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:
- Using the integration in Zendesk Support
- Using the integration in Jira
- Commenting and comment sharing
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:
- Creating a Jira issue from a ticket
- Creating a link to an existing Jira issue from a ticket
- Tracking a Jira issue from a ticket
- Customizing the summary and details views
- Adding a comment to a Jira issue from a ticket
- Adding a label to a Jira issue from a ticket
- Unlinking a Jira issue from a ticket
- Searching Jira issues
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
- In Zendesk Support, go to the ticket you want to use as a basis for a new Jira issue.
- 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.
- 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.
- Enter the details about the issue.
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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.
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- (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.
- 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
- In Zendesk, go to the ticket you'd like to link to a Jira issue.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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
- Click the Admin icon in the upper-right side of the Jira app next to the ticket.
- Select the information you want to display in the summary and details views.
- 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
- Add a tag with a jira_ prefix in the Tags field in the ticket's left sidebar:
- 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
- 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.
- 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
- Navigate to the issue in Jira. In the sidebar under Zendesk Support, the number of linked tickets is displayed.
- Double-click on Linked Tickets to open the linked tickets page.
- If more than one ticket is linked to the issue, click the accordion to expand the ticket details.
- 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:
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Adding a comment to linked Zendesk Support tickets from a Jira issue
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Notifying Jira issue watchers when there are new comments on linked Zendesk tickets
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Adding the reporter as a watcher when creating a new Jira issue
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Adding the current agent as a watcher when linking Jira issues
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Displaying when the most recent comment was added to either account
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
- Click the Notify button in the Jira app next to the ticket.
- Enter the comment you want to add to the issue in Jira.
- To save typing, you can transfer the last comment made on the ticket by clicking Copy the last comment.
- Any attachments in ticket comments are shown under Attachments. Click on the attachment to add it to the note.
- Click Notify issues. The note is added to the Activity section in the Jira issue.
- 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
- Navigate to the Jira issue, and in the Activity drop-down list, select Zendesk Support.
- In the Ticket drop-down list, select the Support ticket.
- Enter your comment . Select the Make public reply checkbox to make a public comment.
- Click Add comment.
To add a comment to all linked tickets in the Activity section
- Navigate to the linked issue in Jira, and in the Activity drop-down list, select Zendesk Support.
- Enter your comment, select the Add for all tickets checkbox, and click Save.
To add a comment to all linked tickets in the sidebar
- In the sidebar under Zendesk Support, double-click on Linked Tickets. The linked ticket page opens.
- Click Add comments to linked tickets, which opens a page.
- Enter your comment and click Send.
To make all comments private
- In the Jira top nav bar, select More > Apps > Manage your apps
- Click the Zendesk Support for Jira accordion, then click Configure.
- In the Settings > Other options section, select the Disable all public comments to Zendesk checkbox.
- 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
- In the Jira top nav bar, select More > Apps > Manage your Apps.
- Click the Zendesk Support for Jira accordion, then click Configure.
- In the Settings > Other options section, select the Send email notification to Jira issue watchers on new linked Zendesk Support ticket comments checkbox.
- 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:
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The story has been updated (such as the description)
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The status changes (assigned, closed)
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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
- In the Jira top nav bar, select More > Apps > Manage Apps.
- Click the Zendesk Support for Jira accordion, then click Configure.
- In the Settings > Zendesk Support ticket fields section, select the Last Commented checkbox
- Click Save.
364 Comments
Is there a way to sync the Jira Project field into a Zendesk Custom field. Currently the Project field in jira is a system field, so we do not see a way to map it to a custom field. We would like to build a report of all our issues broken down by the project they are assigned to. We can't use the Jira ID field as it contains the project board as well as the actual ID (OPS-1212). This would make it difficult for us to get a count of tickets per project. Open to any creative suggestions as well.
Hi Phil and Beth - I've reached out to both of you via Support tickets, as these issues appear to be specific to your accounts. Let's pick up troubleshooting there!
Hi, Garrick!
I just verified that all our labels are still not coming over from ZenDesk into Jira. They populate within ZenDesk, as soon as I link or create a ticket, but they never populate Jira with the 'jira_escalated' label.
How can I update the JIRA ticket based on ZD ticket status or field change?
How can I update the ZD ticket (status or fields) based on JIRA ticket status change?
This is now an urgent issue for us.
Hi Michael,
Have you looked at the JIRA field sync feature and/or using JIRA post functions to update tickets?
These features should allow you to make these sorts of updates.
Last few days the plugin is giving problems.
Without any changes the link between jira-zendesk broke. Couple of hours laters somehow it works again, 5 minutes later its broken again.
Hi Paul, that's definitely a problem! I've created a ticket for you so we can dig into what's happening there. You should get an email notification about that, and we can continue troubleshooting in the ticket!
Hi,
Are there any plans for:
- make it possible to connect more than 1 Zendesk domain with 1 Jira account
- make an inegration from Jira to Zendesk
Thomas
@Thomas
Hi there,
To answer your first question, I'm afraid there are no current plans to implement more than one Zendesk domain with a JIRA account.
For your second question, our current integration currently allows fields to be synced from JIRA > Zendesk when changes are made from within an Issue in JIRA. Additionally, we also have the 'Notify' button which allows you to post a comment in the Zendesk ticket purely within the JIRA Issue interface. If this was not what you were after and our documentation does not list what you're enquiring about, feel free to look through our Product Feedback community in attempt to find what you're looking for. Alternatively, you also have the ability post up your own enquiry if your use case is not listed. For your reference: https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/search?filter_by=community&query=JIRA&topic=200132066&utf8=%E2%9C%93
Hope this helps!
Is there any way to hide the "Zendesk Support" tab in JIRA? It's at the bottom of all stories, under "Activity".
We don't want to have JIRA pulling in the full description fields of Zendesk, due to some sensitive information in certain tickets.
@Joshua It is currently not possible to hide the Zendesk Support tab, but we are planning on introducing this enhancement in the near future.
When a Ticket is attached to a Jira Issue, we want to copy the Organization associated with that ticket to a tag field in Jira (or something that would identify the Organization, like a custom field from the Organization). It could be to a specific Jira Field, or as a tag. And if multiple tickets are attached to 1 Jira, it will append the value to the field. Is that possible?
I am open to any workaround, for example if a Trigger could copy information from the Organization to a field (or tag list) on the Ticket and then sync with Jira.
Secondly, other than prepending all tags with 'jira_' is there anyway to always sync all tags from Zendesk to Jira?
Hi Craig!
When it comes to field mapping between Zendesk and JIRA, only ticket fields can be synced - therefore, if you were able to add the Organization as a custom field on the Zendesk ticket, you would be able to map that field to JIRA. Regarding your second question- unfortunately, no, only jira_* tags will automatically sync to your associated Issues.
Is there anyway yet to remove the jira_escalate label from being created - I sort of get the reason back in the day but now with field syncing it seems extremely unnecessary
Hey Jake,
Unfortunately no. It is not possible to remove the "jira_escalated" label & tag from being added automatically when linking a ticket to a JIRA object at this time.
Any plans to be able to sync to more ZenDesk System Type fields? We'd love to be able to sync JIRA Summary with ZenDesk Ticket Subject for our ticket management workflow.
I'm sure this has been asked before in comments (but with 9 pages it's hard to read through)
Is there a way to see the total # of Zendesk tickets that are linked to a single issue? Either in Zendesk or in JIRA? We'd like to run reports on JIRA tickets with the greatest number of Zendesk tickets attached.
Thank you!
Hi Megan, you can follow the instructions here to create a field in JIRA for the number of Zendesk tickets linked to an issue: Linked Ticket Reporting
After the last update in Chrome i cant open tickets from zendesk, happens only in chrome. any solutions?
Hi Alinea, that sounds like a weird issue! I've created a support ticket for you. You should get an email about that shortly.
Hi, It's about a part of "link jira issue".
I can't link Jira Issue and it always showed "ERROR" or "Issue not found".
Hi Eric, that sounds like something we should investigate. I created a ticket for you; you should have received an email notification for it!
I would find it useful if you could map the system Organization field to a field in Jira.
When I escalate a case to Jira, our dev's do not know who it is for, consequently they do not know which tickets to prioritize. Same with the ticket contact name and email.
I completely agree, Scott. I would love to be able to copy the Organizations over for each ticket attached to a Jira. It's not just the ticket count, but the requestor of the ticket that matters to decision making.
Hi guys,
Is it possible to change default tag "jira_escalated" into clearer tag?
Thanks,
When adding a comment to an already existing JIRA, is there a way to pass the @somejirausersname in the comment so the notifications of the comment can be sent to that user?
Apologies if this has been answered. This thread has some length to it.
Quick update
We've improved the project restriction feature to hide the Zendesk panel and tab in Jira based on user configurations
More on project restrictions here: https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/115015822607
Hi,
Is it correct that you can just link 1 Zendesk account to 1 Jira account?
Is there a way to link multiple Zendesk accounts to the same Jira account?
Thanks!
@Thomas,
Yes, you can only connect 1 Zendesk account to a Jira account.
Hi Yuri,
Thanks.
So what's your solution if we want to connect 5 Zendesk account with one Jira account?
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