How to setup sandbox in Freshdesk: A step-by-step guide

Trying to test new workflows or features in your live help desk can be nerve-wracking. It feels a bit like trying to fix a bike while you're riding it, one wrong move and you could mess up your agents' day or, even worse, affect the customer experience. This is exactly what the Freshdesk sandbox is for. It’s a safe, separate space where you can build, test, and tweak your setup before you roll it out to your actual account.

In this guide, we'll walk you through exactly how to set up and use the sandbox in Freshdesk. We'll also look at its specialized role, especially when it comes to testing modern AI tools, and point you toward a complementary way to test with confidence.

What you'll need

Before we jump in, let’s quickly check that you have everything you need. Setting up a sandbox is pretty straightforward, but you do need a couple of things in place first.

• An active Freshdesk Enterprise plan: The sandbox feature is available for teams on the Enterprise plan or higher.

• Administrator access: You’ll need to be an account admin to create and manage the sandbox. Your agents won't be able to access these settings.

If you've got both of those, you're all set to get started.

How to set up a sandbox in Freshdesk in 5 simple steps

Getting your test environment up and running is a pretty quick process. Here’s a breakdown of how to create your sandbox, test your changes, and push them back to your live account.

Step 1: Find the sandbox settings

First, log in to your Freshdesk account. Once you're on the dashboard, find the gear icon in the left-hand menu to open up the Admin panel. From there, scroll down to the Support Operations section and click on Sandbox. This page is your home base for everything sandbox-related.

Step 2: Build your sandbox instance

On the Sandbox page, you can't miss the ‘Build Sandbox’ button. Clicking this starts the process of creating a clone of your helpdesk’s current settings, like your ticket fields, automation rules, and agent profiles. Depending on how complex your setup is, this could take a few minutes or a couple of hours. No need to watch the progress bar, though. Freshdesk will email all of your account admins as soon as it's ready to go.

Step 3: Test your new configurations

Once you get that "it's ready" email, head back to the Sandbox page and click ‘Go to Sandbox’. This will pop you into your new test environment. To make sure you don't get mixed up, Freshdesk puts a handy banner at the top of the screen reminding you that you’re in the sandbox, not the live account.

This is your space to play around. You can experiment with any changes you want without worrying about breaking anything in your live operations. Go ahead and create new ticket routing rules, adjust your SLA policies, add or remove ticket fields, or test out a new canned response. The sandbox even comes with some sample tickets, giving you some data to work with as you see how your new workflows hold up.

Step 4: Review and sync your changes

When you’re happy with the changes you've made, it's time to move them over to your live account. To do this, you’ll need to head back to your production account. Go back to the Sandbox page (Admin > Support Operations > Sandbox) and click the ‘Review changes and sync’ button.

Freshdesk will show you a detailed list of every single change you made in the sandbox. This is your chance for a final check. Look over everything carefully to make sure you're only pushing the changes you actually want. A common point to review is a conflict. This can happen if a setting was changed in both the production account and the sandbox at the same time. For instance, maybe you renamed a ticket field in the sandbox while another admin changed that same field in the live account. You'll have to pick which version you want to keep. Once you’ve sorted out any conflicts and you're good to go, hit ‘Sync now’.

Step 5: Deactivate or rebuild your sandbox

After the sync is done, Freshdesk automatically deactivates the sandbox. This is a helpful feature, as it stops your test environment from getting out of sync with your production account. Every time you want to test something new, you should start fresh by building a new sandbox.

If you were just exploring options and don't want to sync your changes, you can also manually deactivate the sandbox at any time from the admin page. Your test changes will be cleared, and you can build a new, clean sandbox whenever you're ready.

What gets copied (and what doesn't)

It's helpful to understand that the sandbox is a copy of your configurations, which ensures a clean testing environment for your workflows. This is mainly for security and privacy. Here’s a quick look at what gets copied over and what stays behind.

Copied to sandbox	Not copied to sandbox
Admin and Agent accounts	Tickets, customer, and contact data
Ticket fields, customer fields, and product names	Knowledge base articles and forum posts
Groups, roles, and permissions	Apps, integrations, SSO, and SSL settings
SLA policies and business hours	Portal customizations (logo, favicon)
Automation rules and canned responses	Social media handles and support emails

Basically, the sandbox is great for testing the logic and structure of your helpdesk, ensuring your workflows are solid before going live.

Best practices and common tips to keep in mind

To get the most out of your Freshdesk sandbox, here are a few tips to keep in mind:

• Give your team a heads-up: Before you build a sandbox, let your other admins know. Tell them what you’re planning to test and about how long you think it will take. This small step ensures everyone is aligned and helps prevent conflicting changes in the live environment.

• Keep it focused: A sandbox is a dedicated space to test specific sets of changes. It's best to use it while you're actively developing a new workflow. The ideal cycle is: build, test, sync, and deactivate.

• Sync during off-peak hours: While the sync process is designed to be smooth, it's always smart to push major changes when things are a bit quieter. This provides a clear window to review the results in your live environment with minimal distraction.

• Double-check before you sync: That review screen is your final checkpoint. Take a minute and really look at every item on that list. It's a great opportunity to catch any small details before they go live.

Considerations for testing AI

The Freshdesk sandbox is a great tool for testing native features like automation rules or ticket field changes. When you start looking at advanced AI and automation platforms, the sandbox provides a secure, structured environment. However, because AI often benefits from historical data, testing it in a sandbox involves a focus on configuration.

Since your actual customer tickets, contact history, and knowledge base articles aren't copied over for privacy reasons, an AI tool in a sandbox will be in a clean slate state. This means you can test the setup and logic, while specialized simulation tools can help you see how the AI handles real customer issues and historical contexts.

Beyond the sandbox: A specialized way to test AI

To complement your sandbox testing, you can use a powerful simulation mode that runs on actual historical data to confidently test an AI support agent.

This is where a solution like eesel AI works alongside your helpdesk. Instead of needing a separate environment, eesel AI connects to your helpdesk and uses its simulation mode to test its performance on your past tickets.

Here’s why that approach is a great addition for testing AI:

It's accurate By running simulations on your historical tickets, you get a clear forecast of how the AI will perform. You can see exactly which tickets it would have solved and what its responses would have looked like. This allows you to see a data-backed ROI because it's using your own context as the testing ground.

It's completely safe The simulation happens in a read-only environment. It doesn't change any of your existing ticket data, send out any messages, or interact with live customers. This gives you a risk-free way to fine-tune the AI's behavior and knowledge sources.

You can get started fast Setting up a simulation with eesel AI only takes a few clicks. It works right alongside your Freshdesk setup, allowing you to get useful insights in minutes. This lets you roll out AI gradually, perhaps starting with just one type of ticket, and expand its scope as you gain confidence.

Test with confidence, from workflows to AI

The Freshdesk sandbox is a powerful feature for any admin who wants to safely test and deploy changes to their helpdesk workflows and automations. Following the steps in this guide will help you use it effectively to maintain a reliable customer support environment.

As you look to integrate the next generation of support tools in 2026, you can use a combination of testing methods. While a sandbox gives you a secure place to test your helpdesk's structure, a simulation platform like eesel AI can help you evaluate performance on real-world scenarios. By using these tools together, you can ensure every change - from a simple workflow tweak to a fully autonomous AI agent - is a success.

Ready to see how AI would perform on your support tickets? Try eesel AI's risk-free simulation today.