Efficiently managing your contacts is crucial for maintaining an organized and effective helpdesk. This guide focuses on deleting contacts in Desk365, explains the steps for handling associated tickets, and highlights the difference between deleted contacts and suspended contacts.
Why and when to delete contacts
Deleting contacts can help you declutter your helpdesk and ensure the accuracy of your customer database. You may need to delete contacts if:
- A user no longer requires support.
- Duplicate entries exist.
- The contact is associated with spam activities or,
- When contacts request deletion. This is particularly important for data protection and privacy laws like GDPR.
Impact on associated tickets
When you delete a contact, all their associated tickets are automatically moved to the Spam Tickets view. This ensures that the system remains clean, and irrelevant tickets do not appear in active queues. If the deletion is final, any associated tickets and data will be permanently erased.
Steps to delete a contact
1. Navigate to Accounts > Contacts > All Contacts in your Desk365 agent portal.
2. Locate the contact (customer or end-user) you wish to delete.
3. Click the Delete button. A confirmation popup will appear. Click Delete to proceed.
4. The deleted contact will now move to the Deleted Contacts tab, and all their associated tickets will be moved to the Spam Tickets view.
5. To remove a contact permanently, go to the Deleted Contacts tab, select the contact, and click Delete Forever.
6. Use checkboxes to select multiple contacts in the Deleted Contacts tab, then choose or Delete Forever for all selected contacts.
Note: Once a contact is permanently deleted, all associated data, including tickets and interactions, will be irreversibly removed.
Managing tickets associated with deleted contacts
- Go to the Spam Tickets view to see tickets associated with deleted contacts.
- Use checkboxes to select multiple tickets and apply actions like recovery or permanent deletion.
- Recover tickets by marking them Not Spam and moving them back to the active tickets.
- Permanently delete tickets by selecting them and clicking Delete Forever.
Suspended contacts vs. deleted contacts
Suspended contacts
- How they are suspended: When a ticket is marked as spam from the Tickets tab, the system automatically suspends the contact associated with that ticket.
- Effect of suspension: Future emails from suspended contacts are blocked by the system.
- Restoring suspended contacts: If a contact was mistakenly marked as spam, you can restore them from the Suspended Contacts tab by clicking the Restore button.
Deleted contacts
- How they are deleted: Contacts deleted from the All Contacts tab move to the Deleted Contacts tab.
- Effect of deletion: Deleted contacts are no longer active in the system, but their associated tickets are moved to the Spam Tickets view.
- Permanently deleting contacts: Use the Delete Forever button in the Deleted Contacts tab to erase all data permanently.
- Reactivating deleted contacts: Deleted contacts can sign up again as new contacts if needed.
Key difference
- Suspended contacts: Blocked from sending new emails but not deleted from the system.
- Deleted contacts: Removed from the active database but can be permanently erased if needed.
Delete Forever: GDPR compliance and user requests
Under GDPR, users have the right to request that their data be permanently deleted. When a contact requests to have their information removed from the system, it is important to process this request as per GDPR requirements.
When you Delete Forever a contact, you remove all associated data, including tickets and previous interactions. This is a critical step to comply with privacy regulations and ensure the contact’s data is fully erased from the system.
Deleting and managing contacts in Desk365 is essential for keeping your helpdesk organized and accurate. Understanding the difference between Suspended Contacts and Deleted Contacts ensures you handle data efficiently while maintaining control over spam or inactive users. Always double-check before permanently deleting a contact, as it erases all associated data.
For assistance, reach out to our support team at help@desk365.io
