Support or ticketing
What happens to your Zendesk data when you cancel
When you cancel a Zendesk account, you lose access to your data. The account owner can ask Zendesk to reactivate the account within 90 days, and Zendesk then bills the amount owed from cancellation through the current billing period. Zendesk deletes account data 90 days after the cancellation date. Export the tickets before that deletion begins.
| Rule | What changes |
|---|---|
| When you stop paying | When you cancel a Zendesk account, you lose access to your data. |
| Deletion events | 2 events. See the timeline below. |
| Deletion window | 90 days |
| Export | 4 steps. See the steps below. |
| Who can export | The account owner has to ask Zendesk Customer Support to enable exports, and the request includes the Support subdomain. |
| What the export requires | The export tools in this article are not on Team plans. |
| Recovery after deletion | The account owner can ask Zendesk to reactivate the account within 90 days of cancellation. |
What Zendesk does when you stop paying
Canceling a Zendesk account takes away access to the data. The account owner can ask Zendesk to reactivate within 90 days. Zendesk then bills the amount owed from the cancellation through the current billing period. Zendesk deletes account data 90 days after the cancellation date, and after those 90 days an automated process begins to permanently delete service data. Ask for reactivation, and finish the export, before that process starts. The 90 days are one window for both the reactivation request and the start of deletion. They are not an extra 90 days stacked on top of each other. Zendesk explains what happens when you stop paying in Can I reactivate or retrieve data from a canceled account?. For the other tools you still pay for, read what happens to company data when you cancel software. Closing this subscription while the company closes is part of how to wind down a company.
Deletion timeline for Zendesk
| Event | After | What the vendor says |
|---|---|---|
| Reactivation window | 90 days | The account owner can ask Zendesk to reactivate within 90 days of cancellation. Zendesk then bills the amount owed from cancellation through the current billing period. |
| Deletion after cancellation | 90 days | Zendesk deletes account data 90 days after the cancellation date. After 90 days an automated process begins to permanently delete service data. |
See Zendesk in the deletion-window dataset beside the other systems.
Export your Zendesk data before you cancel
Exports are off until the account owner asks Zendesk Customer Support to turn them on. Include the Support subdomain in that request. An admin then opens Admin Center, Account, Tools, Reports, and the Export tab if it is not already showing. JSON and CSV take a date range. JSON can be tickets, users, or organizations. XML uses request file beside each option. Zendesk emails a link that is valid for at least three days. AI agent tickets cannot be exported. CSV leaves out comments, descriptions, and deleted tickets.
The cross-vendor checklist is what to do before canceling software when closing a business.
The account owner contacts Zendesk Customer Support, includes the Support subdomain, and asks Zendesk to enable data exports.
The account owner contacts Zendesk Customer Support, includes the Support subdomain, and asks Zendesk to enable data exports.In Admin Center, click Account in the sidebar, then select Tools, then Reports. Open the Export tab if the options are not already showing.
In Admin Center, click Account in the sidebar, then select Tools, then Reports. Open the Export tab if the options are not already showing.Choose JSON, CSV, or XML. For JSON, pick a date range and tickets, users, or organizations, then click Export. For CSV, pick a date range and click Export. For XML, select request file beside each option.
Choose JSON, CSV, or XML. For JSON, pick a date range and tickets, users, or organizations, then click Export. For CSV, pick a date range and click Export. For XML, select request file beside each option.Download the zip from the email Zendesk sends. The download link is valid for at least three days.
Download the zip from the email Zendesk sends. The download link is valid for at least three days.
Who can run the export
The account owner is the person who asks Zendesk to enable exports. After that, a Zendesk admin runs the export from Admin Center. Admins whose email domain is not on the approved list can be blocked from the Reports page. A Team plan does not include these Admin Center tools. Every plan can use the REST API to pull data instead. If Reports is missing after Support has enabled exports, the restriction article is the place the admin is sent. Run the export while the account can still be reactivated.
What to keep from Zendesk
Zendesk holds the support history as tickets, users, and organizations. The zip is that history in JSON, CSV, or XML. A licensed copy can keep the tickets, the users and organizations in the file, and the comments when the file type includes them. Names, emails, phone numbers, and the other details that follow are removed before any copy is shared. A CSV is a thinner file than JSON or XML. It does not grow comments back later. Download the zip before the link expires and before the 90-day deletion begins.
- Tickets in the JSON, CSV, or XML zip
- Users and organizations included in the export
- Ticket comments when the file type includes them
Removed before sharing:
- Names, emails and phone numbers
- Customer and staff details
- Passwords and legal files
Read what data is shared when licensing company data before you decide which of the items below can stay.
Plan-specific caveats
Team plans do not get the export tools in the export article. The REST API is the path Zendesk names for every plan, including Team. CSV omits ticket comments, ticket descriptions, and deleted tickets. A ticket over 1 MB is left out of CSV, which Zendesk says is rare because comments are the large part and CSV does not include them. JSON skips items with a system timestamp inside six minutes of the request. The email link lasts at least three days. If it expires, the latest link on the Reports page is the last file you requested, not a new copy of the account.
What a licensing program can use from support or ticketing
A licensing program can keep tickets as the record of what a customer asked and how the queue answered.
A ticket export is a different file from a CRM record export. Read what happens to your HubSpot data when you cancel, what happens to your Salesforce data when you cancel, and what happens to your Jira data when you stop paying.
Zendesk is named on insurance company data for AI research, and retail company data for AI research.
Related
- What's shared
Which records can be licensed, which details never leave, and what you approve.
- How it works
The six steps from a short enquiry to payment, and how to stop.
Questions about Zendesk cancellation
Can deleted Zendesk data be recovered?
The account owner can ask Zendesk to reactivate the account within 90 days of cancellation. Zendesk then bills the amount owed from the cancellation through the current billing period. After 90 days an automated process begins to permanently delete service data. Ask for reactivation, and export, before that process starts.
Do we need a paid Zendesk plan to export everything?
The export tools in this article are not on Team plans. Every Zendesk plan can use the REST API to export data instead. JSON, CSV, and XML are the file types on Professional and Enterprise. CSV leaves out ticket comments, ticket descriptions, and deleted tickets. AI agent tickets cannot be exported. The email link lasts at least three days.
What does a Zendesk CSV export leave out of the ticket file?
A CSV export leaves out ticket comments, ticket descriptions, and deleted tickets. AI agent tickets cannot be exported in any of the file types. JSON and XML are the formats that carry more of the ticket. The download link in the email is valid for at least three days. The account owner has to ask Zendesk Customer Support to enable exports before an admin can run one.
Can a Zendesk Team plan use the Admin Center export tools?
The export tools in the export article are not available on Team plans. Customers on every Zendesk plan, including Team, can use the REST API to export data. On Professional and Enterprise, an admin runs JSON, CSV, or XML from Admin Center after the account owner has asked Support to enable exports. Include the Support subdomain in that request.
Sources
- Zendesk help. Can I reactivate or retrieve data from a canceled account?. Checked 2026-11-04
- Zendesk help. Exporting ticket, user, or organization data from your account. Checked 2026-11-04