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Understanding snapshots and your first sync

Configly Support
Updated

Your First Snapshot

A snapshot is a point-in-time capture of your Zendesk configuration. Think of it like taking a photo of your entire setup -- all 41 object types across triggers, automations, views, fields, routing, apps, help centre content, and more.

What Gets Captured?

When you run a sync, Configly retrieves:

Group Types Captured
Objects & Rules Triggers, Automations, Macros, Views, SLA Policies, Trigger Categories, Ticket Fields, Ticket Forms, Custom Statuses, Tags, Ticket Settings, Routing Attributes, Routing Attribute Values, Queues, Custom Objects, Custom Object Fields, Support Addresses, Dynamic Content
People Groups, User Fields, Organisation Fields, Custom Roles
Channels Webhooks, Targets, Sharing Agreements
Account Brands, Schedules, Locales, Account Settings, OAuth Clients, Workspaces
Apps & Integrations App Installations, Apps Owned, OAuth Global Clients, Resource Collections
Guide Articles, Sections, Categories, Themes, User Segments, Permission Groups

That's 41 object types in total. Some types (e.g., Routing Attributes, Queues) are enterprise-only -- Configly detects these automatically and skips them if your plan does not include them.

Configly only reads this data — it never modifies your Zendesk configuration.

Running Your First Sync

Guided First-Sync Experience

If this is your first sync for a connection, Configly provides a guided experience:

  1. Click "Sync Now" from the dashboard
  2. A progress view appears showing each configuration type being retrieved
  3. Each type shows its status: pending, syncing, done, or error
  4. Real-time counts display as items are fetched
  5. When complete, a celebration screen shows your results

The celebration screen displays:

  • Total items found across all types
  • Badges for each configuration type with individual counts
  • Buttons to "Explore your configuration" or "Compare snapshots"

Subsequent Syncs

After your first sync, clicking "Sync Now" runs a standard sync without the guided experience. You'll see a progress indicator showing which object types are being retrieved.

What Happens During a Sync?

  1. Configly connects to your Zendesk instance using your OAuth token
  2. Fetches all configuration types (triggers, automations, macros, etc.)
  3. Creates a snapshot with a timestamp
  4. Extracts dependencies between objects (what triggers use which fields)
  5. Shows you the results — total count and breakdown by type

Understanding the Results

After a sync completes, you'll see updated counts on the dashboard. Each configuration type card shows:

  • Total count — how many objects of that type exist
  • Active count — how many are currently active/enabled

Viewing Your Configuration

Browse by Object Type

Click any configuration type card on the dashboard to see a list of all items. You can:

  • Filter by active/inactive status
  • Search by name
  • Sort by position or last updated
  • View full details including conditions, actions, and dependencies

Search Across Everything

Press ++cmd+k++ (Mac) / ++ctrl+k++ (Windows/Linux) to open the global search:

  • Search across all configuration types at once
  • Find specific triggers, macros, or fields by name
  • Results are grouped by object type with preview text
  • Click a result to jump directly to its detail page

Learn more about search →

See Dependencies

Click on any object to see:

  • What it uses — fields, groups, tags referenced
  • What uses it — which triggers/automations reference this field

Learn more about dependencies →

How Often Should I Sync?

It depends on how frequently you change your Zendesk configuration:

Frequency Best For
After every change When actively configuring Zendesk
Daily Active environments with frequent changes
Weekly Stable environments
Before major changes Create a snapshot to compare against later

There's no limit on how many snapshots you can create.

Comparing Snapshots

Once you have multiple snapshots, you can compare them to see:

  • What was added
  • What was removed
  • What was modified

Each snapshot shows its date and time along with relative time (e.g., "2 hours ago") so you can quickly identify when changes occurred.

Snapshot History

All your snapshots are stored and accessible at any time. You can compare any two snapshots — they don't need to be consecutive.

Next Steps

Now that you have your first snapshot:

Troubleshooting

"Sync failed"

This usually means Configly couldn't connect to Zendesk. Possible causes:

  • Your OAuth token expired — click "Refresh Token" on your connection
  • Zendesk is down or experiencing issues
  • Your Zendesk account permissions changed

See more troubleshooting →

"Some object types failed to sync"

Configly syncs each object type independently. If one fails (e.g., rate limiting), the others will still complete successfully. The sync results will show which types succeeded.

Try syncing again after a few minutes.

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