Backup and Restore Tool for Triggers, Automations, Macros & Dynamic Content

This tool uses the Zendesk API and it lets you backup and restore information from your Zendesk instance to a Google Spreadsheet, information such as Triggers, Automations, Macros and Dynamic Content.

Initial Setup

• To use this tool:
  • Create a new spreadsheet in Google Sheets. Once in the spreadsheet, open "Tools" in the naviagtion menu, and click on "Script Editor".
  • Once you open the script editor, rename the "Code.gs" with "backup_script" and add a new "script" with the name "restore_backup". Copy the code from GitHub from the respective files to the files of the same name in the editor.
  • Remember to save!
• In each file:
  • Within the first lines, you'll find a line of code commented out (containing "Here_your_Base64_encoded_login_info") in which you'll have to configure your login info the first time you run the script (uncomment it and replace the "Here_your_Base64_encoded_login_info" with your encoded login credential). There's a functionality in the Spreadsheets of Google in which you can configure an user property, script property or document property, which will allow you to save your API credentials for the basic authorization without having them exposed all the time.
    • To encode your credentials, you can use something like Online Base64 Encoder
      • Here you need to enter the username followed by a full colon ":" and then your password.
        • Example Input: myemail@yahoo.com:password1
        • Encoded Example: bXllbWFpbEB5YWhvby5jb206cGFzc3dvcmQx
      • In most cases, it is better to use an API token, these are created by Zendesk in the Admin menu.
        • If you plan on using one of these then the syntax is slightly different in that you need to add "/token" after the username.
        • Example Input: myemail@yahoo.com/token:reallylongapitokengoeshere
        • Encoded Example: bXllbWFpbEB5YWhvby5jb20vdG9rZW46cmVhbGx5bG9uZ2FwaXRva2VuZ29lc2hlcmU=

    • Google Apps Script Properties Service

  • Replace any instance of "Your_subdomain_here" with your Zendesk subdomain
    • Example: https://Your_subdomain_here.zendesk.com/api/v2/triggers.json

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Note:

Once you run the script the first time, you can remove the line in which you're saving the credentials as a document property.

• The first time running the code it may error out, if it does simply try it again and it should work.

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Backup

To create a backup:

• Create a new tab, rename it with the date of the backup and keep that new tab open.

• In the navigation menu, open "Tools" and open "Macros" and select the "WRITEDATA" function.

  • If you do not see "WRITEDATA", select "import" and add the function.

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Note:

I recommend creating a new tab per backup, and naming it with the current date you're running the backup, to better keep track of when the backup was completed.

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Restore

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Disclaimer!

This will not edit your existing macro/trigger/automation. Instead, will create a new one in Zendesk. This is intended to create new ones out of your backup in case any of your macros/triggers/automations get deleted from Zendesk.

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To restore the items previously backed up:

• In the spreadsheet, use the custom "excel" function "=RESTORE()"

• Write the function in a blank cell, once you write the function, pass as a parameter in the function the cell name you want to restore (selecting one cell only).

  • This function must be used once per cell, otherwise it will throw an error.

• Press "Enter"

• If everything goes well, you'll get a "Success!" message

• Once you see the "success" message, you can delete the cell containing the function. The restored data should appear within a couple of minutes in Zendesk.

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Important note!:

This function must be used once per cell, otherwise it will throw an error.

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