Two tickets can be about the same thing. Relate them when both should stay open, such as an outage reported by two people about two laptops. Merge one into the other when it is a duplicate, such as the same request sent twice.

Overview

Related tickets

Relating links two tickets and changes nothing else. The link shows on both tickets, under Related tickets, with each ticket's status, so whoever works one can open the other. Any two of your tickets can be related, and a ticket can be related to as many others as you like.

Merged tickets

Merging moves one ticket, the duplicate, into another and closes the duplicate. What happens:

• What moves: the duplicate's whole conversation, replies and private notes alike, with their attachments, joins the other ticket, in the order it was written. Each moved entry says which ticket it came from, such as From IT-1041.
• Subscribers move too. Anyone who already follows the other ticket is kept once.
• The requester follows. When the duplicate's requester is a different person with an email address, they become a subscriber of the other ticket, so they hear about its replies.
• What is closed: the duplicate. It moves to your first closed status and shows Merged at the top: Merged into, with a link to the ticket it went into. It is read only from then on.
• What stays: the other ticket keeps its requester, assignee, status, properties and equipment. The duplicate's equipment stays on the duplicate.
• No mail is sent. Nobody is emailed about a merge: not the requesters, the subscribers or your team.

A reply someone emails to the duplicate afterward is added to the ticket it was merged into.

Both tickets must be in the same client when your company manages clients.

Requirements

• The help desk turned on for your company. See Getting the help desk.
• To relate and merge: Reply, add notes, assign and change tickets.

Relate two tickets

1. Open one of the tickets.
2. On Related tickets, click Add.
3. In Relate a ticket, search for the other ticket by its number or subject and pick it.
4. Save. The link shows on both tickets.

Unrelate two tickets

1. On Related tickets, click Unrelate beside the other ticket.
2. Confirm. Neither ticket changes otherwise.

Merge a ticket into another

1. Open the duplicate: the ticket that should go away.
2. Click Merge.
3. In Merge this ticket into another, search for the ticket to keep by its number or subject and pick it.
4. Click Merge.

You are taken to the ticket you kept, with the duplicate's conversation in it.

Notes

Note: Relating, unrelating and merging are recorded in the activity log, on both tickets.

Note: A merge cannot be undone. Check the number before you click Merge.

Troubleshooting

"There is no closed status. Add one in Help desk settings." A merge closes the duplicate, so your company needs an active status in the Closed role. See Statuses.

The ticket I want is not offered when merging. Only tickets that have not been merged themselves are offered, and with clients, only tickets of the same client.

FAQ

Does merging email the requester? No. Nobody is emailed. Reply on the ticket you kept if the requester should know.

Which ticket should I merge into which? Merge the newer duplicate into the older ticket, or into the one your team has already worked on, so its number stays the one everybody knows.

Can I relate tickets of different clients? Yes. Relating changes nothing on either ticket, so in the all clients view you can relate tickets of any client. Merging needs both tickets in the same client.