How to export, document and audit your Freshdesk configuration

The short answer

Freshdesk gives you an Audit Log for changes to some settings, an export for canned responses, and an account export for your data. In the Freshdesk articles we read, none of them is a one-click export of automation rules, SLA policies, ticket fields and groups into a document. The rest is by hand or by script.

The native way

• Audit Log. Admins see what changed, who changed it and when, at Admin > Account > Audit Log. Freshdesk's Audit Log article lists the modules it covers: account subscription, agents, authentication, automations (the three rule types: ticket creation, hourly triggers and ticket updates) and knowledge base. For an updated automation rule you can open View changes to see the original setup next to the change, and filter by period, admin or module.
• Canned responses. Admins can export and import canned responses, which Freshdesk presents as a way to audit and analyse them (article).
• Account export. The Account Admin can export account data from Admin > Account > Account Details. Freshdesk describes it as covering tickets, solutions, forums and the customer list, delivered as XML (article). That is your data, not your setup.
• By hand. Open each rule, policy, field and group, and copy the details into a document or take screenshots.
• By script. The Freshdesk API reference lists endpoints for automation rules by type (/api/v2/automations/[automation_type_id]/rules), SLA policies (/api/v2/sla_policies), ticket fields (/api/v2/admin/ticket_fields) and groups (/api/v2/groups). You then flatten the responses, turn IDs into names and write the file yourself.

Where the native way stops

• The Audit Log is a change log, not a document. The modules it lists do not include SLA policies, ticket fields or groups. Freshdesk also notes that reversing a change automatically is not possible.
• Nothing compares two points in time. To see what was added or removed since last quarter, you need a copy from last quarter.
• Nothing flags problems. A rule that assigns tickets to a deactivated agent, or a custom field no rule uses, looks like any other item until you open it.
• The API route is a project. You need an administrator's API key, one read per object type, name lookups, and a layout people can read.

Option: Config Export & Audit, for Freshdesk users (coming soon)

Config Export & Audit works with Freshdesk. It reads your configuration and writes it to an Excel workbook, a printable PDF report or a snapshot file:

• What it reads. Automation rules of all three kinds with their conditions and actions in plain language, SLA targets and escalations, ticket fields with their choices, groups and their members, canned responses, business hours, scenario automations and ticket forms. IDs are written as names.
• What changed. Save a snapshot file, load it next month, and see added, removed and changed items field by field. Reading again in the same session compares with the previous read, so you can check a clean-up before you leave. Each change can be downloaded as its own Excel report.
• Audit warnings. Rules that assign to deleted or deactivated agents and groups, rules Freshdesk marks as outdated, turned-off rules, active rules with the same trigger that set a field to different values, groups without members or escalation, custom fields no rule or SLA uses, and SLA policies that match nothing.
• Read-only and local. Every request is a read, files are built in your browser tab, and the app stores nothing and sends nothing to Atesen Software.

Limits. It documents and compares. It cannot restore an old configuration and never writes to your account. Who changed an item is shown only where Freshdesk provides it (automation rules and ticket forms), because Freshdesk's Audit Log is not available through its API. Audit warnings are checks for a person to review: a possible conflict between two rules is a candidate, not proof of a fault. It needs an administrator's API key, since Freshdesk shows automation rules and SLA policies only to administrators. A full read takes about 20 requests on a typical account, under the Freshworks limit of 50 requests per minute, and Excel cells hold at most 32,767 characters.

Status and price. Config Export & Audit is in Freshworks Marketplace review and coming soon on the Freshworks Marketplace. It cannot be installed by the public yet. The planned Marketplace price is $29 per account per month, billed by Freshworks.

About Config Export & Audit Read the documentation

Which route fits

• Who edited an automation rule, and what changed: the Audit Log.
• A backup of your tickets and customers: the account export.
• A readable document of the whole setup, a comparison over time, or a clean-up list: a script, or an app such as Config Export & Audit once it is available.

Atesen Software is independent. Freshdesk and Freshworks are trademarks of Freshworks Inc., and this page is not affiliated with or endorsed by Freshworks. Freshdesk articles were checked on 12 October 2026; menus and plan limits can change.

Questions about this guide: support@atesensoftware.com.