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Using the Zendesk Support for Jira integration

Yuri Mylis
  • Edited
Zendesk Product Manager

Suite allSuite all

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.

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

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.

Creating a Jira issue from a ticket

You can create a Jira issue from a ticket in Support, for example, when the ticket is a feature request or a bug report from a customer.

To create 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.
  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 the Project drop-down options 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 Creating custom roles and assigning agents.

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 search field, enter your search terms . 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 accordion to expand the ticket details.

  4. To view the ticket in Support, click the linked ticket heading.

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 is added to the Activity section in the Jira issue.
  6. In the Show drop-down list, select Comments to view the comment.

 

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. In the Jira top nav bar, select More > Apps > Manage your apps
  2. Click the Zendesk Support for Jira accordion, then click Configure.
  3. In the Settings > Other options section, select the Disable all public comments to Zendesk checkbox.
  4. 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 the Jira top nav bar, select More > Apps > Manage your Apps.
  2. Click the Zendesk Support for Jira accordion, then click Configure.
  3. In the Settings > Other options section, select the Send email notification to Jira issue watchers on new linked Zendesk Support ticket comments checkbox.
  4. 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 the Jira top nav bar, select More > Apps > Manage Apps.
  2. Click the Zendesk Support for Jira accordion, then click Configure.
  3. In the Settings > Zendesk Support ticket fields section, select the Last Commented checkbox
  4. Click Save.
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365 Comments

  • Yuri Mylis
    Zendesk Product Manager

    Exciting news! We've shipped several new features.


    1. A new JIRA app is now generally available https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/115013656667
    2. Following requests two additional JIRA field types are now support by the Field Syncing feature. timespent can be mapped to text and textarea, datetime can be mapped to text, textarea and date.
    3. We've shipped an improved JIRA Server add-on that is compatible with JIRA backup and restore procedures, where customers clone their JIRA server.
    4. Added search functionality to the field selection UI control on the field mapping screen.
    0
  • Thomas Ploof
    • Edited

    Today we replaced the "legacy" Zendesk Add-On.  However, we cannot get past the "Loading add-on Zendesk Support for JIRA.".   It states, "wait or cancel" after a few seconds.

    We are running on-premise JIRA and not blocking any IPs.  Plus, we were able to connect to Zendesk previously reducing concerns with any firewalls.

    We do use AD for our users directory.

    I did notice in looking for answers in the DB that the references to the legacy connection were present.  Is it possible that is causing issues? 

    I have searched high and low on Google for an answer.  I see many people complaining, but no one providing a solution. 

    Eager to get this back in place and working.  We depend on this integration. 

    0
  • Jamie

    @Yuri, any updates on the inability for attachments to flow through? They appear on the Create Issue modal and don't appear on the issue in Jira. (This is the expected outcome) 

    0
  • Beth Hopper

    Any update on being able to add Organization level fields to the Field Sync? We really need this.

    0
  • Justin

    Is it possible to send all comments on a Jira issue back to Zendesk - not the 'Notify Zendesk' button. Ideally, the IT team would do their normal stuff/workflow by adding comments on the issue in Jira without having to separately send notes to/notify zendesk. Possible or no?

    0
  • Yuri Mylis
    Zendesk Product Manager

    @Thomas, were you able to resolve the issue? If it persists please email support@zendesk.com.

    @Jamie, the JIRA app in Zendesk Support allows adding attachments when creating or notifying an issue. These are added as links on the issue description to the original attachment in Support.

    @Beth, at the moment this feature is not on our roadmap due to limited customer interest. I'll continue to monitor feedback and will provide an update here if we decide to implement this feature.

    @Justin, all Zendesk Support ticket notes are visible in JIRA. There is not need to take any manual action for that. Ticket notes appear under the "Zendesk Support" tab on the issue and not under the "comments" tab.

    0
  • Justin

    Thanks Yuri. My question was more about the comments being passed back from Jira to Zendesk. I know you can click to notify Zendesk but what about the regular comments being sent back to Zendesk?

    0
  • Yuri Mylis
    Zendesk Product Manager

    Sorry Justin, I misunderstood. There is no automated way currently to send JIRA comments to Zendesk, but I am investigating how this flow can be improved. 

    Simply syncing comments from multiple issues to the a single ticket could lead to a problematic user experience and doesn't sound like the best approach. If you have any thoughts on this I would be happy to discuss over a call. 

    0
  • James Rago

    @yuri It would be greate to expand on the notify all targets in Jira. When multiple tickets are mapped to a single Jira, our developers sometimes on need to notify or ask questions to a specific ticket. Is this possible in the future? 

    Also the ability to sort the fields in the Jira app on the zendesk side. The fields displayed are good, but I want to show them in a specific order.

    0
  • Dan Ross
    Community Moderator

    Hey @James,

    We solved this by giving development Light Agent accounts. they can only make internal notes on cases.

    This way, if they have specific questions or want to view a particular case's details, they can go to the linked ticket and leave a note for the agent. 

     

    +1 for reordering the fields in the Zendesk Jira app though! That would be much more helpful!

    0
  • James Rago

    @Dan True, but that defeats the main purpose of the integration which is to allow each team (Dev and CS) to work within their respective tools.

    0
  • Thomas Ploof

    @Yuri Mylis | Yes, Zendesk Support took care of the issue.  It actually was not a true issue, but more missing install instructions and troubleshooting guides.  We are up and running though.

    It is odd that you are not able to map comments to Zendesk other than using the Notify button.  The only challenge is when multiples are linked either way?   Maybe offer a drop list to choose which Zendesk/JIRA is to be updated with the comment being added.  Much like public vs. private.

     

    0
  • Beth Hopper

    We noticed an issue with linking multiple ZenDesk tickets to a single Jira ticket, and using field sync. We have one field that exists on the Ticket level. When there is more than one ZenDesk ticket, it obviously doesn't know what to update. Not sure how this can be handled more elegantly. Sometimes they have a sort of Epic-style Jira ticket to handle a bucket of ZenDesk issues, so this will come up. Right now, we are just handling it as it is. The first ticket will populate that field in Jira, and will update fine, until you add a second ticket....then it no longer updates at all. So if that field is updated on ANY associated ZenDesk ticket, including the original, it will keep that very first populated value. Any ideas?

    0
  • Yuri Mylis
    Zendesk Product Manager

    @Beth

    The behavior you are describing is by design and is related to a single source of truth requirement. You can find additional information in this article.

    0
  • Beth Hopper

    Thanks, Yuri!

    I have another issue that just popped up, that is urgent. I had set up a field mapping to a field in JIRA  from ZenDesk to Jira. We decided that we didn't want a text field, but a drop down. In Jira, you have to create a whole new field. You cannot change the type once created. So I created a new field of the right type and deleted the old field.

    I went into the add-on configuration and tried to remove the mapping to that old field. I get errors. I can not remove it, nor can I create a new mapping to the new field with the same ZenDesk field. Please help!

    0
  • Rob Gilliam

    Having huge issues with this today.

    If I go to link an existing JIRA issue, I type the issue key (e.g. PRJ-1234) and it shows me a whole load of issues, then none, then maybe the issue I want, then a single issue which is NOT the one I want. The interpretive search thing is all very well, but only if it actually works. Otherwise, just let me type the issue name and press ENTER.

    If I try to create an issue from within Zendesk the form shows me as the Reporter (sometimes - sometimes I have to search for myself), but the created JIRA Issues are all showing up with the Reporter as "addon_zendesk_for_jira". This field can't be changed, so we lose this information unless we remember to add it as a comment on the issue.

    0
  • Yuri Mylis
    Zendesk Product Manager

    @Beth, thanks for reporting this! The issue is now fixed.

    @Rob, I'll raise a ticket for this and someone from our support team will get in touch and look into this.

     

    0
  • Lubos Imriska

    Hi there,

    I tried to use the add-on, the basic workflow works flawlessly. However, I was not able to find a way to hide the Zendesk tab on the JIRA side. We, as many other software vendors, make most of our JIRA issues public (accessible without any logging into JIRA). Therefore, we do not want anyone to be able to see the information in the Zendesk tab without logging in first. Zendesk tickets contain internal communication between our company and our customers and we do not want to publish it this way. I know I can hide most of the ticket information visible in JIRA but the ticket subject (which can also contain private information) is not one of them.

    I would really appreciate an option to make the whole Zendesk tab in JIRA visible for developer role only or at least an option to hide the subject of the tickets. Ticket number as the link is completely fine but since we cannot ask all our customers not to put sensitive information into email subjects, I need a way to hide it. Unfortunately, the current unability to hide the private information makes the whole add-on unusable for us. Can anyone help, please?

    Thanks.

    0
  • Yuri Mylis
    Zendesk Product Manager

    Hi Lubos,

     

    Thank you for the feedback. At the moment there is no way to hide the tab or the subject but I've added this to the feature request list.

    0
  • Andrew Schreiner

    Is there a way to add a trigger when an issue is linked in Zendesk so we could set a particular ticket filed either with the id of the jira escalation that was linked/created or checking off a checkbox that shows it was escalated? 

    0
  • Dan Ross
    Community Moderator

    Hi Yuri & team,

    Can you please restore the functionality that was present in V3 for linking issues?

    Before, you would look up the issue, select it and then it would be added to the ticket. 

    Now, you need to look up, select it (it will then place itself in the sidebar) and then you need to click Link Issue. That extra click is redundant and agents seem to miss it. At least once a week I have an agent report problems attaching bugs to tickets and it turns out they just didn't hit Link Issue. If they don't notice the issue didn't attach after the submit their ticket changes, then we don't record the new report in Jira.

    0
  • Rob Gilliam

    I second Dan's suggestion here as it's caught me out a couple of times.

    I would actually widen this suggestion out to "Zendesk should employ some user experience professionals".

    The introduction of an unnecessary extra click in an interface is just another example of usability bad practice; to be honest, the entirety of the agent interface of Zendesk is an exemplar of "what not to do"

    1
  • Baptiste Candelier

    Hi,

    I'm setting up the link to Jira and have a question about the feature "Adding a comment to a JIRA issue from a ticket".

    In this chapter you explain that we have to use Notify but why should this be used if you explain also that all comments public and private are synchronized. A Internal comments would be enough!

    Regardless of the point I've mentioned above I have an issue with this way of working. I don't need and I don't want that the our R&D sees all exchanges between the support agent and the customer. Furthermore Internal comments are sometimes between agents and light agent and this comments don't need to be sent to Jira. 

    The best would be that only the comments made through the app Notify button are send to Jira.

    Is this something that is planed to be implemented? 

    0
  • vijayalaxmi

    Hi,

    Is it possible to notify zendesk users whenever new version is released in Jira?

    0
  • Nguyenhoang

    Do we have any public API to link a zendesk ticket with a JIRA ticket?

     

    0
  • Justin Smith

    What's the best way to map the JIRA Priority field to a Priority field (custom drop down) in Zendesk? Can the update be passed both ways? For example, if updated in Jira, sync in Zendesk and vice versa?

    0
  • Jessie Schutz
    Zendesk team member

    Hey Justin! I'm looking for someone to help you with this. Sit tight!

    0
  • Tal Admon

    Thanks for the great integration!

    When I create a new Jira item from Zendesk Support, Is it possible to style it using markdown, or any other syntax?

    0
  • Becca
    Zendesk team member

    Hi Justin - 

    Unfortunately, due to the differences within the priority fields between Zendesk and Jira, that particular field mapping is not possible. However, you can create and use a custom dropdown to map to the priority field in either instance. You could take this one step further and have a trigger in Zendesk set the priority field automatically based on the value of the drop down mapped. There is more on field mapping here- Using the JIRA field syncing feature

    0
  • Phil Preston

    @Yuri / Zendesk product team.

    Is there any update / or feature request raised for being able to set the relationship between tickets on the JIRA side?

    Many Thanks

    Phil

    0

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