Mentions: How to add !mentions function to your Zendesk

Hi Jake!

It sounds like this is already on the Zendesk roadmap.  Any chance you can share what quarter of 2016 we might be able to expect this ?

Thanks for the tutorial. We implemented this @mention feature using triggers, but instead of email notifications, some of our users preferred to be notified via a Slack message. In case anyone else is interested in being notified via Slack from a Zendesk mention (in place of an email notification):

1. Create a Incoming webhook in your Slack account and title it "Zendesk Mentions", and even upload a custom Zendesk icon, if you wish.
2. In your Zendesk account got to Admin-->Extensions-->Add a target
3. Add an HTTP target with the following and click submit:
        a) Title: "Slack notification"
        b) url: paste in the custom webhook url generated by Slack when you created the "Zendesk Mentions" incoming webhook
        c) Method: POST
        d) Content type: JSON
4. When creating a trigger you now have the ability to choose "Notify target: Slack notification"
5. We added this formatted JSON to notify users in Slack. You can customize this message to your liking by adding/removing Zendesk placeholders and using Slack's Advanced Message Formatting
6. Note: Using the JSON provided, all notifications will be delivered in Slack to each user via the private @slackbot channel. You can change this post to a public channel if you wish.

Hope others find this helpful!

Hey Mike!

This is a fantastic tip! If you feel so inclined, we'd love it if you'd post about it our Tips & Tricks section so it's easy for everyone to find. We'll send you swag!

I've modified this tutorial to work for those who do not want to use the inbuilt @ function (inbuilt function adds mentioned user as a CC - see release notes here)

To fix existing setups of this, change all triggers to use !mentions format instead of the original @mentions and of course, advise agents of the change.

Is there still any way to trigger email notifications to agents when they are mentioned with the @ symbol?

One of the issues we're facing is that @mentions pop up a nice auto-complete menu as they are typed, ensuring the agent chooses exactly who they want. Using !mentions does not, so you have to ensure it's typed right the first time.

I do understand that this will cause the agent to be added to the Cc list as well, that's fine. Just trying to figure out of there's any way to also trigger an email notification this way still too?

Hello Mike, using the @mentions feature adds the user as a CC, and this should email them the comment.  If this isn't the action you are after, maybe make a feature request for the @mentions function - would be nice to have some more options for this.

Hi,

I'd like to create a trigger that fires on an @mention of some user. I cannot see how to do this properly, the best  I can do is put a condition that the user's username is in the CommentText. 

I was expecting to be able create a trigger such as, WHERE CommentText contains '@username'

Does anyone have any suggestions?

Hi Dan, 

I think you've got the right idea for how you can approach it with the currently available tools. However, the end goal you are trying to achieve may be done via some other method.  What is the goal of the trigger that is searching for the @ mention? Are you just trying to notify that person?  Are you trying to add a tag?  Maybe there is another route to accomplish the same without honing in on the @ mention for the workflow. 

Hi Dan, thank you for your quick reply!

The endgame here is to notify a slack channel.

Therefore, I have a trigger setup to trigger where CommentText Contains "the users name". The action set is for my notify target which is a slack webhook. All of which is working fine - but I would like a way to trigger when it is ONLY an @mention. Currently, I have to compare with a basic string. When the user name string is something like "sam", it will trigger on both his name, and any other string that contains "sam"... Therefore, I cannot use it.

Regards,

Dan

I would probably lean towards adding a tag to trigger the notification to Slack in this case.  Names like "Sam" are pretty common inside of other words and I think you'll run into the issue you describe.  However, if your team is trained to add a tag alongside the @ mention that might help you ensure that only the ones they escalate to Slack go there. 

If you are willing/able to code a Zendesk app, you could review the tickets CC's (@ mentioning CCs the user as well) and apply a tag when the CC field is updated and includes a specific user.  There are docs on how to create a Zendesk app here: https://developer.zendesk.com/apps/docs/zendesk-apps/resources

This works very well! However, because it's an email being sent to the agent, shouldn't that create a ticket in Zendesk if the email is forwarding to a zendesk support email?

Hello Nathan, it would be an unusual workflow where an agent email was entirely forwarding to the support email, and certainly not how this is made to work.
Also for anyone commenting on this article, be aware this is not the Zendesk @mentions feature.
This article was written originally using @mentions but when Zendesk released their own version, there was still interest in this simple version so we modified it to suit.
Please comment only on this modification here, and any regarding the Zendesk @mentions should be made on their article about it.

Andrew,

I understand that it is not a typical workflow, but it is a workflow we are working with nonetheless. And the fact that email notifications don't create tickets prevents our team from being notified when they are CC'd on a ticket. Zendesk really needs to fix this.

So, how are you wanting this to work? You'd like every !mention to create a new ticket assigned to the agent?

What is this agent then expected to do?