HubSpot Service Hub's help desk is the workspace where your support team creates, answers and manages customer tickets, and it's available on Service Hub Professional and Enterprise. Tickets are created automatically from every channel you connect, such as email, forms and chat, and agents reply, add notes and update status without leaving the workspace.
Here's the part that surprises buyers. Having Service Hub Professional isn't the same as having every help desk feature. HubSpot says an assigned Service Seat is required for advanced features such as custom views, SLAs and reply recommendations, and you need one to split a ticket. Macros, the time-saver most teams want first, need Super Admin permissions to create and use.
What you need to use the help desk
| Feature | Requirement, as of October 2026 |
|---|---|
| Help desk | Service Hub Professional or Enterprise |
| View, edit and reply to tickets | Service or Sales Access permission |
| Custom views, SLAs, reply recommendations | An assigned Service Seat |
| Split tickets | A Service Seat |
| Delete tickets, block senders, mark spam | Delete ticket permissions |
| Create and use macros | Super Admin permissions |
| Macro limit | 500 on Professional, 1,500 on Enterprise |
How tickets get into the help desk
By default, every connected channel creates tickets. Connect a form and each submission becomes a ticket. A one-to-one email sent from a connected address also creates a ticket, assigned to the sender, unless you send it from inside an existing ticket, in which case it joins that thread. Rule-based chatbots are the exception: they don't create tickets automatically, to prevent duplicates. If you're setting one up, my guide to the HubSpot chatbot covers how that works.
Forwarding is the sneaky one. Forward an email from an existing thread to another connected team address and HubSpot may add it to the original ticket, because forwarded messages can keep the original message ID. To get a separate ticket, send a fresh email with a new subject to the other team instead.
You can set defaults for new tickets under Help Desk, then Ticket defaults: pipeline, status, priority and any other property. Channel settings override them.
Creating a ticket by hand
- Go to Service, then Help Desk, and click + Create ticket in the top left.
- Enter the Ticket name, Pipeline and Ticket status, which are required by default.
- Associate a company or contacts from the dropdowns.
- Click Add contact if you want to email or call them from the ticket.
- Once a contact is associated, the reply editor appears so you can email or call them.
A manually created ticket doesn't get a conversation attached automatically. If you'd rather open a ticket by emailing someone, click the + icon, choose Send email and click Send and create ticket. HubSpot fills in pipeline, status and owner, and uses AI to generate ticket details if your generative AI setting is on.
Replying, notes and statuses
Your reply goes to the most recent message unless you hover over an older one and click its reply icon. You can switch the From address between connected team inboxes, mention a contact with @, and use Insert to add templates, snippets, documents, meetings, quotes, invoices, payment links and knowledge base articles. Unsent replies save as drafts that only you can see.
The Send button's dropdown lets you send and change the ticket status in one move. Notes, added with the Note icon and an @ mention, stay internal and notify your colleague. One rule to know for live chat: you can end a chat and keep the ticket open for a follow-up by email or phone, but once a chat is ended it can't be reopened.
Managing tickets: what can't be undone
You can view tickets in table, split or board layout, and from the Actions menu follow, split, merge, move, print, block or delete them. A few actions are one-way, so it pays to know them before you click:
| Action | What happens |
|---|---|
| Merge tickets | You pick the primary ticket's property values; once merged, tickets can't be unmerged |
| Split a ticket | The new ticket keeps the same contact and joins any workflows it qualifies for |
| Mark as spam | The conversation moves to Spam and is deleted after 90 days |
| Block sender | Future emails from that address go to spam |
| Delete a ticket | Its conversation is deleted too; deleted records can't be restored after 90 days |
| Contact replies to a closed ticket | No new ticket; the old one reopens at the first open status, which can affect reporting |
Unread tickets show in bold, and opening one only clears the bold for you, not your colleagues. You can also move a conversation between the conversations inbox and the help desk; the conversation moves, but the ticket stays in help desk.
Setting up macros
Macros are prewritten replies that can also update the ticket when you apply them. A Super Admin creates them in Settings, then Inbox and Help Desk, then Help Desk, then Macros:
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- Click Create macro and enter a name and description.
- Write the message, with attachments if you need them.
- Under Actions, set a property such as ticket owner, priority or status, or enrol the ticket in an active ticket-based workflow.
- Choose who can use it: everyone, or specific users and teams.
- Click Save.
To use one, open the Macros dropdown in the reply editor, edit the text if needed and click Send and apply. Enrolling in a workflow from a macro needs workflow permissions as well.
My verdict on HubSpot Service Hub's help desk
I'd choose the help desk if your support already lives in HubSpot and you want tickets, contacts and deals in one place, because the context in the sidebar saves real time on every reply. Budget for Service Seats for anyone who needs SLAs or splitting, and get your Super Admin to build macros for your most common questions on day one. Skip it if your team is tiny and mostly answers sales questions, where the tools in HubSpot Sales Hub may already cover you.
Support teams are where macros, workflows and AI summaries pay off fastest, because the same questions come in every day. I run AI training and workshops for teams, and help businesses with AI enablement and workflow automation, so the busywork runs itself and people get time back. Most of that work is with SaaS marketing teams and small businesses. Here's how we can work together.
Frequently asked questions
Which HubSpot plans include the help desk?
Service Hub Professional and Enterprise. Some advanced features, such as custom views, SLAs and reply recommendations, also need an assigned Service Seat.
Can you unmerge tickets in HubSpot?
No. Once two tickets are merged in help desk, they can't be unmerged.
How many macros can I create in HubSpot?
Up to 500 on Service Hub Professional and up to 1,500 on Service Hub Enterprise. Creating and using macros needs Super Admin permissions.
Do chatbots create tickets in the HubSpot help desk?
Not rule-based chatbots. HubSpot doesn't create tickets from them automatically, to prevent duplication.
What happens when a customer replies to a closed ticket?
The existing ticket reopens and its status goes back to the first open status in the pipeline. No new ticket is created.
