External user emails do not generate new tickets

[Mike Bell]

I have an external, NON employee, that emails updates to JIRA and generates a ticket within a particular project. This user slightly changes the subject of the emails every time she sends a new email.

The issue is that the emails are not generating new tickets, but rather adding comments on to the "original" ticket that was created. Obviously the desired outcome would be that a new ticket is generate every time that she sends an email. The emails are not sent close together as it could be a week, or more, between her emails.

The mail handler type is set to "Create a new issue or add a comment to an existing issue".

This is the same setting used for my other mail handlers and I have never had this issue happen anywhere else or even on this particular mail handler with anyone else.

Is there some setting somewhere that I am missing? Would it help if I created this person an account? I am throwing ideas at that wall here. I hope someone else has a better idea.

Thanks,

Mike

[Gloria Landsberg · Accepted solution]

Hi Mike, 

You may need to adjust the configuration of your Jira mail handler before to explore alternative solutions. 

Here are some suggestions you can try: 

1 - Review the Mail handler configuration. Double check the configuration setting of the mail handler associated with the project in question. Make sure that the email handler type is set to "create a new issue or add a comment to an existing issue. Also verify that the email address being used by the external user is correctly mapped to the appropriate project and issue type within Jira and also check the permissions in the project if mail handler or automations are allowed to create issues. 

2- Check the Subject line parsing.  I believe that the external user slightly changes the subject of the emails each time, it's possible that Jira is interpreting them as replies to existing tickets rather than as a new issue to be created. Evaluate whether the subject line parsing settings of the mail handler need adjustment to better recognize new issue. Also you may need to configure Jira to recognize specific keywords or patterns in the subject line that indicate a new ticket should be created rather than adding a comment to an existing one. Saying this you can ask the client to use specific word in the subject line - new issue, bug, new item, etc. so you can make sure that Jira interprets them as to create a new issue, rather to edit existing one. 

Hope this initial steps can help you fix the issue you have. 

[Mike Bell]

Thanks for the replies. Do you have any suggestions for Jira Software? I am not using JSM.

Thanks,

Mike

[Gloria Landsberg]

Hi, my suggestions were for Jira Software, so you may see if they may work for you. 

[Trudy Claspill]

I think the data for JSM email processing for header is the sam for JSW.

[Trudy Claspill]

Hello @Mike Bell 

Is the user using a Forward or Reply action to generate the new email, or is the user copying and pasting the content into a brand new email?

Jira looks at the header information from the email as part of evaluating if it is related to an already submitted email/issue or is new. If the users is using a Forward or Reply action to generate the new email and then modifying the content, then the header from that email is telling Jira it is related to an email that was sent previously. Jira would then update the related issue rather than creating a new issue.

Is this for a Service Management project? If so you can find more information here:

https://confluence.atlassian.com/jirakb/how-the-email-request-processor-decides-if-an-incoming-email-should-be-a-new-issue-or-a-new-comment-in-jira-service-management-1155485862.html