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.

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 are synced to Plain

• Changes to existing tickets (status, priority, assignee) are not synced after initial import

• 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 Do Not 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 will not 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

1. Go to Settings → Zendesk importer

2. Enter your Zendesk subdomain (e.g. plain for https://plain.zendesk.com)

3. Follow the prompts to connect your account and begin import

4. To stop syncing at any time, return to Settings → Zendesk importer and click Disconnect

Freshdesk

What Gets Imported

When you connect your Freshdesk account, we import:

• Contacts → Plain customers

• Tickets → Plain threads

  • Resolved/Closed tickets are imported as Done

  • Open/Pending tickets are imported as Todo

  • All messages (including private notes) are carried over

• Tags → Plain labels

Ongoing Sync

After the initial import:

• New tickets, messages, and contacts are synced to Plain every 5 minutes

• Changes to existing tickets (status, priority, assignee) are not synced after initial import

• No webhook or auto-responder events will be triggered by the import

How to Set It Up

1. Go to Settings → Freshdesk importer

2. Follow the prompts to connect your Freshdesk account

3. Your existing data will begin syncing into Plain

4. To stop syncing, return to Settings → Freshdesk importer and click Disconnect

Intercom

Switching tools should not 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 Plain

• Conversations → Threads: All historical conversations – including chat, email, and more – are brought into Plain as threads

  • Each 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

Ongoing Sync

After your initial import, the sync will continue automatically:

• New contacts, admins, and conversations will be synced from Intercom into Plain every hour

• Changes to existing conversations (status, assignee) are not synced after initial import

How to Run an Import

1. Go to Settings → Intercom importer

2. Follow the prompts to connect your Intercom account

3. Start the import – it may take a while depending on the size of your workspace

4. Once complete, you will see imported conversations in your inbox, fully attributed and linked

Front

What Gets Imported

When you connect your Front account, we import:

• Contacts → Plain customers

• Conversations → Plain threads

  • Archived conversations are imported as Done

  • All others are imported as Todo

  • All messages and comments are carried over

• Tags → Plain labels

Ongoing Sync

After the initial import:

• New conversations, messages, and contacts are synced to Plain

• Changes to existing conversations (status, assignee) are not synced after initial import

• No webhook or auto-responder events will be triggered by the import

How to Set It Up

1. Go to Settings → Front importer

2. Follow the prompts to connect your Front account

3. Your existing data will begin syncing into Plain

4. To stop syncing, return to Settings → Front importer and click Disconnect

Help Scout

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.

Ongoing Sync

After the initial import:

• New customers, conversations, threads, notes, and tags from Help Scout will be synced hourly

• Changes to existing conversations (status, assignee) are not synced after initial import

How to Get Started

1. Go to Settings → Help Scout importer

2. Follow the steps to connect your Help Scout account

3. If you have multiple mailboxes, you can sync each one individually

4. Once connected, your historical data will begin importing

5. After the initial sync, Plain will keep your Help Scout data up to date automatically