Ferndesk
Migrations

Migrate your help center to Ferndesk

Ferndesk can import your existing help center content from most major platforms. Migration runs automatically during onboarding and preserves your articles, collections, images, and links while setting up redirects to maintain your SEO.

Supported platforms

You can import from these platforms:

  • Crisp

  • Document360

  • Docusaurus

  • Fernand

  • Featurebase

  • GitBook

  • HelpDocs

  • HelpJuice

  • HelpKit

  • Help Scout

  • HubSpot

  • Intercom

  • KnowledgeOwl

  • Mintlify

  • Plain

  • Slite

  • ProProfsKB

  • Zendesk

If your platform isn't listed or your help center is private, contact support and we can help you migrate.

How migration works

Migration happens automatically during onboarding. When you create your Ferndesk account, you'll be asked whether you have an existing help center to import.

The import runs in the background. You can leave the page and return later to check progress. Large help centers may take several minutes.

What gets preserved

Ferndesk preserves the following during migration:

  • Articles and collections, including structure and formatting

  • Images and embedded assets

  • Links between articles and to external pages

  • Anchor links to specific sections within articles

  • Older URL formats from your source platform

  • Article and collection icons, mapped to a visual equivalent when a source icon has no exact match

Ferndesk also sets up automatic redirects from your old URLs to your new ones. This preserves your SEO and ensures bookmarked or shared links still land on the right article.

URL and slug normalization

During import, Ferndesk normalizes article and collection URLs to follow its public URL requirements:

  • Invalid characters removed: Punctuation and special characters are stripped from slugs

  • Lowercase and hyphenated: All slugs use lowercase letters, numbers, and hyphens

This means your imported article URLs may differ slightly from your source platform URLs. The automatic redirects ensure old links continue to work.

For details on slug validation rules, see Configure article SEO settings.

After migration completes, review a few articles to confirm internal links, anchor links, and images all work correctly. If you find broken links, contact support for help.

For custom redirects after migration, see Manage help center redirects.

Image handling during migration

During migration, Ferndesk downloads images from your source articles and rewrites their URLs to point to your Ferndesk help center. If a source image cannot be reached because the URL is dead or the source platform blocks external access, Ferndesk skips that image and continues the rest of the import. The article keeps the original image URL so you can replace it later.

This skip behavior is specific to migrations. If you add an image to an article through the editor or API after migration, a failed upload will still fail the request as usual.

After migration

Your imported content appears in your Ferndesk dashboard as drafts. Review your articles, make any adjustments, and publish when ready. You can publish articles individually or in bulk.

Need help?

If you run into any issues during migration, contact support and we'll help you get sorted.

Frequently asked questions

Will my old URLs still work after migration?

Yes. Ferndesk sets up automatic redirects from your old help center URLs to your new Ferndesk URLs. Anyone with a bookmarked or shared link will still land on the correct article.

Can I migrate a private or password-protected help center?

Yes, but not through the automatic onboarding flow. Contact support and we can help arrange a manual migration for private help centers.

Can I use a local or internal URL for migration?

No. Ferndesk only imports from publicly accessible websites during onboarding. URLs pointing to localhost, internal network hostnames, or private IP addresses are blocked for security reasons.

This includes:

  • localhost and 127.0.0.1

  • Domains ending in .local, .internal, or .localhost

  • Private IP address ranges (10.x.x.x, 172.16.x.x-172.31.x.x, 192.168.x.x)

  • URLs that redirect to any of the above

If your help center is not publicly accessible, contact support to arrange a manual migration.

What happens to my images and embedded content?

Images and assets are imported along with your articles. Embedded videos and third-party embeds continue to work as they did before since they reference external sources.

Do I need API keys or account access to migrate?

No. For public help centers, Ferndesk imports content directly from your help center URL. No API keys or account connections required.

Can I migrate from a platform not on the supported list?

Possibly. Contact support with details about your current platform and we'll let you know what's possible.

Troubleshooting

My platform wasn't detected automatically

Make sure you're using the correct help center URL. It should be the public address where your articles are displayed, not your internal admin URL. If the URL is correct and detection still fails, contact support.

My site uses JavaScript rendering and some articles were not imported

Ferndesk uses Firecrawl to render JavaScript-driven pages before importing them. If your site relies on JavaScript to display content, the migration engine now handles both current and legacy Firecrawl response shapes so that rendered pages are imported reliably.

If you still see missing articles from a JS-rendered site, make sure your help center URL is publicly accessible and contact support so we can investigate.

Some articles are missing after import

This can happen if certain articles are set to private, draft, or restricted in your source platform. Check your source platform's visibility settings. If all articles should have imported, contact support with a list of missing articles.

Images aren't displaying correctly

Image imports can fail if the source platform blocks external access to image files. During migration, Ferndesk skips images it cannot fetch and continues the rest of the import. The article keeps the original image URL, which may appear broken if the source is no longer accessible.

If you notice missing or broken images after migration, contact support and we can help retrieve them.

Migration is taking too long

Large help centers with many articles and images can take several minutes to import. You can leave the page and return later to check progress. If migration appears stuck for more than 30 minutes, contact support.

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