Question
Can I configure a trigger to auto-comment on a ticket?
Answer
Yes. You can create a trigger that automatically adds a public comment or an internal note to a submitted ticket that meets certain conditions. For more information, see the article: Automatically adding comments and notes to tickets using triggers.
Important: Zendesk doesn't support using webhooks for Zendesk APIs as a workaround to automatically add comments to tickets. Doing so can result in race conditions and other conflicts. For more details, see the article: Can I use a trigger and a webhook to update tickets?
108 comments
The Original DKNY
+1 for REALLY NEED THIS
We have 2 triggers that are configured to reject or approve a Part Order ticket if the part ordering is not valid for several reasons or if it requires action outside of Zendesk. The lack of this feature means that Our customers are waiting for something, and our agents do not know that the order was not processed or submitted via the Approve trigger. This creates a horrible customer experience for Zendesk customers (agents) and the more important customer the Zendesk End User.
This is such a common ITSM / Support Desk software, the use cases will only keep growing as fewer and fewer Agents will be using email with the adoption of Slack/Teams, etc. It is a real shame that this has not been added to the Zendesk feature stack, I am just guessing that ticket commenting (public or private) and agent notification automation is not a feature Zendesk thinks is important or potential new customers would want.
29
The Original DKNY
And like that, the only known workaround that an admin could use without having to write a custom application or use an automation service is removed. So when will this feature be added? Or should I look at other options?
Updating ticket comments via Automations/Triggers is a Common Use Case in ticketing systems and is often just a table-stakes feature.....
17
RichL
Totally agree with the guy from 2 years ago that said Zendesk does some things well but then has infuriating (and my opinion often baffling) limitations, in particular with regard to automation. I understand the concept of a "race condition" but as a customer I don't care why the functionality isn't there.
What may have been considered edge cases 3-5 years ago are now typical use cases.
16
Lou
We add comments (public or private) all the time via triggers. We send it to an extension. We even use automations to publicly "remind" a customer.
3
RichL
@... Yes, this is what I'm doing as well. My main issue with this isn't that it's impossible but rather Zendesk frames this as an unsupported configuration and that the application itself has clearly not been designed to facilitate such workflows.
The limitations of Zendesk's ticket and cascading triggers paradigm wasn't as obvious to me until I built out workflows in other CRM's which in my opinion, were far better equipped to handle business process workflows more sophisticated than ticket in-ticket out. But still, like all SaaS solutions Zendesk offers many other benefits and can ultimately accommodate most situation with a bit of ingenuity.
5
Marcos Lara
+1, Agents send an SMS to a use from a macro and I want to update the ticket in a private note that the sms was sent so agent know it was executed. The only thing i can do from the trigger is add a tag which, is at least some signal for the agent, but isn't ideal. Please allow the ability to at least set a private note, or as a global trigger option, "report trigger status in private note". you check it and it adds the same txt that is in the event stream in the comments as private.
0
Patrick
Use Case; (our setup)
We use a series of triggers to govern when and how a ticket is Escalated to a higher tier, as well as automatically de-escalate that ticket back to the lower tier agent if a set amount of time has passed. Our highest tier agents aren't always available, so we need a timer to ensure that the ticket is addressed promptly. Either by a higher tier support agent, or a lower tier agent making a judgment call they normally wouldn't have to make.
The amount of time a ticket stay escalated is based on the Priority.
Priority determines the sort order of tickets within our agent's views. No priority means that the ticket is not time-sensitive. Our times work like so;
To prevent an agent from escalating a ticket without setting the Priority field, I set all the Escalation Detection trigger to ignore tickets without a set priority.
The problem we run into is that I have no easy way to inform our agents WHY the ticket didn't escalate. I would far prefer to add an internal comment informing the agent what went wrong.
This is just one example. We have other triggers that will refuse to move/reassign a ticket unless a specific field is filled out. In many of these cases I would prefer to create an internal comment informing the agent of what went wrong, rather then sending them an email.
This would also be very useful in reminding our agents about the special service requirements for some of the organizations we interact with. Rather than having to give our agents a separate set of documents they have to reference when a ticket comes in from one of those organizations.
This feature would be very nice to have, as I have no interest in mucking about with API calls to generate such comments.
1
Mistyamber Reynolds
I would like to have a trigger add a private comment on a ticket when a closed side conversation is replied to. I also cannot find a way to reopen a side conversation if it is replied to via triggers. We need this functionality.
3
Dave Dyson
Hi Mistyamber –
I don't know of a way of doing this, so would you mind adding your use case as a post to our Feedback on Support topic? As always, the more details you can provide on your use case – what you're trying to accomplish, and what you're having to do to work around this – the better.
-2
Fabio
Hi @...,
you can create an HTTP Target to add the internal comment.
I don't know if the "Side conversation is replied to"-condition trigger will fire if the conversation is closed though. But you can just test that.
Use this in the Ticket Update API endpoint: /api/v2/tickets/{{ticket.id}}.json
Use this JSON in the Target notification:
{
"ticket": {
"comment": {
"body": "closed ticket was replied to",
"public": false,
"author_id": {{ticket.assignee.id}}
}
}
}
4
Jimmy Rufo
Hi Team,
So I received this email today, and we actually use a URL target to accomplish sending an automated internal note based on incoming ticket conditions on a trigger. Its used hundreds of times/month, and will now be shut off in the next 6 months! The fact that this feature is not already available natively in the platform is a huge shortcoming, and we need Zendesk to step up and give us a proper alternative. CC @....
2
Lou
We do the same thing, and I saw the email as well. My question is, is there a difference between a HTTP extension and a URL extension? The article specifically states HTTTP extensions, but our comments are done via a URL extension that makes API calls.
1
Dave Dyson
Hi @... and @... –
Our apologies, only HTTP targets are being deprecated. URL targets are not affected. See:
-1
elzbieta.petryka
+1 asap
Add Notes and comments with a trigger or a automations.
7 years of customers asking for this functionality..sad
8
Support team
+1 really need this feature
6
Ben
I had to setup api targets and other mess to do this but they don't work perfectly. It BLOWS my mind that Zendesk doesn't have this. As agents can't see key communications with customers. Instead they are left in the dark and customers are emailing back about automations and so on that they can't see.
This is such a key feature, it should have been here on day 1.
5
Lou
This thread is so frustrating for me. We have all kinds of triggers and automations that create public and private replies all the time, without fail. If you go through this thread, you'll find where I explain it in more detail. It's very easy and very useful.
Agreed, it should be native to the program, but the process we use is quite simple. It allows me to "email" the customer via a public reply instead of an email that doesn't show up in the ticket. This way, I document almost all activities.
2
Kyle Hale
Hi there - I'd also like to add a vote that this is needed for a few reasons:
1. Support agents who are not admins cannot see the trigger that includes a response. We use triggers as autoresponders all the time based on user selected category.
2. Triggers don't count as public comments which means they don't contribute to SLA's. Our FRT suffers on ZD analytics because tickets that are responded to with a trigger don't get counted in our SLA's.
Thanks!
5
CJ Johnson
I would love to see this feature built in and supported. I'm going to be setting up the workaround but like others have said, it feels extremely overdue for this to just be a supported method.
3
Óskar Ómarsson
Hi,
Just wanted to put our vote on this one, yet another strangely surprising limitation with Zendesk.
Also hard to imagine how this feature could be so difficult to implement, makes me wonder.
Thanks
Oskar
2
Flair Customer Support
Lou
You wrote:
"If you go through this thread, you'll find where I explain it in more detail."
I'm not seeing it. Can you repost?
1
CJ Johnson
Flair Customer Support It looks like when Zendesk switched over to Messaging, they changed all the article URLs and removed older comments. I couldn't find Lou's comment, which is probably what I used to set this up too, but Jimmy's has most of what you need:
"
I'm not sure where it was posted, or if it was even in this thread, but I have a URL target that allows me to put an internal note in triggers. I don't have all the exact steps, but here is some of the configuration info within the extension. As long as Zendesk continues to support it, its been great for me.
https://[subdomain].zendesk.com/api/v2/tickets/{{ticket.id}}.json?ticket[comment][public]=false
Method = PUT
Attribute Name = ticket[comment][body]"
Basically, you set that up and call it like "Internal Note Target", then you set up a trigger to have the action, "Notify Target: Internal Note Target" and put the notification as the body of the message. Just be *extremely* careful to set it up to only fire once or you'll have some embarrassing tickets with 50+ identical internal notes and the target will get turned off for firing too much, speaking from personal embarrassing experience.
4
Lou
That's it. You can also send public replies by changing the target to [public]=true. I like this better than "notifying" the customer because it is then documented in the ticket.
Also, the trigger or automation will have an action of "Notify Target". We have 2 set up called "Comment Automation Private" and "Comment Automation Public".
CJ Johnson, is it working for you? We use it a TON.
2
Flair Customer Support
Thank you Louis and C J.
I tried this and I’m getting an “unauthorized” error when I test the target.
I am using my username and password, but I log in to ZD with my Google account. Is there something else I need to do to get this working?
0
Lou
I have NEVER had a successful test on a target. Don't know why that doesn't work. You'll just have to test it out live, preferably in your sandbox.
0
Flair Customer Support
Lou
CJ Johnson
Are you able to share a screenshot of your extension and trigger?
Here's my extension and trigger - and the API failure: error couldn't authenticate you. Any insight would be appreciated. Just to mention again, I use Google sign-in to log in to ZD.![](/hc/user_images/PuR0dl4CH3R56myh4yIFqg.png)
![](/hc/user_images/52O-f8Y8YiVFEWpvTa24hQ.png)
0
Flair Customer Support
API Failure
0
Support team
Flair Customer Support in your case just use login/password in this format
basic auth in URL target
login:
yourusername@yourdomain.com/token
password:
your new API key
before that generate new API token.
0
Lou
Actually, mine's been failing. I'll need to open a ticket to see what's going on.
0
Lou
My password was wrong. It's working now.
Here's the extension:
As far as the trigger, it's just the action you need to see:
3