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Using the Zendesk Support for Jira integration

Yuri Mylis
  • Edited
Zendesk Product Manager

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The Jira integration encourages collaboration between product teams and the support team. For example, after a customer reports a bug in a ticket, the agent can file a bug in Jira directly from your Zendesk. After fixing the bug, a developer can add a comment to the ticket directly from Jira.

For information on configuring the Zendesk Support for Jira integration, see Setting up Zendesk Support for Jira integration.

This article covers the following topics:

Related articles:

Using the integration in Zendesk Support

As an agent, you can create a new Jira issue from a ticket, or link to an existing Jira issue from a ticket. You can then use the link to track the progress made by the product team on addressing the issue. For example, within Zendesk Support you can view details about a bug you filed in Jira to see if the engineering team fixed it.

Topics covered in this section:

You can also automatically notify an agent or a customer when somebody changes the status of an issue in Jira. See Updating a ticket when the status of a Jira issue changes.

Integration limitation

A single Jira issue can link to up to 200 Zendesk Support tickets.

Creating a Jira issue from a ticket

  1. In Zendesk Support, go to the ticket you want to use as a basis for a new Jira issue.

    For example, the ticket could be a feature request or a bug report from a customer.

  2. Click Create Issue in the Jira app next to the ticket.

    Note: If the Jira app is not displayed on the right side of the agent interface, click Apps.

  3. Click in the Project text box to display available Jira projects. If you start typing the name of the Jira project for the issue, the list of suggested projects is filtered to match.

  4. Enter the details about the issue.

    • If you’ve selected the option to transfer information from your ticket, this information is already entered.

    • You can click Copy fields from this ticket (see below) to populate the fields, then select the Always copy checkbox to make this the default behavior.

      Note that Copy fields from this ticket only copies the subject and most recent comment. It does not copy any additional custom fields.

    • If the assignee or reporter you're looking for doesn't appear in the suggested user list, enter the exact Jira username.

    The default fields are displayed in the image below. Administrators can add additional fields this form. For information, see Adding fields to the Jira app in Zendesk Support.

  5. (Optional) Click Add reporter as a watcher to include the reporter as a watcher to the newly-created issue. See Commenting and comment sharing for more information.
  6. Click Create issue.

A new issue is created in Jira and the ticket is linked to it. In Zendesk Support, the Jira app in the sidebar displays the Jira issue name, summary, and description.

For more information, see Customizing the summary and details views.

Creating a link to an existing Jira issue from a ticket

If you know that an issue is tracked in Jira and you receive a support request that's related to it, you can link the ticket to the issue. You can also link the same ticket to other issues in Jira.

You can keep track of the number of tickets linked to Jira issues, and use that metadata to prioritize your work. See Jira: Linked tickets reporting for more information.

To link to an existing Jira issue

  1. In Zendesk, go to the ticket you'd like to link to a Jira issue.
  2. Click Link Issue in the Jira panel.

    Note: If the Jira app is not displayed on the right side of the agent interface, click Apps.

  3. Enter your issue key (XXX-000) or paste a link to the issue.

    If you do not know your issue key, you can search Jira issues.

  4. Click Link issue.

The ticket is linked to the existing issue in Jira. In Zendesk Support, the Jira app in the sidebar displays the Jira issue name, summary, description, and comments.

Tracking a Jira issue from a ticket

The Jira app in the sidebar displays a summary of any issue linked to the ticket, as well as any comments associated with it:

Click the Show More Details (eye) icon next to the issue name to view more details about the issue:

The details view opens in a new window:

You can customize the information displayed in both the summary and details views. See Customizing the summary and details views below.

If you're a Jira user too, you can open the issue in Jira by clicking the issue name in the summary view. A new browser tab opens and displays the issue.

Customizing the summary and details views

You can customize the information that's displayed in both the summary and details views. For details about the views, see Tracking a Jira issue from a ticket above.

To customize the summary and details views

  1. Click the Admin icon in the upper-right side of the Jira app next to the ticket.

  2. Select the information you want to display in the summary and details views.

  3. Click Close to save your choices.

Adding a label to a Jira issue from a ticket

When creating or linking to a Jira issue from a ticket, a jira_escalate tag is added by default to the ticket and an identical jira_escalate label is added to the issue in Jira. You can add more labels to a linked issue in Jira at any time. Any ticket tag with a jira_ prefix is added as a matching label to any Jira issue linked to the ticket.

If the escalating agent has a custom agent role in the Enterprise plan, the role must allow the agent to edit tags. See Custom agent roles (Enterprise).

To add a label to a Jira issue

  1. Add a tag with a jira_ prefix in the Tags field in the ticket's left sidebar:

  2. Update the ticket by clicking Submit.

The new label appears in the Details section of the issue in Jira:

Unlinking a Jira issue from a ticket

  • Click the Unlink (x) icon in the Jira app next to the ticket.

Searching Jira issues

When linking a ticket to a Jira issue, you can search for Jira issues by keyword, or using the Jira Query Language (JQL). Starting your search with the project name in capital letters will limit the results to that project.

To search Jira issues by keyword

  1. In the Link Issue pane, enter your search terms in the search box. You can limit results to a specific project by starting the search with the project name in capital letters, or you can use JQL.

  2. As you're typing, ticket suggestions are made. You can select a suggested ticket, or continue typing to narrow down the results.

Using the integration in Jira

As a Jira user, you can view details about tickets linked to your issues, and add comments to linked tickets. You can also automatically notify an agent or a customer when you change the status of an issue in Jira. See Updating a ticket when the status of a Jira issue changes.

This section describes how to view the details of a linked Support ticket in your Jira issue. For information on adding comments to linked tickets, see Commenting and comment sharing below.

To view the details of a linked Zendesk Support ticket

  1. Navigate to the issue in Jira. In the sidebar under ZENDESK SUPPORT, the number of linked tickets is displayed.

  2. Double-click on Linked Tickets to open the linked tickets page.
  3. If more than one ticket is linked to the issue, click the angle bracket to expand the ticket details.

  4. To view more details about the ticket, click the Zendesk Support ticket link in the sidebar:

     

Commenting and comment sharing

When you link Zendesk Support tickets and Jira issues, you can also share some commenting functionality between the two platforms.

While the commenting functionality doesn't fully integrate the commenting systems in Zendesk Support and Jira, it does allow you to perform the following tasks, which are described in this section:

However, you cannot perform some expected comment-related tasks, such as:

  • Automatically notify Zendesk collaborators when there are new comments on linked Jira issue, unless they are also watching the Jira issue.
  • Mark a comment as having been read by another user.

Adding a comment to a Jira issue from a ticket

If a Support ticket is linked to a Jira issue, you can add comments to the Jira issue from the ticket. This is useful for providing additional information from customers to the product team.

Both public and private comments added to a Support ticket are shared with any connected Jira issues.

To add a comment to a Jira issue

  1. Click the Notify button in the Jira app next to the ticket.
  2. Enter the comment you want to add to the issue in Jira.

  3. To save typing, you can transfer the last comment made on the ticket by clicking Copy the last comment.
  4. Any attachments in ticket comments are shown under Attachments. Click on the attachment to add it to the note.
  5. Click Notify issues. The note and added attachments are shown in the Jira issue under the Comments tab.

The comment is added to the Activity section in Jira, under the Comments tab:

Adding a comment to linked Zendesk Support tickets from a Jira issue

You can notify a Zendesk agent or a customer when you add a comment to the linked Jira issue.

When you add a comment to a Jira issue, it adds that comment to the linked Support ticket. When the comment is added to the Zendesk ticket, an email containing your comment is sent to the agent and any other agent who is copied on the Support ticket. If the comment is public, an email is also sent to the customer who submitted the ticket and any other end user who is copied on the ticket. Be mindful that a customer will read your message when you add a public comment. If in doubt, leave the comment private.

You can comment on a single linked ticket, or all linked tickets if you have multiple tickets linked to an issue. Commenting on all linked tickets can be performed in the sidebar or the Activity section of a Jira issue.

To add a comment to a linked ticket

  1. Navigate to the Jira issue, and in the Activity drop-down list, select Zendesk Support.

  2. In the Ticket drop-down list, select the Support ticket.

  3. Enter your comment . Select the Make public reply checkbox to make a public comment.
  4. Click Add comment.

     

To add a comment to all linked tickets in the Activity section

  1. Navigate to the linked issue in Jira, and in the Activity drop-down list, select Zendesk Support.
  2. Enter your comment, select the Add for all tickets checkbox, and click Save.

To add a comment to all linked tickets in the sidebar

  1. In the sidebar under ZENDESK SUPPORT, double-click on Linked Tickets. The linked ticket page opens.

  2. Click Add comments to linked tickets, which opens a page.
  3. Enter your comment and click Send.

To make all comments private

  1. Open the add-on configuration page in Jira by selecting the Settings cog icon Apps > Manage apps > Manage Add-ons, then selecting Zendesk Support for Jira > Configure.
  2. In the Settings > Other options section, select the Disable all public comments to Zendesk checkbox.
  3. Click Save.

Notifying Jira issue watchers when there are new comments on linked Zendesk tickets

Jira users who are watching a Jira issue linked to a Zendesk ticket, will receive a notification email from Jira for any comments added to the linked ticket(s).

To enable comment notifications

  1. In Jira, go to the Settings cog icon > Apps > Manage Apps > Zendesk Support for Jira > Configure to open the configuration page.
  2. In the Settings > Other options section, select the Send email notification to Jira issue watchers on new linked Zendesk Support ticket comments checkbox.
  3. Click Save.

Adding the reporter as a watcher when creating a new Jira issue

When creating a new Jira issue from a Support ticket, or when linking a ticket to an existing issue, you can add the reporter as a watcher to the newly-created issue.

Jira also allows you to watch an issue. When you watch an issue, you receive email notifications when certain updates are made. Depending on how your issue notifications are configured, you may receive an email when:

  • The story has been updated (such as the description)

  • The status changes (assigned, closed)

  • A comment is submitted

To add a reporter as a watcher

  • When creating a Jira issue from a Zendesk Support ticket, select the Add reporter as a watcher checkbox.

Adding the current agent as a watcher when linking Jira issues

When linking an existing issue to a ticket in Support, the current user is added as a watcher to that issue in Jira. Note that for this to be successful, the Jira user profile must contain the Zendesk agent's email or full name.

Displaying when the most recent comment was added

In the Zendesk Support panel in Jira, you can display how much time has elapsed since the last comment was added to the ticket in Zendesk:

To enable the last comment added display

  1. In Jira, go to the Settings cog icon > Apps > Manage Apps > Zendesk Support for Jira > Configure to open the configuration page.
  2. In the Settings > Zendesk Support ticket fields section, select the Last Commented checkbox:

  3. Click Save.
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356 Comments

  • Jennifer Zou

    Excellent! This is absolutely EXCELLENT! I am very surprised to see how Zendesk react to customer's need especially compared with some other software company. Great Job!!!

    1
  • Yuri Mylis
    Zendesk Product Manager

    Thank you for the kind words Jennifer

    0
  • Daniel Groves

    Hi Yuri, We seem to have a bit of hit and miss with the Key Sync. Tested on Chrome and Firefox we get the following:

    1. The Key is generated and displays in the text field.

    2. The key displays and then disappears randomly.

    3. No Key displays.

    I have checked the web hook on JIRA cloud and it all looks OK. We also sync the Fix version which works perfectly.

    Any ideas?

    0
  • Anna Roussanova

    Hi Daniel, the behavior you're describing sounds very interesting. I've created a ticket to follow up with you.

    0
  • Bhavin Acharya

    Hi,

    I am facing a problem to sync Jira field with Zendesk. When I select Zendesk field name "Priority" and try to select Jira same field name, Jira system fields are disabled(please refer below image).

    Please help me.

    Thanks,

    Bhavin Acharya.

    0
  • Yuri Mylis
    Zendesk Product Manager

    @Bhavin, you can sync between a custom field and a custom field or a system field and a custom field, but no between 2 system fields.

    0
  • Bhavin Acharya

    @Yuri, ooh ok. Thanks a lot for your prompt reply.

    0
  • Vishal Gautam

    I am trying to configure this JIRA plugin to integrate our On-prem JIRA with Zendesk. During configuration setting of Zendesk url and credentials, Zendesk tries to reach out to our On-prem JIRA which is behind firewall. Do we need to allow this access or is there any other way? If yes then, it means to punch a hole in our firewall, is there an IP range we can use for Zendesk servers? Please guide.This might have been discussed earlier, but I could not find so pardon me if this is a repeat. 

    0
  • Anna Roussanova

    Hi Vishal, the JIRA setup article includes all the special considerations for setting up the integration for JIRA OnPremise, including a link to the IP addresses that need to be allowed through the firewall!

    0
  • Joel P

    Version 4 is nice, but there are two things that make it harder to use than version 3.

    1. When creasting an issue, the "jira_escalated" tag is added to the ticket in edit mode instead of in the background. This means that I now have to make sure I Submit changes to the ticket even though I have made no changes to the ticket. In version three the tag was added regardless of whether I submitted any changes to the ticket. I prefer version 3's approach because there is no reason to skip adding the tag once the issue is created in JIRA. 
    2. (Bug?) In the Create Issue dialog, typing in a combobox does not filter the results. We require Component/s (multi-select) and Priority (single select) in our JIRA project so you can possibly use those as examples to reproduce.
    0
  • Jessie Schutz
    Zendesk team member

    Hey Joel! Thanks for the feedback on this!

    I'm going to pass this along to our JIRA experts to make sure they're aware, and see if they have any information to share about it.

    0
  • Laura Hippert

    Hi Joel! I would love to talk to you more about your Jira questions/comments, but it might be easier to do so in a ticket, so I have created one on your behalf. I will reach out from the ticket shortly. 

    0
  • Felix Starzer
    • Edited

    Hey,

    is there any possibility to 

    1) Take the whole text of Zendesk (Customers Question + comments) instead of the last comment into Jira?

     

    2) How can I add the current Sprint to Zendesk? In Jira it's the custom field sprint (sprint) but I cannot set a sprint custom field in Zendesk :/

    Anyhow I cannot select it.. (see screenshot)

     

    Thanks!

    0
  • Yuri Mylis
    Zendesk Product Manager

    Felix, all ticket comments are displayed on "Zendesk Support" tab on the linked JIRA issue.

    "Sprint" can be mapped to a custom text field.

    0
  • James Rago

    In v3 or v4 can you sort or organize the chosen fields that you enable on the Summary or Detailed view? 

    0
  • Jennifer Zou

    Hi Yuri,

    I want to report a bug to you: 

    When I sync the JIRA key in Zendesk, I noticed that if I moved the JIRA from one project to another(Issue Key changed from DOC-102 to DEV-206), the JIRA Issue Key does not updated, it is still shown as DOC-102.

    Could you please fix this bug?

    Thanks.

    Jennifer. 

    1
  • Lalitha Viswanathan

    Hi Yuri,

    Wanted to report an issue observed in our environment where we have enabled JIRA-Zendesk integration.

    1. Field mapping is enabled between Status field in Zendesk vs. Custom field in JIRA

    2. We are using the above to sync any changes in Zendesk status into JIRA, via code written in JIRA's script listener which is marked to trigger on 'Issue Update'. 

    3. We have also defined Webhook to do the field sync on issueUpdate on JIRA end.

     

    Issue observed is that whenever there is Zendesk status change, the same is not updated into JIRA mapped field until I move inside the JIRA issue when issue_updated is fired.

     

    This is impacting the data integrity between JIRA and Zendesk statuses unless a user goes inside the JIRA ticket to fetch latest status.

     

    Pls help resolve/advise?

     

    Thanks

    Lalitha

    0
  • Nicole S. - Community Manager
    Zendesk Community Team

    Hey all - 

    Yuri is out of the office this week, so apologies for the delayed responses. I'm sure he'll jump back in to the conversation once he's back at work and caught up. Stay tuned!

    0
  • Yuri Mylis
    Zendesk Product Manager

    @James, unfortunately the sort order is predetermined and is not configurable.

    @Jennifer, thank you for the feedback. This is one of the scenarios we currently don't handle with issue key sync, as well as project deletion and project renaming. We will be looking to address these limitations in the future but I'm curious to hear how critical these are for you.

    @Lalitha, best way to understand what's happening here is to move this conversation to a ticket, I'll raise one on your behave and one of our agents will reach out to you shortly.

     

    0
  • Jennifer Zou

    Hi Yuri,

    Thanks for your response. My use case is:

    when a ticket(each ticket is bug report) comes to our Zendesk, engineers will create a JIRA that describing this bug in IOT project JIRA, for example: JIRA key is IOT-101. Then a senior engineer will go through these bugs in IOT project JIRA, evaluate and fix them, once the bug is selected by the senior engineer, he/she will move this JIRA IOT-101 to another project called DEV, so the issue Key changed to DEV-101. However, at that time, in Zendesk, the linked JIRA issue key will still show as IOT-101. 

    Showing the correct issue key is very important to my organization, because we need to create a report every week to show the number of bugs in each JIRA projects and then analyze what we will do in the future.

    Thanks.

    Jennifer.

    1
  • Justin

    When using Jira Cloud, is it possible to solve a Zendesk ticket upon completing a Jira issue? We tried setting up some post function triggers to do this and add a tag to the ZD ticket, but these specific updates aren't being pushed to Zendesk. Any ideas?

    0
  • Jessie Schutz
    Zendesk team member

    Hey Justin! I'm checking to see if any of our JIRA experts can help you with this. Stand by!

    0
  • Niall Colfer

    Hi Justin,

    You would need to configure a JIRA workflow to post an update to the linked Zendesk ticket when the status of the JIRA issue changes. You can e.g. update the status and/or add a comment. You can find more information in our article Updating a ticket when the status of a JIRA issue changes.

    Hope this helps!

    0
  • Rob Gilliam

    As of this morning, I can't see the issues that are linked to the Zendesk ticket. I only get a count of the issues:

     

    what's happened?

    1
  • Wolfgang Montag

    Same problem as Rob Gilliam here .. integration works fine on both sides (jira and zendesk), but the link to the "linked issue" is not shown anymore

    0
  • Niall Colfer

    Hi Rob and Wolfgang,

    Thanks for letting us know, I'll create tickets for you both so that we can gather some details and investigate. I'll be in touch shortly via email.

    0
  • Niall Colfer

    Update: Our JIRA team has confirmed an issue that prevented the linked issues for showing for some users, and we have released a fix. This should now be resolved.

    0
  • Jonathan Levy

    We are having issues linking tickets and see errors like this, but it only shows for some users and not all, Do we need need to reset up the configuration?

     

    1
  • Jamie

    Also having the Configuration Linking issue with a specific user and with "Closed" tickets only.

    Also, attachments in the create from Zendesk are not coming over to Jira.

    0
  • Yuri Mylis
    Zendesk Product Manager

    @Jonathan and @Jamie. We have found what was causing this issue and deployed a fix. Should be all good now.

    0

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