How to Send Help Scout Ticket Assignments to Slack with Power Automate

make.powerautomate.com > My flows > + New flow > Scheduled cloud flow

Create a new Automated cloud flow in Power Automate

Go to make.powerautomate.com and sign in. In the left sidebar, click 'My flows', then click '+ New flow' at the top. Select 'Scheduled cloud flow' from the dropdown — you'll use a recurrence trigger to poll Help Scout on an interval since Help Scout's Power Automate connector does not support instant webhook triggers. Name the flow something like 'Help Scout Ticket Assignment to Slack'.

1. 1Click 'My flows' in the left sidebar
2. 2Click '+ New flow' at the top of the page
3. 3Select 'Scheduled cloud flow' from the dropdown menu
4. 4Enter a flow name: 'Help Scout Ticket Assignment to Slack'
5. 5Set the recurrence to every 5 minutes, then click 'Create'

Flow designer > + New step > Search: Help Scout > List conversations

Connect your Help Scout account

Click '+ New step' below the Recurrence trigger. In the action search bar, type 'Help Scout' and select the Help Scout connector. Choose the action 'List conversations'. A 'Sign in' prompt will appear — click it to authenticate with your Help Scout credentials. Power Automate stores this as a named Connection you can reuse across flows.

1. 1Click '+ New step' under the Recurrence trigger card
2. 2Type 'Help Scout' in the search bar
3. 3Select the 'Help Scout' connector from the results
4. 4Choose 'List conversations' as the action
5. 5Click 'Sign in' and enter your Help Scout email and password

Flow designer > List conversations card > Status / Assigned / Sort field

Filter conversations to assigned status

Inside the 'List conversations' action card, set the 'Status' field to 'active' and set 'Assigned' to 'true'. These filters narrow results to conversations that have been assigned to a team member. You'll also want to set 'Sort field' to 'createdAt' and 'Sort order' to 'desc' so the most recently assigned tickets appear first in the response.

1. 1In the 'Status' dropdown, select 'active'
2. 2Set 'Assigned' to 'true'
3. 3Set 'Sort field' to 'createdAt'
4. 4Set 'Sort order' to 'desc'
5. 5Leave 'Page' and 'Page size' at defaults (page 1, size 25)

Flow designer > + New step > Data Operation > Filter array

Add a Filter array step to catch only recently assigned tickets

The List conversations action returns up to 25 conversations — many of which were assigned in previous polling cycles. Add a 'Filter array' action (found under 'Data Operation') to isolate tickets assigned in the last 5 minutes. This prevents duplicate Slack notifications from firing on old assignments every time the flow runs.

1. 1Click '+ New step'
2. 2Search for 'Filter array' and select it under 'Data Operation'
3. 3In the 'From' field, select the dynamic content 'value' from the List conversations output
4. 4In the left condition field, select 'assignedAt' from dynamic content
5. 5Set the operator to 'is greater than' and enter the expression: addMinutes(utcNow(), -5)

Flow designer > + New step > Control > Apply to each

Add an Apply to each loop over filtered tickets

Because multiple tickets may be assigned within the 5-minute window, you need to loop over each result and send a Slack message per ticket. Add an 'Apply to each' action and point it at the 'Body' output of the Filter array step. All remaining steps go inside this loop.

1. 1Click '+ New step'
2. 2Search for 'Apply to each' under 'Control'
3. 3In the 'Select an output from previous steps' field, pick 'Body' from the Filter array output
4. 4Confirm the loop card expands with an '+ Add an action' button inside it

Flow designer > Apply to each > + Add an action > Data Operation > Parse JSON

Extract the assignee's email using a Parse JSON action

Help Scout's List conversations response nests assignee details inside a 'assignee' object. Add a 'Parse JSON' action inside the Apply to each loop to cleanly extract the assignee's email, first name, and last name. You'll use this email to look up the Slack user in the next step. Generate the schema by clicking 'Generate from sample' and pasting a sample Help Scout conversation object.

1. 1Inside the Apply to each loop, click '+ Add an action'
2. 2Search for 'Parse JSON' and select it under 'Data Operation'
3. 3In the 'Content' field, select the current item from dynamic content (the loop item)
4. 4Click 'Generate from sample' and paste a sample Help Scout conversation JSON object
5. 5Click 'Done' to auto-generate the schema

Flow designer > Apply to each > + Add an action > Slack > Look up a user by email

Look up the Slack user by email

Add a Slack action inside the loop to resolve the assignee's Help Scout email to a Slack user ID. Search for the Slack connector and select 'Look up a user by email'. Pass the 'email' field from the Parse JSON output. This returns the Slack user ID (e.g., U012AB3CD) needed to send a direct message — you cannot DM someone using just their email address.

1. 1Inside the Apply to each loop, click '+ Add an action'
2. 2Search for 'Slack' in the connector search bar
3. 3Select 'Look up a user by email' from the Slack action list
4. 4Sign in to your Slack workspace when prompted — select the correct workspace from the dropdown
5. 5In the 'Email' field, insert the 'email' dynamic content from the Parse JSON output

Flow designer > Apply to each > + Add an action > Control > Condition

Add a Condition to handle unmatched Slack users

The user lookup will fail silently if no Slack account matches the Help Scout email — the flow won't error, but the next step will try to DM a null user ID. Add a 'Condition' action to check whether the 'User ID' from the lookup step is not empty before proceeding. Put the Slack DM action in the 'Yes' branch and a fallback (or nothing) in the 'No' branch.

1. 1Inside the Apply to each loop, click '+ Add an action'
2. 2Search for 'Condition' under 'Control' and add it
3. 3In the left field of the condition, select 'User ID' from the Slack lookup dynamic content
4. 4Set the operator to 'is not equal to'
5. 5Leave the right field blank (empty string)

Flow designer > Apply to each > Condition > Yes branch > + Add an action > Slack > Send a direct message

Send the Slack direct message in the Yes branch

Inside the 'Yes' branch of the Condition, add the Slack action 'Send a direct message'. Set the 'User Name or ID' to the 'User ID' from the lookup step. Write the message text using a mix of static text and dynamic content fields from Parse JSON: ticket subject, ticket ID, assignee first name, and the Help Scout conversation URL. Keep the message short — one line of context plus the link.

1. 1In the 'Yes' branch, click '+ Add an action'
2. 2Search for 'Slack' and select 'Send a direct message'
3. 3In 'User Name or ID', insert the 'User ID' dynamic token from the Slack lookup step
4. 4In the 'Message Text' field, type: 'Hi [firstName], you've been assigned ticket #[id]: "[subject]". View it here: https://secure.helpscout.net/conversation/[id]'
5. 5Replace bracketed placeholders with the matching dynamic content tokens from Parse JSON

Flow designer > Save > Test > Manually > Run flow

Save and test the flow

Click 'Save' in the top right of the flow designer. Once saved, click 'Test' and select 'Manually' to trigger an immediate run. Assign a Help Scout ticket to a team member who has a matching Slack account, then click 'Run flow'. Watch the flow run detail page — each step shows green checkmarks on success or red X marks with error detail on failure.

1. 1Click 'Save' in the top right corner
2. 2Click 'Test' next to the Save button
3. 3Select 'Manually' when asked how to trigger the test
4. 4Assign a real Help Scout ticket to a team member before clicking 'Run flow'
5. 5Click 'Run flow' and watch the run detail expand step by step

make.powerautomate.com > My flows > [Flow name] > 28-day run history

Enable the flow and verify the recurrence schedule

After a successful test, your flow is already turned on — the recurrence will fire automatically every 5 minutes from this point forward. Go to 'My flows', find your flow, and confirm the status shows 'On'. Click into the flow detail page and check the '28-day run history' panel to verify the first scheduled run completed without errors.

1. 1Navigate to 'My flows' in the left sidebar
2. 2Locate 'Help Scout Ticket Assignment to Slack' in your flow list
3. 3Confirm the status toggle shows 'On'
4. 4Click the flow name to open the detail page
5. 5Check the '28-day run history' section and confirm runs show as 'Succeeded'

This expression goes in the Filter array condition's right-hand value field. It dynamically calculates the cutoff timestamp based on your recurrence interval, so you don't have to hardcode a fixed time. Paste it into the 'Enter custom value' box after clicking the expression editor (fx icon) in the Filter array condition.

// Power Automate expression for Filter array condition right-hand value
// Paste into the expression editor (fx) for the 'is greater than' condition
addMinutes(utcNow(), -5)

// Power Automate expression for Filter array condition right-hand value
// Paste into the expression editor (fx) for the 'is greater than' condition

addMinutes(utcNow(), -5)

// Full condition reads:
// assignedAt [is greater than] addMinutes(utcNow(), -5)

// To make the window match your recurrence interval exactly, change -5 to
// match whatever interval you set on the Recurrence trigger.
// Example for 3-minute polling:
// addMinutes(utcNow(), -3)

// Bonus: format the assignedAt field for display in the Slack message
formatDateTime(items('Apply_to_each')?['assignedAt'], 'h:mm tt')
// Output example: 10:32 AM