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The Intercom and Dovetail logos side by side

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Overview

The Intercom integration imports closed conversations from your Intercom workspace, including the opening message, the replies, tags, and custom conversation attributes. Conversations that are still open are imported after they’re closed. Each Intercom team you select becomes a dataset. A workspace admin creates the Intercom source once for the whole workspace, and channels then add its teams. Learn more about Sources →

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Before you start

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In Dovetail

  • A workspace admin creates the source. Other users can request it.
  • The credentials you connect with are shared by the whole workspace. See Shared credentials for how to choose an account.

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In Intercom

  • An Intercom login with permission to install apps. The user who creates the source signs in to Intercom during setup, so their Intercom account needs the Can install, configure and delete apps permission. If it doesn’t have it, ask an Intercom admin to grant it before you start.
  • The teams you want to import. Dovetail imports conversations by the team they’re assigned to in Intercom. Conversations with no team are available as Unassigned.

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Create the Intercom source

1

Open Sources and select Intercom

In the sidebar, select Sources, then select Intercom.
2

Connect Intercom

Select Continue. You’re taken to Intercom to sign in and approve access.
3

Choose teams and an import period

In Select teams to import from, choose one or more teams, or choose All teams. Choose Unassigned to import closed conversations that aren’t assigned to a team. Then choose an Import period. See Import period.
4

Choose who can use the source

Choose who can use the source, then select Next. See Create a source.
5

Create the source

Choose whether to auto-redact sensitive information in the source’s data, then select Create source. The first import starts right away. See Redact data from sources.

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Authentication and permissions

Intercom connects with OAuth. You sign in to Intercom and approve access for the Dovetail app. Dovetail uses the connection to read your teams, conversation data attributes, and closed conversations. It doesn’t reply to conversations or change anything in Intercom. The source runs on the Intercom account of the user who connects it. To change the account or credentials, see Reconnect a source.

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Datasets

Each Intercom team you select becomes its own dataset and syncs on its own. Each conversation is imported into the dataset for the team it’s assigned to in Intercom. Unassigned is a dataset too, for closed conversations that aren’t assigned to any team. A channel can add some or all of the source’s teams. To add more teams later, open the source and select Add team. See Add datasets.

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What gets imported

Each closed Intercom conversation becomes one data point.

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Always imported

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Imported when present

For a long conversation, Dovetail keeps the opening message and up to 20 replies, with a limit of 10,000 characters across the replies. Later replies are left out.

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Not imported

  • Open conversations. A conversation is imported once it’s closed.
  • Internal notes.
  • Replies beyond the limits above.
  • Message attachments and conversation ratings.
  • Intercom user, lead, and company attributes, other than the author details listed above.
To rename the fields above or change their types, see Source fields. Need a field that isn’t on this list? Let us know.

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Customer emails

This data includes customer email addresses, so Dovetail can link data points to contacts. See Create contacts from source data.

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Sync behavior

The first import starts when the source is created. After that, the source syncs about every hour. See Manage a source.
  • Import period. The import period applies to the date each conversation was last updated in Intercom. Closed conversations last updated before the start of the period aren’t imported.
  • Ongoing sync. Each sync imports closed conversations that were updated since the previous sync. A conversation that’s still open is picked up by the first sync after it’s closed.

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Troubleshooting

I can’t approve access when I sign in to Intercom. Your Intercom account needs the Can install, configure and delete apps permission. Ask an Intercom admin to grant it, then start the setup again. The source can’t read some Intercom conversations. Check the Dovetail app’s permissions in your Intercom workspace, and check that the Intercom account that connected the source still has access. Then select Sync now. If the source needs to be reconnected, see Reconnect a source. A conversation I expect isn’t in the channel. Check that the conversation is closed, that its team (or Unassigned) is one of the source’s teams and has been added to the channel, and that it was last updated after the start of the source’s import period. Newly closed conversations appear after the next sync. See Missing or outdated data. Intercom isn’t available when I set up a channel. See Troubleshoot sources.

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Revoke access in Intercom

To revoke Dovetail’s access, uninstall the Dovetail app from your Intercom workspace. This needs the Can install, configure and delete apps permission in Intercom. After you uninstall it, the source can’t import new conversations. To pause or delete the source in Dovetail, see Manage a source. To take its data out of one channel, see Channel setup.

Sources

What a source is, and how its data reaches channels.

Channel setup

Add the source’s teams to a channel, or remove them.

Manage a source

Check a source’s status, sync it, pause it, or add teams.

Voice of customer

Bring support conversations together with other customer feedback in Channels.