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Migrate from Freshdesk to message.com

Freshdesk is the helpdesk arm of Freshworks (Freshchat is the live-chat sibling, Freshcaller the phone product). message.com swaps all three for one unified inbox: tickets, chat, and phone in the same queue, no per-agent tax, AI in base.

What stays the same

  • Email-driven tickets. Same inbound address pattern.
  • SLA policies. Configurable per department.
  • Canned responses. Map to message.com saved replies.
  • Custom fields. Become message.com custom attributes.

What is different

  • Single product, not three. Freshdesk + Freshchat + Freshcaller becomes one workspace in message.com.
  • Predictable pricing. No per-agent escalation; no add-on tier-up for AI.
  • Unified inbox. Agents work one queue across channels instead of three browser tabs.
  • API surface. One JWT scoped to the workspace. See REST conventions.

1. Export Freshdesk data

  1. From the Freshdesk admin, go to Admin → Account → Data export.
  2. Export Contacts, Companies, and Tickets as CSV.
  3. For full ticket bodies, use the Freshdesk REST API: GET /api/v2/tickets with include=conversations,description.
  4. Note your group structure; recreate as message.com departments.

2. Set up message.com

  1. Sign up at app.message.com/register.
  2. Enable all relevant channels: chat, tickets, phone.
  3. Create departments matching your Freshdesk groups. See Route by department.

3. Connect email domain

Two paths:

4. Import contacts

Upload the Freshdesk contacts CSV under Settings → Visitors → Import. Map:

  • Freshdesk email → email.
  • Freshdesk name → name.
  • Freshdesk contact ID → externalId with freshdesk: prefix.
  • Custom fields → attributes.

5. Swap the Freshchat widget

Remove the Freshchat snippet (wchat.freshchat.com). Paste:

HTML
<script>
  (function(d,s,o){
    var j=d.createElement(s);j.async=1;j.src='https://app.message.com/widget.js';
    j.dataset.workspace=o;
    d.head.appendChild(j);
  })(document,'script','YOUR_WORKSPACE_ID');
</script>

6. Port phones from Freshcaller

If you use Freshcaller, port your numbers onto our carrier-grade SIP infrastructure. Open a porting ticket with message.com support; they handle the LOA paperwork. Plan two to three weeks for completion.

7. Recreate macros, SLAs, automations

Cutover checklist

  • Email delivery verified: send to support, confirm ticket arrives.
  • Outbound replies: confirm spf=pass dkim=pass on a test reply.
  • Freshchat snippet removed, message.com snippet live.
  • Phone numbers ported (or new numbers claimed, old number forwarded during transition).
  • Departments mirror old Freshdesk groups.
  • Macros recreated.
  • SLAs configured per department.
  • Dual-load (forwarding) for one to two weeks.
  • MX move when team confirms readiness.
  • Cancel Freshdesk / Freshchat / Freshcaller. Hold Freshdesk in read-only archive mode for compliance.

Common pitfalls

  • Three products at once. If you use all three Freshworks tools, plan the cutover in stages: tickets first, chat second, phone last (phone porting takes weeks).
  • Time-tracking add-on. Freshdesk has a built-in timer; message.com's reports cover handle time differently. Decide what metric matters.
  • Custom field types. Freshdesk supports typed fields (date, number, etc.). message.com custom attributes are flexible JSON; cast at import.
  • Multi-product navigation. Agents used to switching between Freshdesk and Freshchat tabs need to learn the one-inbox flow.