Freshdesk cloud application

1. Sign in to your Google Admin console.

   Sign in using an account with super administrator privileges (does not end in @gmail.com).

2. From the Admin console Home page, go to AppsSAML apps.
3. Click Add at the bottom right.
4. Locate and click Freshdesk in the application list.
5. On the Google IDP Information page, copy and save the SSO URL.
6. Click Next.

   The Basic information window shows the Application name and Description seen by users.

7. Click Next.
8. On the Service Provider Details page, edit the ACS URL, Entity ID, and Start URL, replacing {your‑account-name} with your Freshdesk subdomain.
9. Click Next.
10. On the Attribute Mapping page, set the Select category and Select user field values as follows for the listed attributes:
     

    Application attribute	Select category	Select user field
    Email	Basic Information	Primary Email

11. Click Finish.
12. Click OK.
13. On the Freshdesk settings page, click Service provider details.
14. Click Manage certificates.
15. Copy the SHA-256 fingerprint.

1. In a new browser tab, log into your Freshdesk application as an administrator.
2. Under the Admin tab, go to Security.
3. Click on the SSO toggle to enable it.
4. Click the SAML SSO radio button.
5. In the SAML Login URL field, paste the SSO URL you copied from Google in Step 1 above.
6. Filling in the Logout URL field is optional. You can leave it empty. 
7. Enter the SHA-256 fingerprint you copied from Google in Step 1 above.
8. Click Save.

1. Sign in to your Admin console.
2. Go to Apps > SAML apps.
3. Select Freshdesk.
4. Click User access.

5. To turn on or off a service for everyone in your organization, click On for everyone or Off for everyone, and then click Save.

6. To turn on or off a service only for users in an organizational unit:

   1. At the left, select the organizational unit.
   2. Select On or Off.
   3. To keep the service turned on or off even when the service is turned on or off for the parent organizational unit, click Override.
   4. If the organization's status is already Overridden, choose an option:
      • Inherit—Reverts to the same setting as its parent.
      • Save—Saves your new setting (even if the parent setting changes).

   Learn more about organizational structure.

7. (Optional) Turn on the service for a group of users.
   Use access groups to turn on a service for specific users within or across your organizational units. Learn more

8. Ensure that your Freshdesk user account email IDs match those in your Google domain.

Freshdesk supports both Identity Provider (IdP) initiated and Service Provider (SP) initiated SSO. Follow these steps to verify SSO in either mode:

IdP-initiated

1. Sign in to your Google Admin console.

   Sign in using your administrator account (does not end in @gmail.com).

2. From the Admin console Home page, go to AppsSAML apps.
3. Select Freshdesk.
4. At the top left, click Test SAML login. 

   Freshdesk should open in a separate tab. If it doesn’t, use the information in the resulting SAML error messages to update your IdP and SP settings as needed, then retest SAML login.

SP-initiated

1. Close all browser windows.
2. Open https://freshdesk.com and attempt to sign in. You should be automatically redirected to the Google sign in page.
3. Enter your sign in credentials.
4. After your sign in credentials are authenticated, you are automatically redirected back to Freshdesk.