Importing Articles from Zendesk Help Center

Migrating your knowledge base from Zendesk? This guide walks you through importing your Help Center articles into cStar.

What Gets Imported

  • Title → Article title
  • Body → Article content (HTML preserved)
  • Draft status → Draft or Published
  • Labels → Tags

Before You Start

Export your Help Center articles from Zendesk:

  1. Go to Admin Center → Channels → Help Center
  2. Click Settings → Export articles
  3. Select format: JSON (recommended) or CSV
  4. Download the export file

Tip: JSON preserves HTML formatting in article bodies. CSV may lose some formatting.

Import Steps

Step 1: Open Platform Import

  1. Go to Settings → Platform Import
  2. Click the Zendesk button

Step 2: Upload Articles File

  1. Drag and drop your articles.json file (or click to browse)
  2. cStar automatically detects article data
  3. Review the preview showing sample articles

Step 3: Review & Configure

Preview Panel:

  • See first 3 article titles
  • Check for validation warnings (e.g., articles with little content)

Duplicate Handling:

  • Skip duplicates: Articles with matching titles are skipped
  • Create anyway: Creates new articles even if title exists

Step 4: Import

Click Import X articles to start. Progress is shown in real-time.

What Gets Imported

Zendesk FieldcStar FieldtitleTitlebodyContent (HTML)draftStatus (draft/published)label_namesTagssection_idIgnored (all go to "Getting Started" category)

What Gets Skipped

  • Articles without titles - Invalid records are flagged as errors
  • Empty content - Articles with < 10 characters show warnings but still import

After Import

Your imported articles appear in the Library page:

  1. All articles default to "Getting Started" category (you can re-categorize later)
  2. Draft articles remain as drafts
  3. Published articles are set to published but not public by default
  4. Tags from Zendesk labels are preserved

Organizing Imported Articles

After import, you may want to:

  1. Re-categorize: Move articles to appropriate categories
  2. Set visibility: Mark articles as public if needed
  3. Review content: Check HTML formatting rendered correctly
  4. Update excerpts: Auto-generated excerpts can be improved

Tips

  • Large imports: cStar processes 50 articles per batch, so large Help Centers work smoothly
  • Test first: Try with a small export to verify formatting
  • HTML content: cStar preserves Zendesk HTML - code blocks, images, tables should work
  • Images: External image URLs from Zendesk CDN may need updating

Troubleshooting

"Article has little or no content" warning

  • This is just a warning - the article will still import
  • Review these articles after import to add content

Formatting looks wrong

  • Some Zendesk-specific HTML classes may not style correctly
  • Edit the article in cStar to fix formatting

Missing images

  • Images hosted on Zendesk CDN may not be accessible
  • Re-upload images to your cStar Library or use a CDN

Related Articles:

  • Importing Customers from Zendesk
  • Managing Your Knowledge Base
  • Article Categories and Organization