How to process email replies to closed requests as new requests
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*Except Fisheye and Crucible
Summary
Sometimes customers reply by email to closed requests when they intend to open a new request. By default, Jira allows comments to be added to closed requests. As a result of this, Jira adds the new email body as a comment on the closed request, which isn't always ideal.
This guide outlines how to configure Jira to stop comments from being added to a closed request. An additional benefit of this is that any new email responses to the closed ticket will automatically be raised as a new request.
Environment
Jira Service Management 8.x , 9.x
Solution
Use workflow properties (specifically "jira.permission.comment.denied") to disable the ability to add comments when a ticket is in a certain status. We recommend adding this property to any status at the end of the ticket's lifecycle. The specific status would depend on your workflow, but may be "Cancelled", "Declined", "Done", "Closed", etc. These statuses will generally have a green background.
Here's how you can do add the workflow property to a status:
- Navigate to your Jira site
- Click on the settings cog (in the top right corner of your screen) > Issues (under "JIRA SETTINGS")
- From the sidebar, click on Workflows
- Click the 3 dot menu next to the workflow you want to edit > Edit
- The next step depends on whether you're in diagram mode or text mode:
- Diagram mode: Click on the status you want to add the properties to > Properties (here's a video guide: Diagram mode.mp4)
- Text mode: Click on View properties next to the appropriate linked status (here's a video guide: Text mode.mp4)
- Add the property key: "jira.permission.comment.denied" and leave property value blank (here's a video guide: Add property.mp4)
- Return to the workflow and perform steps 5-6 for any other statuses that you would like to disable comments for.
- Publish the draft workflow
Once you've made these changes, it won't be possible to comment on the request via any channel (such as Jira, the customer portal, or email) when the request is in the status with the "jira.permission.comment.denied" property. Any email response to this ticket will be processed as a new request instead.
Note: Although the "jira.permission.comment.denied" property prevents any user from adding a comment, you can also selectively restrict users (for example you may want to allow the assignee to continue adding comments, but not customers). Please see Use workflow properties for more information on constructing appropriate status properties.