Canny is a well-known product feedback tool that helps teams collect feature requests, prioritize them, and share a public roadmap. It does this job reasonably well. But teams outgrow it for a predictable reason: Canny handles feedback in isolation. When a customer submits a feature request, that signal lives in a silo — disconnected from the support conversation that prompted it, the help article that could have answered the underlying question, and the changelog entry that eventually closes the loop.

Teams migrating from Canny to Heedback are typically looking to consolidate. Instead of running Canny for feedback, a separate helpdesk for support, and yet another tool for their knowledge base, they want a single platform that connects all three. Heedback combines feature voting boards, a support inbox, a knowledge base, a public roadmap, and a changelog in one workspace. If that consolidation appeals to you, this guide walks through every step of the migration.

Before You Start

Gather these items before you begin to avoid delays.

Canny admin access — You need an admin account to access export features and board settings.
An inventory of your boards — List every Canny board you maintain, along with the number of posts and voters in each. This helps you plan how to structure boards in Heedback.
Your roadmap configuration — Note which statuses you use on your Canny roadmap (Under Review, Planned, In Progress, Complete, etc.) and which posts are assigned to each.
A Heedback account — Create your organization at app.heedback.io. Setup takes less than two minutes.
Team member list — Names, emails, and roles for everyone who manages feedback in Canny.
Custom domain details — If you use a custom domain for your Canny portal (e.g., feedback.yourcompany.com), note the DNS configuration so you can point it to Heedback later.

Step 1: Export Your Data from Canny

Canny provides export options through the board settings and API.

Board data export (CSV):

In Canny, navigate to the board you want to export.
Go to Board Settings > Export Data.
Download the CSV file. It contains a spreadsheet breakdown of every post on the board, including title, description, status, vote count, and voter details.
Repeat for each board.

Voter data:

For any given post, you can export the voter list. Open the post, view the voter details, and export them. This is useful if you want to notify specific voters about the migration or re-associate votes in Heedback.

Roadmap data:

Canny does not offer a standalone roadmap export. However, since roadmap items are just board posts with statuses, your board CSV exports already contain the status field. Filter the CSV by status to reconstruct your roadmap categories.

Changelog entries:

If you maintain a changelog in Canny, copy each entry’s title, body, labels, and publication date manually. Canny does not provide a bulk changelog export, but most teams have a manageable number of entries — typically under 50.

Save all exports in a single folder, organized by board name.

Step 2: Set Up Your Heedback Workspace

Log into app.heedback.io and configure the foundations.

Organization settings:

Go to Settings > General and fill in your organization name, logo, and brand colors. This branding appears across your portal, widget, and all public-facing pages.
Configure supported languages under Settings > Languages if you serve a multilingual audience. Heedback supports multi-language content natively across all features.

Create your feature boards:

Navigate to Feature Boards in the sidebar.
Create boards that mirror your Canny structure. If you had boards named Feature Requests, Bug Reports, and Integrations in Canny, create the same in Heedback.
For each board, configure the statuses that match your workflow. Heedback’s default statuses (Open, Under Review, Planned, In Progress, Complete) map cleanly to most Canny setups.

Set up your roadmap:

Go to Roadmap and configure your public roadmap.
Decide which boards and statuses should appear on the public roadmap. Typically, posts with Planned and In Progress statuses are displayed.
Preview the roadmap to make sure it matches the experience your users are accustomed to from Canny.

Step 3: Import Your Feature Board Posts

This is the core of the migration — moving your posts, statuses, and context from Canny to Heedback.

Manual import (recommended for under 100 posts per board):

Open your exported CSV and sort by vote count, descending. Start with the most popular posts to ensure your highest-value feedback is migrated first.
For each post, create a new entry on the appropriate Heedback board. Copy the title, description, and set the correct status.
If a post had significant discussion in Canny’s comments, summarize the key points in the post description or add an admin comment noting the context.

For larger boards:

If your boards have hundreds of posts, contact the Heedback team for assistance with bulk import via the API. Provide your exported CSV files and the team can help map and import the data programmatically.

Roadmap migration:

As you import posts and assign statuses, your roadmap populates automatically. Posts marked as Planned or In Progress appear on the public roadmap without any extra configuration. Verify the roadmap view after import to confirm it reflects your intended priorities.

Changelog migration:

Navigate to Changelog in the sidebar to set up your changelog.
For each Canny changelog entry, create a new entry in Heedback. Copy the title, body, and publication date.
Assign appropriate labels to each entry.
If your changelog entries reference completed feature requests, link them to the relevant board posts in Heedback. This closes the feedback loop — customers who voted on a feature can see when it ships.

Canny provides an embeddable widget and a standalone portal. Heedback offers equivalents for both, with the added benefit of including support and knowledge base access in the same interface.

Widget setup:

Go to Settings > Widget and customize the Heedback widget.
Configure which modules to display. Unlike Canny’s feedback-only widget, Heedback’s widget can show feature boards, support chat, and knowledge base articles in one place.
Copy the embed snippet and add it to your staging environment for testing.

Portal setup:

Navigate to Settings > Portal to configure your customer portal.
The portal replaces your Canny feedback portal but adds significantly more: a knowledge base, a changelog, a roadmap, and conversation tracking — all in one destination.
If you used a custom domain for Canny (e.g., feedback.yourcompany.com), update your DNS records to point to the Heedback portal instead.

Step 5: Invite Your Team

Bring your teammates into the new workspace.

Go to Settings > Team and click Invite Member.
Enter each person’s email. They receive an invitation link.
Assign roles: Admin for full access or Member for standard capabilities.

For teams coming from Canny, the biggest adjustment is usually the addition of a support inbox. In Canny, your team’s interaction with customers was limited to feedback boards. In Heedback, you now have a full support inbox where customers can ask questions, report issues, and have conversations — with the ability to link those conversations directly to feature board posts.

A brief walkthrough covering the inbox, feature boards, and the connection between them is usually enough to get your team comfortable.

Step 6: Go Live and Redirect

Plan the switch for a low-traffic window.

Notify active voters. Before switching, consider posting an announcement on your Canny boards letting users know you are moving to a new platform. Include a link to your new Heedback portal.
Update embed codes. Replace any Canny widget embeds on your website or app with the Heedback widget snippet.
Redirect your portal URL. If you used a custom domain for Canny, point it to Heedback. If you used Canny’s default URL (yourcompany.canny.io), add a redirect or update links across your site, documentation, and emails.
Update internal references. Search your documentation, onboarding emails, and help articles for links to Canny and update them to point to Heedback.
Cancel Canny billing. Once you have confirmed the new portal is live and receiving feedback, cancel your Canny subscription.

Post-Migration Checklist

Verify these items during your first week on Heedback.

What You Gain After Switching

The move from Canny to Heedback is fundamentally about closing the gap between feedback and action. Canny collects feature requests. Heedback connects those requests to the rest of your customer experience.

Your feature boards now sit alongside a support inbox where customers ask questions and report issues. When a support conversation surfaces a feature request, you can link it directly to a board post — capturing demand signal from conversations, not just from users who found the feedback board.

Your knowledge base reduces support volume by giving customers answers before they ask. The AI auto-reply system draws from those articles to handle common questions instantly.

And everything lives on a single portal — no more sending customers to one URL for feedback, another for help articles, and a third for your changelog. It is one destination, one experience.

For a detailed comparison, see our Canny vs Heedback breakdown.

How to Migrate from Canny to Heedback: Complete Guide