This article describes every trigger type available when HappyFox Help Desk is the source app in HappyFox Workflows, explains when each trigger fires, and helps you choose the right one for your automation.

Applicable Plans: Available on all plans.

Prerequisites

• HappyFox Help Desk must be integrated with HappyFox Workflows. See Integrating HappyFox Help Desk with HappyFox Workflows.

What is a trigger

A trigger is the event that starts a workflow. Every workflow you build in HappyFox Workflows begins with a trigger — the moment the trigger fires, the workflow checks any conditions you have set, then runs its actions in sequence.

When HappyFox Help Desk is your source app, six trigger types are available. Each one watches for a specific type of activity in your Help Desk account and sends a trigger data payload to the workflow when that activity occurs.

The six HappyFox Help Desk trigger types

Ticket Created

Fires when a new ticket is created in HappyFox Help Desk. Use this trigger when you want a workflow to run at the moment a ticket enters your system — for example, to kick off an onboarding checklist when an HR ticket is submitted, or to start a returns approval process when a customer raises a returns ticket.

Ticket Updated

Fires whenever an existing ticket receives a write action in HappyFox Help Desk. Any activity that generates an entry in the ticket's activity log counts as an update — this includes replies, private notes, category or priority changes, custom field updates, and smart rule actions on the ticket. Simply viewing a ticket does not count.

Use this trigger when the event that starts your workflow happens after ticket creation — for example, to notify a stakeholder when an agent adds a reply, or to kick off a follow-up action when a custom field is set to a specific value.

Note: Ticket Updated fires on any write action. If you only want the workflow to run for a specific type of update, add a trigger condition to filter by the relevant field — for example, checking that the update type is a reply, or that a specific custom field changed to the required value.

Smart Rule

Fires when a smart rule in HappyFox Help Desk calls the workflow. No configuration is required inside the workflow builder — the trigger catches the call from any smart rule.

To set this up, go to HappyFox Help Desk, open or create a smart rule, and add the Trigger Workflow action. Configure the smart rule conditions there. When a ticket meets those conditions and the smart rule fires, the workflow starts automatically.

Use this trigger when your starting condition is already managed by a smart rule, or when you want to use Help Desk's smart rule logic to decide when to hand off to a multi-step workflow.

Manual Trigger by Agent

Fires when an agent manually triggers the workflow from within a ticket in HappyFox Help Desk. The workflow does not start automatically — an agent makes a deliberate choice to run it from the ticket view.

Use this trigger when the decision to start the workflow is a judgment call that cannot be captured as a fixed condition — for example, when agents review a return request and escalate to an approval process only when they decide it is warranted.

Note: The Manual Trigger by Agent option is also available as an add-on toggle when the primary trigger is set to Ticket Created or Ticket Updated or Smart Rule or Catch Webhook. In those cases, the toggle — labelled Allow this workflow to be manually triggered by agents in HappyFox Help Desk — appears in the trigger's Configure tab. Enabling it means the workflow can be started both automatically by the primary trigger and manually by an agent. If you select Manual Trigger by Agent as the trigger type itself, the workflow can only be started manually.

Survey Responded

Fires when a contact submits a satisfaction survey in HappyFox Help Desk. HappyFox Help Desk uses a single 3-point survey type, configured in the Satisfaction Survey module. There are no custom survey types.

The trigger data payload for Survey Responded includes the rating, rating text, and survey ID, among other fields. Use the survey ID field in a trigger condition if you want the workflow to run only for a specific survey and not for all surveys in your account.

Use this trigger when you want to act on customer feedback — for example, to push a rating to your CRM, or to send a follow-up email when a contact submits a dissatisfied response.

Status Changed

Fires whenever the status of a ticket changes in HappyFox Help Desk. The trigger fires on any status change — there is no option to specify a target status inside the trigger configuration itself. To run the workflow only when a ticket moves to a specific status (for example, Closed), add a trigger condition that checks the status value from the trigger data.

Note: When a ticket's status and priority are changed at the same time, the Status Changed trigger payload includes only the status change data. Priority change data is not included in this trigger's payload.

Use this trigger when you want to automate actions tied to a specific stage in a ticket's lifecycle — for example, to send a CSAT email when a ticket is closed, or to notify a manager when a ticket moves to a specific escalation status.

Choosing the right trigger

The trigger you choose determines what data the workflow receives and what conditions you can check. Use this table as a starting point.

Note: Ticket Updated does not fire on ticket creation. If you want a workflow to run at the moment a ticket is created, use the Ticket Created trigger.

How to select a trigger

1. Open the workflow in the workflow builder.
2. In the trigger section, select HappyFox Help Desk as the source app.
3. Choose the trigger type from the list.
4. Select a trigger data record — an example ticket or event from your Help Desk account — to use while building and testing the workflow.
5. Click Continue to move to the Configure tab, where you can add trigger conditions and, for applicable trigger types, enable the Allow this workflow to be manually triggered by agents in HappyFox Help Desk toggle.

Note: Each trigger type sends a different set of fields in its trigger data payload. Review the payload fields for your chosen trigger before writing trigger conditions — the available fields determine what you can check and use in downstream actions.

Next steps

Your trigger is now configured. Next, set up trigger conditions to control exactly when the workflow runs, or add your first action to define what the workflow does.