There is no native migration path from Trengo to Tidio. Trengo is a full-featured unified inbox with API-manageable Teams, Help Centers, Custom Fields, and Labels, while Tidio is a chat-first support tool with limited API surface that requires manual setup of most structural elements. The fundamental gap is in API coverage: Trengo provides comprehensive programmatic control over users, teams, knowledge base, and custom fields, whereas Tidio's API only supports retrieval of Operators and Departments, not creation, forcing all organizational scaffolding to be built by hand. Every migration requires a hybrid approach combining API-driven bulk contact and ticket transfers with extensive manual configuration of users, teams, custom field definitions, labels, and the entire knowledge base in Tidio's interface.
The runbook
Work top to bottom. Tick steps as you go — your progress is saved in this browser.
01 Discovery Establish why you are moving, what "done" means, and who signs off.
Objective A written scope with agreed success criteria, a named owner per workstream, and a budget approved by finance.
Keep these open
-
Pull the real numbers out of Trengo
Export counts for tickets (open and closed separately), contacts, organisations, attachments, macros, triggers, automations, views and SLA policies. Note the oldest ticket date — history depth drives the whole timeline. Estimating from memory is the single most common cause of a blown migration window.
Data Profiler Get real record counts instead of estimating from memory -
Decide what history actually moves
Agree a cut-off with the support lead: all history, last 24 months, or open tickets plus a read-only archive. Every extra year of closed tickets adds API time and cost without adding much agent value. Get this in writing — it is the decision people relitigate mid-cutover.
A "move everything" default is what turns a two-week migration into a two-month one.
COI & ROI Calculator Build the 36-month business case you will need for sign-off -
Confirm Tidio can hold your support model
Walk your current workflow through Tidio: multi-brand, business hours, SLA targets, CSAT, side conversations, public vs internal notes, and any channel you depend on (voice, chat, WhatsApp, social). List anything with no native equivalent — those are project risks, not configuration details.
-
Build the business case
Model licence delta, migration effort, agent retraining, and the cost of staying put (Cost of Inaction). Executives approve a number, not a plan, and you will be asked for it again at the go/no-go.
Helpdesk Migration Planner Turn ticket volume into a dated Trengo → Tidio timeline -
Name owners and set the go/no-go date
One named owner each for data, configuration, integrations, and agent enablement, plus a decision-maker who can call a rollback. Put the go/no-go meeting in calendars now, 48 hours before the freeze.
-
Configure Users and Teams
Manually set up all Operators (users) and Departments (teams) within your Tidio account. You will need these IDs to accurately assign ownership and routing in the subsequent ticket migration phase.
-
Record Count Comparison
Compare the total number of contacts, tickets, and messages exported from Trengo against the counts now present in Tidio. Any discrepancy indicates dropped records that need re-import.
Helpdesk Evaluator Sanity-check that Tidio is the right target before you commit
Don't move on until
- Record counts confirmed for tickets, contacts, organisations and macros
- Success criteria signed off by the support lead
- Freeze window provisionally booked with the business
02 Data Audit Find out what is actually in the data before you try to move it.
Objective A profiled, cleaned export with every quality defect either fixed at source or explicitly accepted.
Keep these open
-
Take a full Trengo export and profile it
Export to CSV or JSON and profile every file: row counts, null rates per column, distinct values, and type consistency. Compare row counts against the API totals from Discovery — a gap here means your export is silently truncated, usually by pagination.
Data Profiler Profile the Trengo export for nulls, outliers and type drift -
Validate file structure before anyone writes a transform
Check delimiters, quoting, encoding (expect UTF-8, watch for BOMs and Latin-1), duplicate headers, and embedded newlines in ticket bodies. Ticket descriptions with raw newlines and commas break naive CSV parsers and silently shift columns.
A single unescaped quote in one ticket body can shift every subsequent column without any error.
CSV Validator Catch broken headers and ragged rows in the raw export -
Inventory PII and set retention
Scan for emails, phone numbers, payment card fragments, national IDs and anything else regulated in ticket bodies and custom fields — support tickets are where customers paste things they should not. Decide what gets migrated, masked, or dropped, and record the legal basis.
Ticket bodies and attachments routinely contain card and ID data that never appears in a structured field.
PII & Compliance Scanner Find regulated fields before they land in a new system -
Quantify duplicates, orphans and dead references
Count duplicate contacts (same email, different casing), tickets whose requester no longer exists, organisations with no members, and attachments whose parent ticket is gone. Fix these in Trengo where you can — migrating them just moves the mess.
Data Cleaner Strip empty rows, stray whitespace and dead columns -
Clean and normalise the export
Trim whitespace, drop empty rows and columns, normalise casing on emails and tags, and standardise every timestamp to UTC ISO 8601. Timezone drift is invisible at load time and shows up weeks later as SLA reports nobody can reconcile.
-
Produce a masked copy for sandbox work
Generate a realistic but fake version of the export for testing and for any vendor who needs sample data. Loading real customer PII into a sandbox is a breach in most jurisdictions, and sandboxes are rarely covered by your DPA.
PII Masker Generate a safe copy for sandbox and vendor testing
Don't move on until
- Export parses cleanly with no ragged rows or encoding errors
- PII inventory complete and retention decisions recorded
- Duplicate and orphan records quantified and triaged
03 Field Mapping Turn two schemas into one signed-off mapping spec.
Objective A reviewed field-level mapping covering every object, with an explicit decision for every field that has no target.
Keep these open
-
Generate the first-pass Trengo → Tidio field map
Start from an automated match on both schemas, then review every row by hand. Automated matching gets the obvious 70% right and is confidently wrong on the rest — especially anything named "type", "status" or "custom_field_1".
Schema Mapper Opens pre-loaded with the Trengo → Tidio field pair -
Map status, priority and channel values, not just field names
Enumerate every value in each picklist on both sides and map them explicitly. Value-level mismatches are the defect class that survives all the way to production because the field itself mapped fine — a ticket that should be "Pending" arriving as "Open" reopens SLA clocks.
Statuses with no target equivalent (on-hold, pending-customer) need a policy decision, not a best guess.
-
Decide how custom fields land
Create the target custom fields first, matching type exactly (a dropdown mapped to free text can never be mapped back). Where Tidio has no equivalent, decide between a new custom field, a tag, or a note appended to the ticket body — and record which.
-
Resolve identity and threading
Decide how source IDs are preserved — most platforms will not let you set the primary key, so keep the original ID in a custom field. Without it, reconciliation becomes fuzzy matching and every future support question about an old ticket is unanswerable.
Losing the original ticket ID makes reconciliation and rollback effectively impossible.
-
Plan attachments, inline images and threading order
Confirm size limits, allowed MIME types, and whether inline images survive as attachments or need rehosting. Decide the comment ordering and author attribution rules: comments loaded out of order, or all attributed to the API user, destroy the conversation history agents rely on.
-
Freeze and sign off the mapping spec
Version the spec, walk the support lead through it row by row, and get explicit sign-off. Any change after this point goes through change control — mid-flight mapping edits are how partial loads happen.
-
Define Custom Fields and Labels
Based on your export of Trengo's Custom Field definitions and Labels, manually create the equivalent custom Contact Properties in Tidio. Defining these properties first is critical, as Tidio must recognize the destination fields before you attempt to populate them with data in the next phase.
Don't move on until
- Every source field is mapped, deliberately dropped, or parked in a custom field
- Status, priority and channel value maps agreed with the support lead
- Mapping spec version-controlled and signed off
04 Test Migration Prove the pipeline on a small, representative slice.
Objective A pilot load into a Tidio sandbox that reconciles cleanly and has been reviewed by real agents.
Keep these open
-
Stand up a Tidio sandbox that matches production config
Create the custom fields, groups, brands, business hours and SLA policies first. A pilot into a default sandbox tests nothing, because the failures you care about are all configuration mismatches.
-
Pick a deliberately nasty pilot sample
Take 500-1000 records chosen for difficulty, not convenience: the longest ticket threads, tickets with the most attachments, non-Latin character sets, merged and split tickets, deleted requesters, and every status value. A clean random sample proves only that easy records are easy.
-
Run the load with masked data and instrument everything
Log every API request and response with its source record ID. When 40 records fail out of 10,000 you need to know exactly which ones and why, without re-running the whole batch.
PII Masker Never load real customer PII into a sandbox -
Measure real throughput against the rate limit
Record achieved records-per-hour under Tidio's actual rate limits, including retries and backoff. Extrapolate to the full volume: if the maths says the full load exceeds your freeze window, you fix that now, not on cutover night.
Published rate limits are ceilings, not throughput. Assume real-world rates are meaningfully lower once retries and backoff are counted.
-
Reconcile the pilot and triage every failure
Diff source against target on record counts and field-level values. Every discrepancy gets a root cause and a fix — "probably fine" at pilot scale becomes thousands of broken records at full scale.
Migration Validation Tool Diff the pilot batch against source before scaling up -
Put real agents in front of the pilot data
Have two or three agents work sample tickets end to end in the sandbox. They find the things reconciliation cannot see: unreadable threading, missing context, macros that no longer make sense. Fix the mapping, then re-run.
Don't move on until
- Pilot batch reconciles to 100% on record counts
- Agents have reviewed sample tickets and confirmed they are workable
- Measured throughput extrapolates to a viable full-load window
05 Cutover Execute the switch inside a controlled, reversible window.
Objective All in-scope data live in Tidio, agents working in the new system, and a rollback path that stayed available throughout.
Keep these open
-
Pre-load history before the freeze
Load closed tickets and contacts days or weeks ahead while Trengo stays live. Only open tickets and the final delta need to move inside the freeze — this is the single biggest lever on window length.
Helpdesk Migration Planner Size the freeze window from Tidio's real API limits -
Publish the runbook with times, owners and abort criteria
A timed sequence: freeze start, final export, delta load, channel switch, smoke test, go/no-go, agent switch. Name who does each step and the explicit condition that triggers a rollback. Decide the abort criteria before the night, when nobody wants to be the one to call it.
-
Freeze Trengo and take the final delta
Stop new ticket creation, let agents finish in-flight replies, then export everything changed since the pre-load. Announce the freeze to the whole business, not just support — someone always tries to raise a ticket during it.
Tickets created during an unenforced freeze land in the old system and are the most common source of permanently lost data.
-
Load the delta and open tickets
Run the delta load, then reconcile counts before touching any channel. Do not repoint email until the delta has verified — an inbound ticket arriving mid-load is far harder to untangle than a few extra minutes of freeze.
Migration Validation Tool Confirm the final delta landed before you reopen -
Repoint channels and verify with live traffic
Switch email forwarding and MX or connector settings, update chat widgets and web forms, and re-authorise integrations. Then send real test tickets through every channel and confirm each lands, routes and triggers the right automation.
Email forwarding changes can take up to a full DNS TTL to propagate — check the TTL days in advance and lower it if needed.
Cron Expression Builder Schedule the delta syncs that run through the freeze -
Run the go/no-go and switch the agents
Walk the exit criteria with the decision-maker, call it explicitly, then move agents over with a named person on hand for the first few hours. Keep Trengo read-only rather than cancelled — cancelling the old contract on day one removes your only fallback.
Don't move on until
- Full historical load complete and counts matched
- Inbound channels repointed and verified with live test tickets
- Rollback decision point passed explicitly, not by default
06 Validation Prove the migration is complete, then close it out.
Objective Documented evidence that data, workflow and reporting all survived, and a signed acceptance.
Keep these open
-
Run the full reconciliation
Compare source and target on every object: total counts, counts by status, counts by group, attachment counts, and field-level spot checks on a random sample. Produce one report you can hand to an auditor.
Migration Validation Tool Reconcile Trengo and Tidio record-for-record -
Verify field completeness, not just record counts
Re-profile the loaded data and compare null rates per field against the source profile. Matching record counts with a field that silently arrived empty is the failure mode counts alone will never catch.
Data Profiler Prove field completeness held up through the load -
Rebuild reporting and compare against baselines
Recreate your core dashboards — volume, first response time, resolution time, CSAT — and compare to pre-migration figures for the same period. Explain every variance; a changed SLA calculation is a real finding, not a rounding error.
SLA and first-response metrics are usually recalculated from the loaded timestamps, so they will differ if any timestamp mapping was approximate.
-
Test the workflow layer end to end
Fire every trigger, automation, SLA escalation, macro and notification with a live ticket. Workflow does not migrate — it gets rebuilt — so it is untested until someone has actually watched it run.
-
Confirm compliance and produce the audit trail
Re-scan the loaded data for regulated fields, confirm retention and deletion policies are configured in Tidio, and file the evidence with your PII decisions from the audit phase.
PII & Compliance Scanner Produce the compliance evidence your auditor will ask for -
Sign off, then decommission on a schedule
Get written acceptance against the Discovery success criteria. Keep Trengo read-only for an agreed period (30-90 days is typical), take a final archive export, and only then cancel. Diarise the decommission date so it does not quietly renew.
-
Contact Groups
Although the associated data for segmentation is now in Tidio (via imported custom properties), the larger Contact Groups logic defined in Trengo must be manually rebuilt in Tidio using its segmentation tools or internal filtering rules.
Trengo → Tidio specifics
- Spot-Check Sampling
- Select a random sample of 20–50 tickets across different date ranges and channels. Open each in Tidio and verify that the message history, timestamps, agent assignments, and custom field values match the Trengo originals.
- Timestamp Verification
- Confirm that historical message timestamps display correctly in Tidio and that conversation threading order is preserved.
- Custom Property Validation
- Pull a sample of contact records and verify that all custom property values were written to the correct fields with the correct data types.
- Quick Replies
- Your agents depend on standardized Quick Replies. These canned messages must be manually recreated in the Tidio system for continued speed and consistency in responses.
- Help Center Reconstruction
- Given that Trengo provides extensive API control over Help Centers, categories, articles, sections, and blocks, and Tidio requires manual setup for its knowledge base, dedicate sufficient resources to manually copying and restructuring your knowledge base content from Trengo into Tidio.
Don't move on until
- Full reconciliation report attached to the project record
- Reporting baselines match pre-migration figures within agreed tolerance
- Formal acceptance signed and archive retention scheduled
Field mapping reference
The field-by-field mapping for each object. Use this as the starting point for your mapping spec.
Object Object
| Trengo field | Tidio field | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Contacts | Visitors / Contacts | Batch is all-or-nothing; duplicates create new records |
| Contact Custom Fields (data) | Contact Properties (data) | Property definitions must exist in Tidio first |
| Custom Field Definitions | Contact Property Definitions | Create in Tidio panel before importing data |
| Tickets | Tickets | Contact must exist before ticket creation |
| Ticket Messages | Conversation Messages | Specify sender as operator or contact |
| Notes (Contact/Profile) | Internal Operator Messages | Convert notes to internal messages on relevant tickets |
| Ticket Results | Ticket Status / Tags | Map Trengo resolution codes to Tidio statuses or tags |
| Users (Agents) | Operators | Tidio API is read-only for operators (GET /operators) |
| Teams | Departments | Tidio API is read-only for departments (GET /departments) |
| Labels | Tags / Labels | Define in Tidio before assigning during import |
| Quick Replies | Quick Replies | Recreate in Tidio interface |
| Contact Groups | Segments / Filters | Use imported custom properties for segmentation |
| Help Center (KB) | Knowledge Base | No Tidio API endpoints; full manual rebuild required |
Risk matrix
Per-object risk for this pair. Plan extra validation around anything marked high.
| Object | Risk | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Help Center / Knowledge Base | high | Zero API support in Tidio; entire knowledge base must be manually rebuilt from scratch |
| Users & Teams / Operators & Departments | high | Cannot be created via API; must be manually provisioned before any ticket assignment |
| Custom Field Definitions | high | Must be manually created with exact type matching; wrong types halt contact data import |
| Quick Replies | high | No API creation path; all standardized responses require manual recreation in Tidio |
| Ticket Messages / History | medium | Sequential reply-based import with sender attribution; notes converted to operator messages |
| Contact Groups | medium | Must be recreated manually using imported custom properties for segmentation logic |
| Contacts | medium | Batch import available but all-or-nothing validation means one bad record fails entire batch |
| Tickets | medium | API creation supported but requires pre-existing contacts and correct operator ID mapping |
| Labels | medium | Must be manually defined in Tidio before assignment during ticket import |
| Ticket Results / Status | medium | Must be mapped to Tidio statuses, priorities, or custom tags via ticket update endpoint |
The hard parts
What makes this specific migration difficult, beyond the mechanics.
Limited Creation API
Tidio's API only supports retrieving Operators and Departments, not creating them, forcing all user and team setup to be done manually before data import.
Batch All-or-Nothing Import
Tidio's batch contact creation fails entirely if any single contact in the batch is invalid, requiring rigorous pre-validation of every record.
Knowledge Base Manual Rebuild
Tidio has no API endpoints for Help Center management, requiring complete manual recreation of all categories, articles, and sections from Trengo.
Custom Field Pre-Definition
Contact property definitions must be manually created in Tidio with exact type matching before any data import, as type mismatches cause validation errors.
Message Sender Attribution
Historical messages must specify sender as either operator or contact when replying to tickets, requiring careful ID mapping from Trengo's original records.
Tools used in this playbook
All free, all run entirely in your browser — nothing is uploaded.