DocumentationAPI Reference

Embedding a softphone in Sell

You can embed a web-based softphone directly in the Zendesk Sell interface. Embedding a softphone eliminates switching between screens.

Telephony providers can provide a softphone with options such as:

  • Call controls, such as answer, end, transfer, conference, hold, and mute
  • View current call details, such as the caller’s name, phone number, and call duration
  • Place outbound calls with the softphone dialpad
  • View the call queue and recent call history
  • Save call logs

You can implement a web-based softphone by building a top bar app in the Sell interface. A top bar app is opened from the right side of the top bar.

The top bar location has the following properties:

  • Persistent session that is loaded when Zendesk Sell loads
  • Access to account-level context, user-level context, events, and some actions. See All locations in the Apps Sell API documentation
  • Interact and exchange data with other locations (/documentation/apps/app-developer-guide/using-the-apps-framework/#messaging-between-locations) of the same app to provide exceptional user experience

For more information, see Top bar in the Apps Sell API documentation.

Development tasks

  • Build the UI of your app. Because Zendesk apps run in iframes in the Sell interface, you can build the app with any technology you like, including server-side technologies. See the App Developer Guide
  • Resize the app's height and width using the Apps framework's resize action
  • Design the icon the agent clicks to open the app. See Top bar and nav bar icon in the Apps Developer Guide
  • Send notifications to the top bar app from the telephony system or platform
  • Handle the notification inside the app with the Apps framework's popover action
  • Make sure the softphone can be manually toggled on and off by the user
  • If you want, let the user make outbound calls. See Making calls by clicking a phone number in Sell
  • Provide a login mechanism to your call controls. Zendesk suggests using OAuth if you support this. API tokens will work as well. See Using OAuth authentication with your application
  • If making requests from the app to the Sell REST API, the requests are already authenticated because the agents are signed in. The API follows permission rules according to the permission settings of the logged in user. See the Sell User API doc for role permissions
  • If required, localize the app. See App internationalization in the developer docs

Other options

In addition to a web-based softphone, you can integrate a third party telephony system using the following methods (assuming a telephony provider has the supporting integration layer):

  • A desktop phone
  • A softphone that sits alongside Zendesk through a web-based or desktop application