Zendesk Support Plugin Installation & Setup

Please note that this plugin is a paid product. For pricing information, please reach out to your Smartling Customer Success Manager.

Prerequisites

Users

• The user installing the plugin must be an Admin user in Zendesk, and an Account Owner or Project Manager user in Smartling
  • The Zendesk Agents who may us the plugin do not need to be set up on Smartling as a user
  • All activity history tracked in the Smartling project will be listed under the installer's username

Translatable tickets

• For tickets to be translatable with Smartling's Zendesk Support Plugin, they must be created via email or via a Zendesk Web Form. Zendesk tickets created via API require some additional configuration to be translatable. If your tickets are created via an API, contact Smartling support for assistance. 

Pop-ups blocks

The installation process requires Smartling to open tabs in your browser. Ensure your browser does not block pop-ups, or the connection may fail. 

In Zendesk

Step One: Install Smartling for Support

1. Find the Smartling for Support plugin on the Zendesk Marketplace
2. Click Install
   
3. Select your Zendesk account and click Install
   
4. Scroll to the bottom of the new page to find the "Install" button.
   • IMPORTANT: All input boxes except "Title" must be empty.
   • If your password manager prefilled any fields, ensure to remove any text there. Then click “Install”.
     
5. The app will be added to your list
   

 

Step Two: Connect the App

1. Open any ticket to see the Smartling App in the Apps bar
   
2. Click on the “Login” button and a new tab with the Smartling login form will be opened. IMPORTANT: Make sure your browser does not block pop-ups; otherwise, the connection may fail.
   
3. You should see a Successful login confirmation. However, the plugin will open an additional tab with the Smartling Dashboard.
   
4. You can safely close these two new tabs and return to the tab with your ticket
5. Choose the Smartling Project you want your tickets translated into
   • This can be any project type 
   • If you need to use this plugin on more than one environment, you simply have to choose a different project when setting this up
   • The project is required to save your Zendesk Plugin settings in the backend
6. Decide if all ticket threads that are not in your Zendesk's source language are automatically machine translated, or only machine translated if the agent chooses to do so by configuring the automation type:
   • Full: all threads are automatically translated
   • Triggered: threads are only translated if the agent clicks a button in the widget.
   • Note, you can change the automation at any time after disconnecting the plugin in the widget.
     
7. Once connected, you will see a Settings button in the widget where you can select the agents who are authorized to use the plugin 
   
   • If you want only specific agents to have access, select them. This will remove the plugin for the unselected agents
   • Clicking on W/R enables the plugin to include the agent's writesInLocale (the languages the end user's ticket will be translated into for the agent to read and write a response) and readsInLocales settings (the languages the agent can read, so that the end user's query will not be translated to these locales)
8. Choose to authorize any new agents automatically to use the plugin by selecting the new agent checkbox
9. Click Connect.
   • This is the final step in configuring Zendesk and Smartling for bidirectional communication. The app will open a new tab where you should see a confirmation. You can safely close this tab.
     

In Smartling

STEP Three: Enable Machine Translation (MT)

To enable MT, Account Owner or Project Manager users should:

1. Go to Account Settings > Machine Translation Settings
2. Click the Zendesk Support Plugin tab
3. Click the toggle ON to enable MT
4. Additionally, you can integrate your own trained MT or any of the supported MT providers and set up language-specific rules.

For more information on how to set up a specific MT Profile, read our documentation on Creating and Managing MT Profiles.

What happens next

• Once connected, Smartling will auto-detect the language in any inbound ticket.
• Any languages detected outside the Zendesk account default language will have a language tag automatically applied to it.
• If the automation type is set to full, all threads are automatically translated.
• If the automation type is set to triggered, the agent can choose which threads are sent to Smartling for machine translation.
• Translated tickets are automatically returned to your agent in the Zendesk account default language.
• Your agent can then proceed to write a response to the end-user in an internal note, beginning with the tag #smartling.

Triggers

The following is information about the triggers that are automatically applied to your Zendesk instance once the plugin is installed by completing all steps above. Triggers are required for the plugin to work. It is critical that these triggers are not removed or modified in any way. Zendesk Admins can find the triggers with the following steps:

1. Go to your Zendesk Admin Center
   
2. Under Objects and rules > Business Rules, click Triggers
   
   
3. Scroll to the bottom of the page to view the three new triggers:
   
   1. Smartling notify new ticket: enable this trigger to auto-insert the smartling tag on any new inbound ticket.
      • This means that Smartling will auto-detect the language used in any inbound ticket and if this is not the Zendesk account default language, it is automatically sent to Smartling for machine translation.
      • Ensure your MT Provider supports your customer's native language.
      • The tag is required to send the ticket for translation.
   2. Smartling notify public comment: this trigger to automatically send your agent's response to your customer once it's translated.
      • Watches subsequent tickets on the thread and ensures they are sent for translation
   3. Smartling notify private comment: this trigger to automatically send your agent's internal note response to Smartling for machine translation.
      • Sends tickets with the smartling tag for translation
      • The comment must contain #smartling to send the ticket for translation

All three triggers must be enabled. Do not modify.

Testing

Here are some tips to test the Zendesk Support plugin internally before using it with your customers (end-users).

Language

Write a ticket in a language other than the default language (or a variation of it)

You can test the installation and set up by emailing your support team a test email in any language outside the default language in your Zendesk account. Note, the plugin will not translate public comments from/to similar locales, for example, a test email in British English will not be translated if the default languages in Zendesk is en-US.

Uninstalling the Zendesk Support Plugin

If you wish to stop using Smartling’s Zendesk Support Plugin, you must uninstall the plugin from your Zendesk instance. Otherwise, your Zendesk instance will continue to send tickets to Smartling. Follow the steps below to uninstall the plugin:

1. Open any ticket to view the Smartling App in the Apps bar. 
   
2. Click Settings > Disconnect. 
   
   Once you see the “Login to Smartling” button, the plugin has been successfully disconnected. You can now proceed to uninstall the plugin.
3. Go to Admin Center > Apps and integrations > Zendesk Support apps (/admin/apps-integrations/apps/support-apps).
4. Locate the Smartling App, click the settings icon, and select Uninstall.