Comments from emails are added as internal on the customer portal
Platform notice: Server and Data Center only. This article only applies to Atlassian products on the Server and Data Center platforms.
Support for Server* products ended on February 15th 2024. If you are running a Server product, you can visit the Atlassian Server end of support announcement to review your migration options.
*Except Fisheye and Crucible
Summary
Comments made by reporter or request participants via email are added as internal on the customer portal.
Environment
Jira Service Management 4.x.x, 5.x.x
Cause
A Jira Core incoming mail handler is being used by the Service Management project. As described also in this bug, Jira Service Management interprets all comments as internal unless:
- they were created in the Customer Portal
- they were created in reply to an email notification by the reporter / a participant / an agent, and processed by the Service Management mail handler (Email channel)
- an agent made a comment in Jira and selected the "respond to customer" (external) option
- an agent changes any comment from internal to external by editing it in Jira
- they were created before an existing Jira project was converted into a Service Management project
To summarize, the collaborators (non-agent Jira users) are not allowed to make public comments, unless they are acting as a customer (are the reporter or a request participant) and communicating in the Customer Portal or via email with Service Management incoming mail handler (Email Channel).
We have a suggestion request raised to be able to have public comments in Jira Core's mail handler that you can follow and cast a vote on:
Solution
If you would like to create issues and comments in Jira Service Management projects, it is recommended to use a Service Management mail handler rather than a Jira Core incoming mail handler.
Note that with this option you will need to have one separate email address per Service Management project.