How to master Freshdesk merge tickets: A 2026 guide

We’ve all been there. You glance at your support queue and see three, four, maybe even five tickets from the same customer about the very same issue. It’s a familiar story for any support team that’s even moderately busy. These duplicate tickets don't just occupy space in your queue; they can affect your reporting metrics and require agents to spend extra time identifying the best thread for a reply.

Freshdesk provides a robust built-in feature to merge tickets, which is an excellent tool for keeping your workspace organized. This guide will walk you through the standard way to handle Freshdesk merge tickets, look at the best practices for manual merging, and introduce an AI-driven approach to keep your support queue clean and exceptionally efficient in 2026.

What does the Freshdesk merge tickets feature actually do?

At its core, merging tickets in Freshdesk is about combining two or more tickets into one primary conversation. When you merge, you’re essentially tidying up your inbox by pulling all the duplicate requests into a single, manageable thread.

Here’s a quick rundown of what goes on behind the scenes:

• One ticket is selected as the "primary" ticket, which becomes the main thread for the conversation.

• The other selected tickets are considered "secondary."

• The messages from the secondary tickets are moved into the primary one, neatly sorted by time.

• Those secondary tickets are then closed.

• A private note is added to each closed secondary ticket, providing a helpful link back to the main one.

It’s a reliable system for consolidating information and ensuring all relevant context is in one place.

How to handle Freshdesk merge tickets: The manual way

The standard process is straightforward and designed to be user-friendly. If you need to manually merge tickets in Freshdesk, you can do so in just a few steps.

Here’s the step-by-step:

1. Pick your tickets: From your main ticket list, use the checkboxes to select the duplicate tickets you want to combine.

2. Start the merge: Once you’ve selected them, a "Merge" button will appear in the action bar at the top. Click it.

3. Choose the main ticket: A window will appear showing your selected tickets. Choose which one will serve as the primary ticket for the ongoing conversation.

4. Confirm it: After choosing the primary ticket, click "Continue" and then "Merge" to finish. This action helps maintain a single source of truth for the customer's inquiry.

Best practices and considerations for merging tickets

While the manual process is effective, there are a few considerations to keep in mind to ensure your team and your customers have the best experience possible.

Managing customer visibility and communication

One important aspect of the native Freshdesk merge tickets feature is that content from secondary tickets is added to the primary ticket as a private note.

To ensure your customer has a clear view of the conversation, an agent can review these private notes and choose to make them public if the customer needs to see that specific part of the history. This ensures that the customer feels heard and that their communication is fully documented in the visible thread. While this requires a quick manual check, it's a great way to maintain high-quality interactions.

Maximizing agent productivity during the merge process

Manual merging is a reactive task where an agent identifies duplicates and combines them. While this is a standard part of support, as teams grow, they often look for ways to optimize this time. Industry observations suggest that agents spend a portion of their day on queue maintenance, and streamlining the "Freshdesk merge tickets" workflow is a common way to recover time for more complex customer problem-solving.

Maintaining high accuracy in your queue

In a fast-paced environment, it’s important to ensure that only true duplicates are merged. If agents are rushing, there is always a small chance of merging unrelated issues. missing duplicates can also lead to multiple agents working on the same problem. Implementing clear guidelines or using automation can help maintain the high level of accuracy that Freshdesk users expect.

Can you automate Freshdesk merge tickets?

To further enhance efficiency, many teams explore the Freshworks Marketplace for an automation app. These tools can complement Freshdesk's native capabilities by handling repetitive merges automatically.

The official Auto Ticket Merger app for Freshdesk: A useful entry-level tool

Freshworks offers its own Auto Ticket Merger app, which provides a reliable way to merge tickets from the same email address if they arrive within a specific timeframe.

This app is a great starting point for basic automation. It uses rule-based logic to help keep your queue clean without manual intervention. For teams with straightforward support patterns, this is an excellent way to handle high volumes of incoming tickets.

Third-party apps for Freshdesk: Specialized solutions for advanced workflows

Other apps from third-party developers, like Merge Duplicate Tickets, offer more advanced, rule-based options. These tools allow you to set custom rules based on subject lines or custom fields, giving you more granular control over your Freshdesk merge tickets logic. These are excellent choices for teams that require specific configurations beyond the standard automation.

A complementary solution for merging tickets: Using AI for intelligent triage

The modern way to handle duplicate tickets is to use intelligence to manage your entire queue proactively. Rather than just a standalone merging tool, an integrated AI triage system can work alongside Freshdesk to identify and categorize tickets with incredible precision.

Enhance your workflow with AI that understands context

This is where a tool like eesel AI's AI Triage can add significant value. Instead of relying solely on fixed rules, eesel AI connects to your Freshdesk account and learns from your historical data. By analyzing your past conversations, it understands the nuances of your customer requests, spotting true duplicates based on content and intent.

Automate workflows with confidence

With eesel AI, you can build a fully customizable workflow engine that enhances your Freshdesk setup. You can decide exactly how the AI handles a likely duplicate: whether it should suggest a merge, add a specific tag, or route it to the right specialist.

A standout feature is the powerful simulation mode. Before activating any automation, you can test it against your past tickets in a safe environment. This allows you to see exactly how the AI would have handled those situations, giving you the confidence that your Freshdesk merge tickets workflow is optimized before it ever touches a live conversation.

Moving from manual Freshdesk merge tickets to automated workflows

When looking at your options in 2026, the path to a high-performing support desk is clear. Freshdesk's manual merging is a reliable foundation, and adding automation makes it even stronger. Whether you use the official Marketplace apps or an advanced AI system, the goal is to create an environment where your team can spend less time on admin and more time providing exceptional support.

Take control of Freshdesk merge tickets and your queue with eesel AI

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• See how eesel AI can transform your Freshdesk workflows.

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