Zendesk Placeholders: Custom Fields, Syntax, and Examples
Zendesk placeholders insert ticket, requester, organization, and other record data into triggers, automations, macros, and other places Zendesk supports them. Zendesk documents the standard placeholders well, but custom fields are different: you have to reference the field by its own ID or key, and dropdown fields use one syntax for the stored value and another for the label agents see. This guide covers both.
What are Zendesk placeholders?
A placeholder is a small piece of text, wrapped in double curly braces, that Zendesk replaces with real data when a trigger, automation, macro, or other supported message runs. For example, {{ticket.requester.name}} is replaced with the name of the person who submitted the ticket.
Standard placeholders like that one are documented directly by Zendesk. Custom fields need one more piece of information: the field's ID (for ticket fields) or key (for user and organization fields). Zendesk documents the general ID and key patterns below, but your account's specific field IDs and keys are not included in Zendesk's standard placeholder reference, so administrators must look them up separately.
Custom field placeholder quick reference
The sections below explain each row in detail. This table is here for when you already know the pattern and just need the syntax.
| Data | Placeholder |
|---|---|
| Custom ticket field | {{ticket.ticket_field_<field ID>}} |
| Ticket dropdown or multiselect display value | {{ticket.ticket_field_option_title_<field ID>}} |
| Ticket dropdown or multiselect tag value | {{ticket.ticket_field_<field ID>}} |
| Custom requester field | {{ticket.requester.custom_fields.<field_key>}} |
| Requester dropdown display title | {{ticket.requester.custom_fields.<field_key>.title}} |
| Custom organization field | {{ticket.organization.custom_fields.<field_key>}} |
| Organization dropdown display title | {{ticket.organization.custom_fields.<field_key>.title}} |
Custom ticket field placeholders
Ordinary custom ticket fields use the field's numeric ID:
{{ticket.ticket_field_<field ID>}}
For example, a fictional "Order Number" field with ID 505156 would use:
{{ticket.ticket_field_505156}}
Ticket dropdown and multiselect placeholders
Zendesk does not create a separate placeholder for each dropdown option. There is one set of placeholders for the whole field, and the field ID in that placeholder belongs to the dropdown or multiselect field itself, not to any individual option. The same placeholder works no matter which option is selected: it returns whichever option (or options, for multiselect) is selected on the ticket.
What the field does store as two different values is the option's internal tag and the label an agent actually sees, and those two values have separate placeholders:
| Purpose | Syntax | Returns |
|---|---|---|
| Display value | {{ticket.ticket_field_option_title_<field ID>}} | The option's visible label, e.g. "Billing Issue" |
| Tag / stored value | {{ticket.ticket_field_<field ID>}} | The option's internal tag, e.g. "billing_issue" |
If a macro or trigger message reads oddly with an internal tag showing through, this is usually why: the wrong one of these two placeholders was used, not a missing per-option placeholder.
Custom user field placeholders
Ordinary custom requester fields use the field's key, not its title:
{{ticket.requester.custom_fields.<field_key>}}
Requester dropdown fields use a different, documented syntax that returns the displayed option title instead:
{{ticket.requester.custom_fields.<field_key>.title}}
For example, a fictional requester dropdown field with the key customer_tier would use {{ticket.requester.custom_fields.customer_tier.title}} to return the displayed title of the requester's selected customer tier.
Custom organization field placeholders
Ordinary custom organization fields follow the same pattern as requester fields:
{{ticket.organization.custom_fields.<field_key>}}
Organization dropdown fields use the documented display-title variant instead:
{{ticket.organization.custom_fields.<field_key>.title}}
For example, a fictional organization dropdown field with the key account_region would use {{ticket.organization.custom_fields.account_region.title}} to return the displayed title of the organization's selected region.
How to find a Zendesk field ID or key
Ticket fields use an automatically generated numeric ID. User and organization fields use a field key that an admin sets when the field is created. Both can be found in Admin Center, or by calling the corresponding API endpoint (ticket_fields, user_fields, or organization_fields) and reading the id or key value directly from the response.
Common mistakes
- Using a field's title instead of its ID or key.
- Confusing a dropdown option's stored tag with its displayed title.
- Removing or mistyping the double curly braces.
- Using a user field key inside ticket field syntax, or vice versa.
- Assuming a placeholder that works in a trigger also works everywhere else in Zendesk.
- Copying only the first page of API results in an account with more fields than fit on one page.
Generate your placeholders automatically
Looking up IDs and keys by hand is slow and easy to get wrong, especially across ticket, user, and organization fields with dropdowns mixed in. The Custom Field Placeholder Generator reads your actual field configuration and produces the standard custom-field placeholder formats it can derive, labeled by purpose, including a reference to each dropdown field's configured options.
Using custom field values in Quick Links
If your goal is to turn ticket, requester, or organization data into a link agents can open from the Zendesk sidebar, Quick Links can build those destinations without requiring agents to copy and paste values between systems.
Quick Links uses its own field picker when building sidebar links, so the placeholder syntax on this page isn't something you paste directly into Quick Links. Both are just different ways of using the same custom field data your team already has in Zendesk.
FAQ
How do I create a placeholder for a custom Zendesk ticket field?
Use {{ticket.ticket_field_<field ID>}}, replacing the field ID with the number Zendesk assigned to that field.
How do I find the ID of a Zendesk ticket field?
Open the field in Admin Center, or call the ticket_fields API endpoint and read its id value.
Why does my dropdown placeholder return a tag instead of the option name?
{{ticket.ticket_field_<field ID>}} returns the option's stored tag, not the label agents see. Use {{ticket.ticket_field_option_title_<field ID>}} for the displayed title instead.
Can Zendesk placeholders use custom user fields?
Yes. Ordinary requester fields use {{ticket.requester.custom_fields.<field_key>}}, using the field's key rather than its title. Requester dropdown fields use the documented .title variant instead, to return the displayed option.
Can Zendesk placeholders use organization fields?
Yes. Ordinary organization fields use {{ticket.organization.custom_fields.<field_key>}}, and organization dropdown fields use the documented .title variant instead, to return the displayed option.
Does the ASA Labs generator connect to or upload data to Zendesk?
No. The generator only reads the JSON you paste or upload, in your browser. It does not call the Zendesk API, store your configuration, or send anything to a server.