Freshdesk cloud application

You must be signed in as a super administrator for this task.

Using Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML), your users can use their Google Cloud credentials to sign in to enterprise-cloud applications.

Set up SSO via SAML for Freshdesk

As administrator, here's how to set up single sign-on (SSO) via SAML for the Freshdesk application.

 

Step 1: Set up Google as a SAML identity provider (IdP)

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 AppsWeb and mobile apps.
3. Click Add appSearch for apps.
4. Enter Freshdesk in the search field.
5. In the search results, hover over the Freshdesk SAML app and click Select.
6. On the Google Identity Provider details page, copy and save the SSO URL and the SHA-256 fingerprint.
7. Click Continue.
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 Continue.
10. On the Attribute Mapping page, click the Select field menu and map the following Google directory attributes to their corresponding Freshdesk attributes:
     

    Google Directory attribute	Freshdesk attribute
    Basic Information > Primary Email	Email

11. Click Finish.

Step 2: Set up Freshdesk as a SAML 2.0 service provider (SP)

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.

Step 3: Enable the Freshdesk app

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 AppsWeb and mobile 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. (Optional) To turn a service on or off for an organizational unit:

   1. At the left, select the organizational unit.
   2. Select On or Off.
   3. Click Override to keep your setting if the service for the parent organizational unit is changed.
   4. If Overridden is already set for the organizational unit, 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.

Step 4: Verify that SSO is working

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

2. From the Admin console Home page, go to AppsWeb and mobile 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.

Step 5: Set up auto-provisioning

As a super administrator, you can automatically provision users in the Freshdesk application.

Google, Google Workspace, and related marks and logos are trademarks of Google LLC. All other company and product names are trademarks of the companies with which they are associated.