Service Catalog Porter documentation

Requirements

• A Freshservice account on a plan that includes Marketplace applications. Copy to Workspace needs at least two workspaces.
• The API key of an administrator who may read and manage the service catalog.
• Categories you copy or import into must already exist in the target workspace with the same name. Categories cannot be created through the Freshservice API.

Installation

The installation page asks for your Freshservice subdomain (acme for acme.freshservice.com) and the API key, and Verify connection must succeed before installation completes. The key is stored as a Freshworks secure installation parameter: the platform attaches it to outbound request headers and it is never exposed to the application's page.

Enable bulk update (PUT) is off after installation. Leave it off until you want to write bulk edits; export, copy and import work without it.

Using it

• Export: tick one or more workspaces and click Export XLSX, Export CSV or Export JSON. The file is created in your browser and downloaded. The workbook has the sheets Items, Categories and CustomFields; the choices of dropdown fields are listed for reference.
• Bulk Edit: export first in the same browser session, edit the general fields in that file (name, short_description, description, cost, delivery_time, visibility, category_id) and upload it. Preview changes lists the changed cells only; other columns, such as status, dates and custom fields, are ignored. With bulk update switched on, type the phrase shown (for example UPDATE 4) and click Apply updates. Download result CSV keeps the outcome of every row.
• Copy to Workspace: choose the source workspace, tick the items, choose the target workspace and click Preview. The preview shows for each item whether it is created, renamed with " (copy)", skipped, or needs a category. Copy items creates the new items.
• Import New Items: choose the target workspace, upload an XLSX or JSON file from the Export tab and click Preview. The preview shows the number of custom fields per item and any item that is refused or needs a category. Create items creates them. A CSV file can be imported too, but it carries no custom fields.

Bulk update and HTTP 405

Freshservice documents an update request for service items (PUT /api/v2/service-catalog/items/{display_id}), but developers have reported that some accounts answer HTTP 405 (method not allowed), and the application has not yet been confirmed on a live account. That is why writing bulk edits is a setting that is off after installation.

When the setting is on, each changed item is read again first; an item whose value changed since the export is skipped. The first HTTP 405 stops the run: nothing further is written, the remaining items are reported as not attempted, and the page asks you to switch the setting off. Choices and custom fields of existing items are never sent on an update.

Limits you should know

• The application makes at most 40 requests per minute, and they count against your account's API limit: one list request per 30 items and one detail request per item for an export, plus one read and one write per changed item for a bulk edit. When Freshservice answers HTTP 429 it waits as long as Freshservice asks.
• A failed create (copy or import) is never repeated automatically, so no duplicate item is created. Reads are retried after a server error.
• Bulk edit compares the upload with an export made in the same browser session; reloading the page means exporting again.
• Items with a field type the Freshservice create request does not document are refused by Import New Items with the reason shown.