Plan requirement
| Subscription | Any plan |
| Access | Admin |
Moving from chat to messaging is a one-way switch that touches triggers, routing and reporting. Plan it rather than flip it.
It is no longer optional
Zendesk retires Zendesk Chat on 31 January 2028. Chat is already in maintenance mode and is not sold to new customers, so this is a move every account still on it has to make. Doing it early is better than doing it in the last quarter, when everybody else is doing it too.
You can migrate if your account is on a Zendesk Suite or Support Suite plan, or carries both Chat and Support, and if you are on the Agent Workspace. A Chat-only plan cannot migrate yet; if that is you, tell us and we will keep you posted.
Two halves, and only one is automatic
A migration tool reads your Chat settings and recreates the ones messaging supports. It does not do everything. The rest you rebuild by hand, and which parts those are depends on how your chat was set up.
Your route also differs if you have been here before: starting fresh, finishing a migration somebody abandoned, and returning after switching back to Chat are three different jobs.
What changes
- Conversations persist instead of ending with the session.
- Chat triggers do not carry over. Messaging has its own set and yours must be rebuilt.
- Departments become groups. Chat's routing model is replaced.
- Reporting changes. Chat metrics and messaging metrics are different, so comparisons across the switch do not hold.
- Agents work differently. Conversations arrive and wait rather than being accepted live.
Where each thing ends up
Almost everything from the Chat dashboard has a home in Admin Center, just not the one you are used to.
| Departments | Groups, under People > Team |
| Triggers | Messaging triggers, under Objects and rules. The events are different too: a conversation being requested, a message sent, a conversation queued, a conversation assigned from a queue. Some routing actions move to ordinary ticket triggers. |
| Shortcuts | Macros |
| Banned visitors | Suspended users |
| Routing | Omnichannel routing, which is what we would recommend, or skills |
| Widget settings | Channels > Messaging and social |
| Goals | Nothing. There is no messaging equivalent, so whatever you measured with them needs another answer |
A chatbot built on the Chat Conversations API stops being invoked the moment messaging is on. If you have one, move it to the Sunshine Conversations API first, before the migration rather than after. Tell us if you are not sure whether you have one.
The reporting trap
Messaging reporting lives on the Support dashboard in Explore, filtered by channel, and the volume and resolution figures work as you would expect.
Two things explain a figure that is easy to read the wrong way. First reply time behaves the same on messaging as anywhere else, with the clock stopping at the agent's first reply in the conversation. But it counts agent replies only: a bot or an automation answering instantly does nothing for it, so a team that adds an AI agent and expects the number to fall will be disappointed by a metric that is working correctly.
And take your chat figures before you migrate. Chat and messaging metrics are not the same, so the comparison you will want later is one you can only capture now.
The order that works
- Write down what your chat setup does. Triggers, departments, operating hours, the pre-chat form.
- Rebuild it in messaging, in a sandbox where you can.
- Set capacity and statuses, which chat did differently.
- Brief the team on what changes in their day.
- Switch one brand or one site section first.
- Take your chat reporting figures before you switch, because you will want the comparison later and it will not be available afterwards.
The part teams underestimate
Agent habits. Chat trains people to answer immediately and close quickly. Messaging rewards a considered answer and a conversation that can breathe. That adjustment takes a couple of weeks and is worth naming rather than leaving people to work out.
Worth a conversation before you start. Tell us how your chat is set up and we will help you plan the move, including what to capture before the figures change.
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