Most Freshdesk migrations don't fail during the data transfer. They fail in the two hours before it starts — missing fields, active automations, agents not set up, no one told about the cutover window. The technical part is straightforward. The preparation is where things go wrong.
Here's what to sort out at each stage.
Before you start, prepare Freshdesk to receive data
The most common mistake is connecting your source platform before Freshdesk is ready. If the fields don't exist on the target side, the data has nowhere to go.
- Create all custom ticket, contact, and company fields in Freshdesk before the migration runs. Missing fields mean silent data loss.
- Set up all agents and groups, matched to your source platform. Unmatched agents mean unassigned tickets.
- Activate the Freshdesk Help Center if you're migrating Knowledge Base articles. Only the account owner can do this — it has to happen before the migration, not after.
- Handle inactive or deleted agents. Tickets assigned to them need remapping to an active agent, or they'll land in the wrong place.
- Inform your team about the migration schedule and when to stop working in the old system. Send a reminder the day before to avoid anyone logging tickets in the wrong place on cutover day.
Disable automations — and verify it yourself
This is the step that causes the most post-migration chaos. Vendors often claim that automations are disabled automatically during import. They don't always.
Before importing a single record, go to Admin > Workflows > Automations and manually disable:
- Ticket creation automations
- Time-triggered automations
- Scenario automations
Note: If you can't fully disable automations, add a tag to migrated tickets during mapping and update your automation rules to exclude that tag. This prevents existing workflows from firing on historical data during the import.
Also, disable Parent-Child Ticketing if your plan includes it. Task-type tickets require the Parent-Child relation field — if it's missing, the Migration Wizard skips those tickets entirely.
Filter your data before migrating
Not everything in your source platform needs to move. Migrating everything by default means agents start in a cluttered system full of outdated tickets, closed spam, and test records.
Check my previous post on Data Filtering for more details.
Run a Demo Migration before the full transfer
Help Desk Migration offers an option to run a Free Demo Migration to test the process first. A Demo Migration moves 20 random tickets and 20 KB articles through the exact same logic as the full migration. It's not a preview — it's a dry run. If something breaks in the Demo, it will break in the full transfer too.
Download the migration reports from the dashboard and review migrated, failed, and skipped records before proceeding.
During the full migration
- Freshdesk processes roughly 2,000 tickets per hour — plan your cutover window accordingly.
- Don't change settings, fields, agents, or groups while the migration is active.
- You can continue working in your source system during the migration. Records created or updated after the full migration starts won't appear in Freshdesk — use Delta Migration afterward to sync those (FYI: read my post about Delta Migration).
- Freshdesk runs on UTC. Flag this for your team so agents aren't confused by timestamp offsets.
After the migration: final checks
Before you declare the migration complete:
- All tickets, contacts, and conversations appear as expected
- Custom fields, tags, and attachments are in place
- Agent assignments and permissions are correct
- Automations and workflows are re-enabled and functioning
You can also check my post about typical mistakes when moving to Freshdesk for additional insights.
What's the trickiest part of a Freshdesk migration your team has run into? Useful to compare notes.
