Sometimes a help center needs a new home: an agency hands a finished project to the client, a founder leaves, or billing should move to a company account. Helpdesky lets the primary owner transfer a help center to any other Helpdesky account. Everything moves together: articles, categories, branding, custom domain, conversations, team members and settings. Only the account that owns it, and pays for its slot, changes.
This guide walks through starting a transfer, what the new owner has to do, and what happens to slots and the old owner.
Before you start
- Only the primary owner can transfer a help center. That is the account whose plan covers it, not a teammate with the Owner role. Owners invited through the Team page do not see the transfer option.
- The new owner needs a free helpdesk slot on their own plan if the help center is currently covered by yours. Free and Pro include one slot, Ultimate includes three. If they have no slot available, the transfer fails when they try to accept, so it is worth agreeing this up front. See Plans, Limits and Billing.
- You cannot transfer a help center to your own email address.
Start the transfer
- Switch to the help center you want to hand over and open Settings.
- On the General tab, scroll down to the Transfer ownership card.
- Enter the new owner's email. It does not matter whether they already have a Helpdesky account.
- Decide whether to keep Remove me from this helpdesk after transfer on or off:
- On: you lose access as soon as the transfer is accepted.
- Off: you stay on the help center as a team member with the Owner role, but without billing responsibility.
- Click Send transfer invitation.
The recipient receives an email with an acceptance link. The invitation is valid for 7 days. The pending transfer is listed in the same card with its expiry date, and you can Cancel it at any time before it is accepted. Only one transfer can be pending per help center; sending a new one cancels the previous invitation.
What the new owner does
- Open the link in the email. It leads to an acceptance page on Helpdesky.
- Sign in with the exact email address the invitation was sent to. If there is no account under that email yet, create one first, then open the link again.
- Review the summary: who is transferring, which help center, whether it will use one of your slots, and what happens to the previous owner.
- Click Accept transfer. Or click Decline if the transfer was not expected.
Once accepted, the help center appears in the new owner's dashboard immediately, covered by one of their slots. Their Billing page now shows it under Helpdesk slots, and they become the primary owner who can manage the plan, invite additional Owners and transfer it again in future.
What changes and what stays
| Item | After the transfer |
|---|---|
| Articles, categories, images | Unchanged |
| Branding, widget, custom domain | Unchanged and still live |
| Conversations, contact form, ticket center, email forwarding | Unchanged |
| REST API key and AI provider key | Unchanged (they belong to the help center) |
| Team members and their permissions | Unchanged |
| Primary owner and billing | Moves to the new account |
| Plan limits | Now come from the new owner's plan |
| Previous owner | Removed, or kept as an Owner role teammate, depending on the toggle |
Visitors notice nothing. The public help center, the widget and any custom domain keep working throughout.
If something goes wrong
- "You have no helpdesk slots available on your current plan." The new owner must upgrade or use Drop from plan on another help center in their Billing page, then open the link again. The invitation stays valid until it expires.
- "Transfer has expired." The 7 days passed. Ask the previous owner to send a new invitation.
- "Transfer is no longer pending." The transfer was cancelled, declined or already accepted.
- Email mismatch. The recipient is signed in with a different account. Sign out and sign in with the invited address.
Transfer or invite as Owner?
If you simply want a colleague to help run the help center, invite them from the Team page with the Owner role instead. They get full access while billing stays with you. Use a transfer only when the other account should take over ownership and payment. See Inviting Teammates and Managing Roles for invitations and Running Several Help Centers on One Account for how slots work on the receiving side.
Once the transfer is accepted, the new owner should check their Account and Profile Settings and the Billing page to confirm the help center is covered by the plan they expect.