Secure Halo data migration without pausing your service desk
Help Desk Migration by Relokia is an automated, no-code tool that moves tickets, ITIL records, contacts, companies, and knowledge base articles into or out of Halo Service Solutions - HaloITSM, HaloPSA, and Halo Service Desk. Test the setup on 20 records with a free Demo, then run the Full Migration while your agents keep working in the source help desk.
No credit card required Fast setup
20K Tickets, Zero Downtime: Clayton Legal Moved to Halo
Up to 20,000 tickets and related data moved fast, accurately, and with only what mattered. No clutter, no disruption, just a clean start in Halo.
"The tool itself is very straightforward to use and having unlimited tests made me really confident that it was going to work as I needed it... Everything migrated as expected and we're happy!"
— Brett Cahill, IT Manager at Clayton Legal
Records and fields available for Halo data migration
Halo migrations are one of the fastest-growing routes on Help Desk Migration: in 2026, the number of migrations to Halo run through Help Desk Migration grew by almost 40% compared with 2025. The Migration Wizard maps Halo's core ITSM entities, knowledge base content, and their sub-properties in both directions.
ITSM & Service Desk Entities
- Agents (Staff): Help Desk Migration matches or maps source agents to Halo agents during setup, so ticket ownership and comment authorship stay correct. Several source agents can map to one Halo agent; tickets from deleted or inactive agents can be reassigned to an active agent.
- Clients (Companies): Name, Website, Notes, Custom fields. Halo stores Sites under each client.
- Users (Contacts): Name, Email, Company, Phone, Home telephone, Notes, Custom fields.
- Incidents (Tickets): Subject, Requester, Company, Group (Team), Agent (Assignee), Type, Status, Urgency, Impact, Due date, Close code, Tags (into a custom text field); Comments: author, created date, public/private visibility, body, attachments, inline images; Created / Updated / Closed date; Custom fields: string, boolean, date, number, select.
- Service requests: Subject, Requester, Company, Group, Agent, Type, Status, Impact, Urgency, Priority, Custom fields; Comments (same as Incidents); Created / Updated / Closed date.
- Changes: Subject, Requester, Group, Agent (Staff), Type, Status, Impact, Description, Justification, Impact description, Attachments, Notes, Custom fields; Planned start / Planned end date; Created / Updated / Closed date; Change tasks: Subject, Description, Group, Status, Staff, Notes, Attachments, Created / Updated / Closed date.
- Problems: Subject, Requester, Group, Agent (Staff), Status, Impact, Urgency, Description, Attachments, Notes, Custom fields; Created / Updated date; Problem tasks: same as change tasks.
Self-Service & Documentation
- Top-level FAQ lists (Categories): Name.
- Low-level FAQ lists (Folders): Name, Category.
- Articles: Title, Body, Author, Folder, Status, Tags, Attachments, Inline images.
Halo target rules
- Tickets land in the Incident type by default; Changes, Problems, and Service Requests keep their own type when the source is ServiceNow, Freshservice, Halo, CSV, SolarWinds Service Desk, or ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus.
- Attachments are capped at 25 MB per file.
- Source tags go into a custom text field.
- Turn off Approval Processes and Halo AI before the import, so automated rules don't change imported statuses or data.
Halo Migration in Five Steps
1. Connect your source and Halo
Enter the Authorization Server, Client ID, and Client Secret from your HaloITSM, HaloPSA, or Halo Service Desk account, plus the credentials for your other platform. You can find detailed instructions in the Halo migration guides.
2. Choose records and map fields
In the Migration Wizard, it's possible to match agents from the source platform with agents on the target platform. Choose the records you want to migrate and adjust the mapping. Help Desk Migration by default maps up to 95% of fields, so adjust the mapping for contacts, companies, incidents, service requests, changes, problems, knowledge base content, and their fields. Add options to customize your migration. Check out a full list of additional out-of-the-box migration options.
3. Run a free Demo Migration
The Migration Wizard allows companies to test the migration using real data. The Demo Migration moves 20 tickets and 20 knowledge base articles to your Halo instance, so you can check how everything works. On average, a Demo Migration takes around 15 minutes.
Migration Expert Hack: Use the "Select Records for Demo" option and provide a few IDs of open, in-progress, closed, and archived tickets.
4. Review and adjust
When the Demo Migration is complete, you'll receive a report that includes the source and target IDs of the migrated data. You can re-run the migration if you need to adjust the mapping. No duplicates, no business interruption.
5. Start the Full Migration
Once the Demo looks right, start the Full Migration right away or schedule it for off-hours. You can easily continue working on your source platform while the migration runs in the background. When the Full Migration is complete, you can request a Delta Migration to update your target Halo platform with newly created data.
Streamline your Halo data import, export, or merge with additional options
Skip attachments
If attachments aren’t essential for your migration, leave them out to speed up the process. Choose to skip all attachments or only those last updated more than 6, 12, or 24 months ago. This option gives you control to migrate only the files you really need.
Migrate inline images as attachments
Tickets and requests often contain images like screenshots, photos, or diagrams embedded directly within them. Our automated Halo migration tool preserves these visuals by moving them as attachments, ensuring no important information is lost during your Halo data import.
Migrate side conversations
Zendesk’s side conversations often include key details from discussions around support tickets. You can move this valuable collaboration data to Halo, turning it into private notes linked to the related incidents. This way, your team will stay informed and maintain context after the Halo data import.
Transfer call recordings
If you’re bringing call center data from Zendesk to Halo, your phone call recordings can move too. These audio files will be attached to the corresponding incidents in Halo, keeping your complete communication history intact during your Halo data import.
Select tickets for Demo
Beyond the unlimited Free Demo, use the Custom Demo option to test specific tickets before migrating. Simply choose a few tickets, run the demo, and check how they transfer. This feature lets you focus on the critical data upfront.
Select knowledge base articles for Demo
You can also run the Custom Demo specifically for knowledge base content. Choose specific article IDs within the Migration Wizard to test a targeted sample. This ensures your key documentation migrates exactly as expected.
Migrate the newest records first
Prioritize the migration of your most recent records to let your team start working with them right away. Whether moving to or from Halo, this option ensures the latest tickets, updates, and data arrive in your target system first.
Migrate only ticket-related records
If you don’t need to transfer all your customer data, choose to migrate only the information tied directly to your tickets. By excluding unnecessary records, this option can greatly speed up migration. Contact us to see if it’s available for your migration.
Migrate content translations
Teams with global customers can transfer content translations in their knowledge bases with ease. This feature keeps your multilingual materials intact, removing the need for manual translation updates after migration.
Add tags to newly migrated tickets
During the migration, Help Desk Migration can automatically attach predefined tags to every ticket imported into Halo. If you add the tag migrated-from-[old-platform], all imported tickets will carry this tag so your team immediately knows these records came from the old system. After migration, your team can validate the imported tickets without mixing them with new, incoming ones.
Update cross-links between articles
When your knowledge base moves to Halo, article IDs and URLs change. Without updating links, internal “See also” or “Related article” references would break. Help Desk Migration detects article URLs or links inside your knowledge base content and updates them so they point to the correct new Halo article locations.
Special features to keep you active as you import data to Halo
Use Delta migration
The Delta migration runs after the Full Migration completes to capture any new or updated records created while it was underway. Your team can keep working with live data without manual data transfers or downtime.
Use Interval migration
Break your migration into up to five separate parts and schedule each to run at a convenient time. With this strategy, you can continue working as usual during business hours, running migration tasks during off-hours or over weekends.
Customize your migration
If your needs go beyond the default automated Halo migration setup, we offer customization for your Halo data import. This can include custom data filtering, mapping, or migration from connected apps. Run a Free Demo an our team to discuss your specific needs.
How a UK-Based Legal Recruitment Company Migrated Relevant Data from ManageEngine to Halo with No Downtime
Fast, accurate ticket migration that transfers only relevant, business-critical data for clean and efficient support operations.
Challenges
Help Desk Migration supported the customer in migrating critical support data from ManageEngine to Halo. The goal was to transfer only relevant tickets, contacts, and fields while excluding unnecessary data, ensuring continuity and operational efficiency.
Needed to migrate only relevant support tickets and contacts from ManageEngine to Halo, excluding unnecessary data. Required custom field mapping across platforms, including “Mode,” “Impact Level,” and “Request Source,” to ensure accurate data migration.
Ensuring proper alignment of multiple ticket types (Incident, Alert, Change Request, Equipment, Query, New Starter, Leaver, Task, Project) while maintaining historical ticket data.
"The team were helpful and responsive throughout the process and worked with me to get the migration to be exactly as I needed it. The tool itself is very straightforward to use and having unlimited tests made me really confident that it was going to work as I needed it. When I did get to the migration, there had been some last minute changes requested on my end and it resulted in a pause on Saturday morning! Luckily I realised the issue and the team responded that day and resumed. Everything migrated as expected and we're happy!"
— Brett Cahill, IT Manager at Clayton Legal
Results
Help Desk Migration provided an intuitive Migration Wizard to configure field mapping, run unlimited free Demo Migrations, and validate data accuracy.
By selecting the built-in option “Migrate only related contacts,” the customer successfully migrated only the contacts associated with tickets, avoiding unnecessary data.
Custom fields were mapped precisely between platforms.
All in all, Halo migration went accurately, and the customer experienced a smooth, reliable transition with all expected data intact.
Why import data to Halo with Help Desk Migration?
Agents keep working
The Full Migration runs in the background while your team keeps using the source help desk. Delta Migration and Interval Migration close the remaining gap between the old and new system.
No code, full control
The Migration Wizard handles field mapping, extra options, and unlimited free Demos, so an IT admin can configure the whole Halo migration without scripts.
ITIL structure intact
Incidents, Service Requests, Changes, and Problems move with their requesters, assignees, tasks, comments, and attachments, so Halo receives the same record relationships you had in the source.
Wide data coverage
Agents, contacts, companies, tickets, attachments, inline images, call recordings, side conversations, knowledge base articles, and default and custom fields all move in one migration.
100+ Platforms
Help Desk Migration has served 60,000+ customers since 2016, including teams moving from ManageEngine, Zendesk, and Freshservice to Halo.
Expert assistance
Support is available by chat, email, or phone, whether you have a quick question, need a migration plan, or want Help Desk Migration to run the whole project.
Custom options
Custom data filtering, custom mapping, and migration from connected apps are available on request.
Audited security
Help Desk Migration is SOC 2 Type II and follows GDPR, CCPA, and HIPAA requirements, with strict access controls and fixed data-retention windows. Details are in the security policy.
Popular Halo Migration Directions
Halo Migration FAQ
Moving to Halo from another help desk or ITSM tool? Help Desk Migration connects directly to 100+ platforms, and anything else can come in through a CSV-to-Halo import.
Help Desk Migration by Relokia imports data into HaloITSM, HaloPSA, and Halo Service Desk, in both cloud and on-premise deployments. All three connect the same way: generate an Authorisation Server URL, Client ID, and Client Secret under Configuration > Integrations in Halo, then paste them into the Migration Wizard. On-premise instances can run slower than cloud ones because API throughput depends on your own server. Step-by-step screens are in the Halo data migration checklist.
Create every custom field in Halo before the migration, under Configuration > Custom Objects > Custom Fields, because Halo doesn't let you change a field's type later. Match each source field to a compatible Halo type. When the source holds relationships Halo can't express natively, such as one contact linked to several companies, carry the extra links in a custom text field or a note. Missing or mismatched fields are the most common reason records are skipped.
Turn off Approval Processes for each ticket type and disable Halo's built-in AI features, including the default AI connection and AI Ticket Matching. Pause notifications too. Otherwise Halo's automations can fire on imported tickets, change their statuses, match them to the wrong assets, or email requesters about old cases. Switch everything back on after the Delta Migration finishes.
Run a free Demo Migration in the Migration Wizard. It moves 20 sample records and reports which were migrated, skipped, or failed. Check that comments, attachments, agents, contacts, companies, and article statuses came through. Adjust the mapping and repeat the Demo as often as you need; to check specific edge cases, pick the exact ticket or article IDs with Custom Demo.
Leaving Halo or creating a backup? Help Desk Migration exports Halo data to another platform or to CSV, with the same mapping and Demo steps as an import.
Yes. Help Desk Migration supports Halo-to-platform and Halo-to-CSV exports. Choose your target in the Migration Wizard: popular destinations include ServiceNow, Freshservice, and Jira Service Management, and a CSV export works as a backup or as a bridge to a tool without a direct connection.
By default, Help Desk Migration reads tickets of every ITIL type - Incidents, Changes, Problems, and Service Requests - as long as the target supports them. Service Requests keep their own type only when the target is Halo, ServiceNow, or CSV; other targets receive them in their standard ticket object. If you ran a "Demo with custom data" that included Service Requests, make sure the Full Migration uses the same settings so no records are dropped.
Yes. The export reads default and custom fields from every ticket type, including non-ITIL types. In Halo, Sites sit under Clients and carry their own default and custom fields, sometimes in parent-child chains. Before you start, confirm that your Halo API application has permission to read Site fields, otherwise those values come through empty.
Running several Halo instances after an acquisition or a regional rollout? Help Desk Migration merges them into one, so agents stop switching accounts and reports cover all your data.
- Inventory each source account: users, agents, clients, sites, ticket types, attachments, custom fields, and workflows.
- Agree which agent and user records become the master copy in the target.
- Decide how to handle contacts that belong to several clients, since Halo allows one client per contact by default; use duplicate records or a custom field to keep the extra links.
- Align custom fields and ticket types across instances so the target has one consistent schema.
- Turn off automations, approvals, and notifications in the target for the duration of the merge.
Yes, when the mapping is set up correctly. Comments with their original authors and dates, internal notes, attachments, inline images, and group and agent assignments move with each ticket. Self-hosted Halo instances can be slower because API speed depends on your server, so allow extra time and use the Demo to estimate throughput.
Usually not. Agents keep working in the source accounts during the Full Migration, and a Delta Migration then moves records created or updated in the meantime. If you need to free up API capacity during business hours, Interval Migration lets Help Desk Migration pause and resume the Full Migration, coordinated with the Migration Expert Team.
Start your Halo data migration today
Seamlessly transfer your help desk, ITSM records, and knowledge base into or out of Halo with automated precision.
Schedule a migration consultation
No credit card required SOC 2 certified 60,000+ migrations