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.
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:
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.
- Select the reporter for the issue. By default, the reporter is set to the last reporter that was selected when an issue was created in this browser. 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 to 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.
The ticket must be an existing ticket. If you are creating a new ticket, you'll need to save it first.
- 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:
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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.
You can add pre-existing or custom Jira fields to these views. See Jira custom field type compatibility for a list of custom Jira fields that are compatible with the Jira app.
- 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_escalated tag is added by default to the ticket, and an identical jira_escalated 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
- 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 when the issue is accessed through a browser. The label shows as being added by the Jira user who opened the issue in the browser.
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
Users watching a Jira issue with linked Zendesk tickets can receive a notification email from Jira when public comments are added to linked tickets.
To enable comment notifications
- In the Jira top navigation 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 issue watchers when comments are added to linked tickets 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 your 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.
140 comments
Manuel_LightAgent
Does the Zendesk ticket need to remain open (less than closed) for the Jira update to function? It seems that once the Zendesk ticket is SOLVED, the link from Jira back to the ticket is broken."
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Theodore Cooke
Is it possible to have our Zendesk integrate with multiple instances of Jira? Our corporation has multiple divisions that are working on becoming more integrated, and we would love to have our Zendesk integrate with both the Jira instance for my division and with the Jira instance for another division of the corporation
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David Gillespie
Hi Manuel_LightAgent,
Yes, that is correct. Closed tickets can't be updated, so the ticket must be open (i.e. not closed) for the updates to pass through via the integration.
Hi Theodore Cooke,
Unfortunately the integration can only connect a single Zendesk account to a single Jira instance. We have noted this as a painpoint for a lot of customers and I've added your feedback to this request to allow multiple instance integrations.
Thanks,
David
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Michael Whitson
We would like to store the Zendesk ticket ID in a custom field on the Jira side so that we can query this back in JQL results. Is there any way to do this? For example, if the system field for ID or URL came back in the Zendesk integration, I could map this to a custom field and then be able to JQL... Thank you!
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Jupete Manitas
By any chance did you come across Using the Jira field syncing feature? The field syncing feature allows near real-time data sync between Zendesk Support and Jira and can sync Zendesk ticket fields to compatible Jira issue fields. If that feature will not suffice, you can consider the external customization that refers to utilizing the Jira API (for server: https://developer.atlassian.com/server/jira/platform/rest-apis/) and/or Zendesk API (https://developer.zendesk.com/api-reference/ticketing/introduction/) to get, add, or manipulate data from either of those applications. Customization is out of the scope of support but is something for developers. Thank you and have a great day!
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Gowen POTTIEZ
Hi,
I need to import SLA from Zendesk to Jira.
But when I do the configuration of the "Zendesk Support for Jira" the SLA field is mentionned as view-only field on jira.
Do you know how I can take the field SLA coming from Zendesk to copy it into a jira field ?
Thanks a lot.
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Efrat Barak Zadok
Can I have all the comments in a related jira ticket reflect in the Zendesk ticket automatically as internal comments? By that I mean that there wont be an extra step/action to set the comment as Zendesk support.
1
Efrat Barak Zadok
Is there an option that we can set "add a reporter as a watcher" to be mandatory or that this checkbox will be by default checked?
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Marci
Thank you for your inquiry, You're asking about the integration of Jira with Zendesk and how to automate the process of copying comments from Jira to Zendesk as internal notes.
The Jira app for Zendesk has the capacity to automatically send Jira comments to a related Zendesk ticket, but they will be added as public comments, not internal (private) ones. This is because of the app's design and functionality.
However, there is another possible option as a workaround. It's not innate to the Zendesk and Jira integration, but you can implement it using a third-party service, like Zapier or Automate.io:
This can automate the process of copying over comments as internal notes, however, it will involve an extra tool and might require additional budget depending on the number of actions you undertake each month.
Also, always remember to respect privacy and confidentiality principles when sharing comments or any ticket data within or between applications. Always ensure the data being transferred in this process is allowed to be shared.
Yes, you can synchronize comments from a Jira ticket to a Zendesk ticket automatically. This can be done by using an integration service such as Zapier, Integromat, or some built-in integration services offered by Zendesk or Jira.
However, please note that the comments imported from Jira automatically will be considered as public comments by default, because the standard Zendesk for Jira integration does not carry over the public or internal setting.
While Zendesk and Jira both have capabilities to integrate to a certain degree, the level of granular control you're asking for (transmuting Jira ticket comments into internal comments in the associated Zendesk ticket) is not natively available.
If you want to enforce that all synced comments from Jira are internal comments in Zendesk, you may need the help of custom development or scripting. It requires more advanced knowledge and may also call for additional permission settings in both Zendesk and Jira. Here, please consider involving software developers
Lastly, I recommend reaching out Jira support to see if there are new features or third-party apps that may provide a more direct solution.
For your second question , Yes, it is possible to automatically add the reporter as a watcher in Jira. But this feature is available only in Jira Server and Data Center versions. It is not available in Jira Cloud.
To do this in Jira Server/Data Center, follow the below steps:
For existing users to change the Autowatch setting:
As for making it mandatory, there's no built-in way to do it. However, you might be able to achieve it using plugins or custom scripting, but it would involve more complex custom development.
Hope this helps and if you have other questions let us know.
Best,
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Dave Naishal
I'm receiving this error "Zendesk account linked to JIRA is no longer reachable" and this integration is created by admin only yet receiving this error.
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Mike DR
Has your team tried to reconnect the integration using an admin account in both Zendesk and Jira?
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Dave Naishal
Hello Mike DR
Yes the integration is set up by admin from their side yet we are receiving this error.
is this error occurred due to wrong URL pasting from both side while set up integration?
What could be the reason?
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Mike DR
Yup that is correct, if the wrong subdomain is used
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Heather Rommel
Hi All! Long time user of this integration; set it up many times and love the functionality.
Recently one of our Jira projects changed their create screen to use a Cascading field which is listed as supported.
However, when creating a ticket on that project, we get an error if we select a value that has NO secondary value in the cascading field. Meaning, it works if the field has dropdown items in the second level, but it errors if there is no selection avaiable. It assumes there is a value when there is not.
I.e. in our cascading field, if someone selects security, it works fine because there are secondary values.
However, if someone selects APIs, it errors even though there are no dropdowns for that second piece
Screenshots!
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Permanently deleted user
Is it possible to enable formatting (rich text) in the description field when raising a Jira issue via the integration in Zendesk? Formatting is supported when raising an issue directly in Jira, so it should be supported in the app in Zendesk, ideally. Having the description field limited to plain text really limits the complexity of Jira issues that can be raised from the Zendesk integration. As a result, my team often finds itself submitting more complex Jira issues directly in Jira and then linking the Jira ID to the Zendesk ticket afterwards.
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Maksym Nazarenko
Hi!
I read all the comments and I saw similar question but without the answer.
My question is: is it possible and if yes so how can I post an internal note to Zendesk ticket from JIRA when Jira ticket is created?
I configured Zendesk support and it works perfectly for now. I'm posting internal notes to Zendesk ticket via Post Function when Jira ticket moves through the workflow. But I can't find a way to post such internal note when Jira ticket is just created.
I need this for the support agent to easily track later the exact time when Jira ticket was created in relation to the conversation flow with customer.
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Miguel Contreras
Maksym Nazarenko If you are an admin in zendesk, you can make it visible in the JIRA app box instead of a private note.
If you go to the jira linked app and then click on the cog, you can select what fields you want the agent to see at quick glance or what information you want them to view by clicking on the eyeball below it. Since that allows you to display JIRA data without having to go into JIRA to view it or posting comments
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Maksym Nazarenko
Thanks Miguel Contreras, but it's not that what I need
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Martin Sachs
I was able to do this - for me to add most of the post steps, I go to the text version where it shows all the transitions and create is not there. If I switch to the diagram option, I see a workflow step for create, can click there and add the post function. I didn't test it all the way through but I'm pretty sure this worked for me years ago. Let me know!
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Tony
Thanks so much for the feedback here. It is unfortunate that the app does not have the ability to perform the formatting directly as it is now. But seems like Martin was able to find a workaround. Thank you very much for feedback and sharing the information.
Have a nice day!,
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