Zendesk export tickets with comments: every method by plan

Which Zendesk ticket export should you use?

Zendesk has three built-in routes plus the API. The right one depends on your plan and whether you need the conversation, not just the ticket fields.

Sources: Exporting ticket, user, or organization data, Exporting a view of tickets to a CSV file and the Incremental Exports API.

How do you export a Zendesk view to CSV?

This works on every plan and is fine for a ticket list or a quick report.

1. In Support, click Views in the sidebar.
2. Click the view you want.
3. Click Export CSV in the upper right, or Actions > Export as CSV. The view must be unfiltered.
4. Check the primary email on your profile for the download link.

You can export a view once every 10 minutes. Zendesk warns that larger views may fail even when they display fine, so split big views by date or status. On Enterprise, a custom role permission controls who sees the option.

How do you export all Zendesk tickets with comments?

Use the full JSON export. Zendesk's export article gives these steps:

1. Have the account owner contact Zendesk Customer Support and ask them to turn on data exports. Include your Support subdomain. Exports are off by default.
2. In Admin Center, go to Account > Tools > Reports, then the Export tab.
3. Choose JSON, pick a date range and the data type (tickets, users or organizations), and click Export.
4. Wait for the email with the download link. It can take a few minutes or more than a day, and the link stays valid for at least three days.

The file is newline-delimited JSON. Zendesk recommends JSON over XML for accounts with more than 200,000 tickets.

Any ticket over 1 MB has its comments left out and is listed in a separate file with an error. Export users and organizations too, so the new system can match tickets to customers.

How do you export tickets on a Zendesk Team plan?

Team plans don't get the admin export tools. Zendesk says all plans can use the REST API instead.

For a bulk export, use the incremental ticket events endpoint with the comment_events sideload. Without that sideload, the API only tells you a comment exists, not what it says.

Plan for the rate limit. The incremental endpoints allow 10 requests per minute, with up to 1,000 results per page.

Zendesk recommends cursor-based pagination, and only admins can call these endpoints. Deleted tickets are included unless you set exclude_deleted=true. Zendesk also publishes a Python tutorial that writes tickets to CSV.

How do you get attachments out of Zendesk?

Zendesk states plainly that Support has no full download or export for attachments (article). For all tickets, run the JSON export, collect the attachment links, then request each one through the API and download the file. The private download links are temporary and return an error if you store them for later, so download each file right after you fetch it.

A pre-switch checklist

1. Check your plan. That decides whether you use the admin export or the API.
2. Ask Zendesk Support to turn on data exports now. Don't wait for the last week.
3. Export tickets, users and organizations as JSON.
4. Pull attachments with the API while you still have access.
5. Export your macros, triggers and Help Center articles. The ticket export doesn't cover them, but the API has endpoints for macros, triggers and articles.
6. Import into the new tool and compare ticket counts by month.
7. Run one last export after you stop taking tickets in Zendesk.
8. Cancel.

When should you cancel relative to your Zendesk renewal?

Zendesk's Canceling products and accounts article sets the rules:

• You must give at least 30 days' notice before the subscription term ends. For self-service accounts, canceling in Admin Center counts as notice.
• Only the account owner can cancel, from Account > Billing > Subscription > Manage. Billing admins can't. Sales-assisted accounts must go through Zendesk Sales.
• Cancellation takes effect after the billing cycle ends. You keep using the account until then.

After that, the clock runs. Zendesk says it begins permanently deleting account data 90 days after the cancellation date, per its data deletion policy.

Once you cancel you lose access, and getting data back means asking Support for a temporary reactivation within those 90 days (article). Finish the exports before you cancel.

Missing the 30-day window can cost a full term. Suite Professional is $115 per agent a month and Suite Team is $55 (list price, billed yearly, October 2026). For 10 agents on Suite Professional, a year is $13,800.

When one system makes more sense

If support is your main workload and you have many agents, another help desk is often the better fit. The Zendesk alternatives page compares the off-the-shelf options.

If your team is small and Zendesk is one of several tools you're cutting, putting tickets next to your CRM and tasks in one system may cost less. The Zendesk cost calculator shows what you pay now, and FitMySaaS can load the JSON export into that build.

Questions

Does the Zendesk CSV export include comments?

No. Zendesk says the admin CSV export excludes ticket comments, descriptions and deleted tickets. Use the JSON or XML export, or the API, for the conversation.

Why don't I see the export option in Admin Center?

Exports are off by default. The account owner has to ask Zendesk Customer Support to turn them on, and Team plans don't get these tools at all.

Can I export Zendesk tickets to Excel?

Yes, for ticket fields. A view CSV or the admin CSV opens in Excel. For comment history you need the JSON export or the API, then convert it.

Can I export data after canceling Zendesk?

Only by asking Zendesk Support for a temporary reactivation within 90 days of cancellation. After that, Zendesk starts deleting the data.

How long does a full Zendesk export take?

Zendesk says anywhere from a few minutes to a day or more, depending on the date range and ticket activity.