill before assignment.

Proficiency can weight or restrict assignment.

Removing a skill definition detaches it from all agents.

Skills affect assignment, not visibility.

Group narrows the pool, skill filters, strategy picks the agent.

Audit skill coverage against volume before enabling routing.

Business hours define working days, hours, and holidays for SLA clocks.

Calendar-hours vs business-hours SLA settings must be consistent across policies.

Holidays attach to a calendar and exclude those dates.

Assignment order: rule, group strategy, fallback agent.

Round-robin rotates; balanced uses fewest open; load-based uses capacity.

No eligible agent leaves the ticket unassigned until escalation.

SLA clocks start at creation or last customer reply per policy.

Support addresses map to groups and default priorities.

Inbound mail requires MX forwarding to the Freshdesk address.

SPF, DKIM, and DMARC improve deliverability.

The portal offers a ticket form, knowledge base, and branding.

Channels include email, portal, chat, phone, social, and API.

Threading depends on ticket ID in the subject.

From and reply-to addresses must be verified.

Canned responses are reusable templates with placeholders rendered at insert.

Sharing is account-wide or folder-restricted to groups/agents.

Unresolved placeholders appear literally in the reply.

Attachments and HTML are supported within size limits.

Canned responses differ from ticket templates and Solution articles.

Tag replies to track usage and find outdated responses.

Update responses after policy changes.

Solutions use categories, folders, and articles with public, logged-in, or agent-only visibility.

Statuses are Draft, Published, and Archived; drafts and archived items are hidden.

Search uses title, body, tags, and keywords; SEO fields aid discovery.

Feedback and views feed quality reports.

Suggested articles deflect tickets based on keywords.

Multilingual solutions need per-language articles matching locale.

Versioning and approvals depend on plan; otherwise keep a change log.

SLA policies set first-response and resolution targets in business or calendar hours.

First matching policy applies based on conditions.

Targets can escalate in stages with breach actions.

Breach actions include notification, reassignment, and priority change.

Timers pause on Pending and resume on customer reply per settings.

Overlapping policies require ordering review.

SLA reports show met/breached counts by policy, group, and agent.

Escalations come from Supervisor rules or SLA breach actions.

Supervisor conditions use elapsed time since a field value was set.

Actions include reassignment, priority raise, notification, and webhook.

SLA and Supervisor escalations are independent.

Timers respect business hours, delaying weekend firing.

Tier escalations to avoid duplicate notifications.

Measure with time-to-first-response and reassignment counts.

Custom fields exist for tickets, contacts, and companies; type is fixed after data exists.

Visibility targets agents, portal customers, or both; required fields block submission.

Ticket templates prefill fields and can appear on the portal.

Dependent dropdowns chain parent and child values.

Archive unused fields rather than deleting them.

Export field data before deletion to preserve reports.

Field descriptions and naming conventions reduce errors.

Reports cover volume, response, resolution, SLA, agent performance, and CSAT.

Filters define datasets; saved reports preserve filter sets.

Dashboards aggregate report widgets with plan-dependent refresh.

Report CSAT score with sample size for reliability.

Backlog and aging reports show tickets open beyond thresholds.

Scheduled delivery emails exports; verify recipients and scope.

Metrics use the account time zone; standardize reporting zone.

API keys are per-agent; rotate on offboarding and never embed in client code.

Webhooks POST ticket events and can be filtered by event type.

Custom apps need a signed package and scopes.

Request only needed module scopes.

Back off on HTTP 429 rate limits.

Use idempotency keys on webhook receivers for retries.

Audit apps and keys quarterly.

Security includes SSO, MFA, IP allowlisting, password policy, and session timeout.

Audit logs capture admin actions with actor, timestamp, and before/after values.

Sandbox is a separate environment for testing before production.

Governance covers retention, export and deletion, PII handling, and consent.

Review audit logs during incidents for role changes and key creation.

Schedule regular exports for disaster recovery.

Confirm data residency and compliance options before regulated onboarding.