Importers
Our importers makes switching to Plain easy and reliable. Our importers allow you to maintain full visibility on past conversations and avoid starting from scratch when switching platform.
Note: All Importer integrations – including Zendesk, Intercom, and HelpScout – are available on our Grow and Scale plans.
Zendesk
What Gets Imported
When you connect your Zendesk account, we import:
End users → Plain customers
Tickets → Plain threads
Closed/solved tickets are imported as Done
All others are imported as Todo
All messages (including internal notes) are carried over – notes appear as internal comments in Plain
Tags → Plain labels
Ongoing Sync
After the initial import:
New tickets, messages, users, and tags in Zendesk are automatically synced to Plain
No webhook or auto-responder events will be triggered by the import
This ensures your history stays intact – and any ongoing work you do in Zendesk before fully switching continues to sync into Plain.
Sync Logic: What We Don’t Overwrite
Plain will only create new records during sync. We do not overwrite changes made after import:
If an end user is modified in Zendesk after being synced, the change won’t apply in Plain
If you edit a customer, thread, or label in Plain, your changes will remain even if the same object changes later in Zendesk
This ensures your workspace stays in your control – even if Zendesk remains active during your transition.
How to Set It Up
Go to Settings → Zendesk importer
Enter your Zendesk subdomain (e.g.
plain
forhttps://plain.zendesk.com
)Follow the prompts to connect your account and begin import
To stop syncing at any time, return to Settings → Zendesk importer and click Disconnect
Intercom
Switching tools shouldn’t mean losing your customer history. The Intercom importer makes it easy to migrate all your past conversations, contacts, and admins into Plain – so your support team can hit the ground running with full context.
What Gets Imported
When you run an Intercom import:
Contacts → Customers
Every Intercom contact is imported as a customer in PlainConversations → Threads
All historical conversations – including chat, email, and more – are brought into Plain as threadsEach thread will show “Intercom” as the source channel
A direct link to the original Intercom conversation is included for reference
Automatic customer mapping
If a customer already exists in Plain, their imported threads will be correctly associated to avoid duplicates
How to Run an Import
Go to Settings → Intercom importer
Follow the prompts to connect your Intercom account
Start the import – it may take a while depending on the size of your workspace
Once complete, you’ll see imported conversations in your inbox, fully attributed and linked
After your initial import, the sync will continue automatically:
New contacts, admins, and conversations will be synced from Intercom into Plain every hour
The importer is designed to preserve attribution – you'll be able to see which admin handled a conversation and what was said
Tags, status mappings, and metadata are aligned with Plain’s thread model to ensure a seamless transition
Imported data will not trigger auto-responders or webhooks in Plain
Helpscout
What gets Imported
When you connect Help Scout, we import:
End users → Customers: All Help Scout end users become customers in Plain
Conversations → Threads: Every conversation (including internal notes) is imported as a thread
Tags → Labels: Tags from Help Scout are mapped to labels in Plain
Attachments: Any files attached to Help Scout conversations are carried over
We also preserve Help Scout statuses by mapping them to equivalent thread statuses in Plain – so your team can pick up exactly where they left off.
How to Get Started
Go to Settings → Help Scout importer
Follow the steps to connect your Help Scout account
If you have multiple mailboxes, you can sync each one individually
Once connected, your historical data will begin importing
After the initial sync, Plain will keep your Help Scout data up to date automatically
All new customers, conversations, threads, notes, and tags from Help Scout will be synced hourly.
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