How to import Word documents and Google Docs into Zendesk help center

To import Word documents into your Zendesk help center, install Quirewell, open it from the left navigation bar and pick the .docx files or the folder that holds them. Under 2. Where they go, choose a category and section or let folders become sections. Click Preview import, check each article, then click Import N articles. Each document becomes an article, and its screenshots are uploaded into your help center.

Get the files ready

Steps

1. 1. Pick your documents. Click Pick files or a zip or Pick a folder, or drop files and folders on the page.
2. 2. Where they go. Pick a Category and Section (or New category... and New section...). Then choose Folders become sections (two levels deep: category, then section) or Everything goes into the section above.
3. 3. Article settings. Choose Visible to, the Permission group (who can edit), any Labels for every article, and whether to Create as drafts (publish when you have checked them), which is on by default.
4. Name the import under Import name (for History) so you can find it later.
5. Click Preview import. Every article is listed with where it goes, how many images it has, and notes on anything left out.
6. Click Import N articles. When it finishes, open a few drafts in Guide, then publish.

What carries over from Word

What carries over from Google Docs

Title, headings, bold, italic, underline, monospace, lists, tables, links and the pictures in the zip. Google's redirect links are unwrapped to the real address, and comments are removed. Google's span tags, classes, fonts and sizes are dropped, so the article uses your help center theme's own text styles.

Screenshots and pictures

Each picture in a document is uploaded into your help center and placed in the article. PNG, JPG and GIF are used as they are; WebP, BMP, SVG and AVIF are converted to PNG in your browser. Each picture can be up to 20 MB, and one import can hold up to 500 MB of files. If a picture can't be found, the preview says "Image not found in the files you picked": pick the folder or zip that holds it.

Folders become sections

With folders on, a file in Billing/Refunds/ goes to the section "Refunds" in the category "Billing". A file in one folder, such as Refunds/, goes to that section in the category you picked. Folders deeper than two levels are joined into one section name, such as "Refunds / Older". A folder that every file shares, like the one you zipped, is skipped. Categories and sections are matched by name, ignoring case.

What it costs

Quirewell is $99 a month per Zendesk account, with any number of imports, articles, languages and admins. It has a 14-day free trial; Zendesk asks for a card at install and bills monthly. The full reference is in the Quirewell documentation.