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    • Inline Edit
    • Nested Knowledgebase Categories
    • Release Assignment
    • Require Help Topic
    • Task Revamp
    • Ticket Merge/Link
      • Merge and Link Role
      • Merging Tickets
      • Merging from within a Ticket
      • Merge Options
      • Participants
      • Merge Type
      • Delete Child Ticket
      • Move Child Tasks to Parent
      • Adding Tickets to be Merged
      • Merging from the Tickets Queue
      • Ticket Permissions
      • Linking Tickets
      • Linking from within a Ticket
      • Linking from the Tickets Queue
      • Unlink Tickets
      • Switching Link Parents
      • Merged/Linked Ticket Indicators
      • Merged/Linked Tickets in the Queue
      • Viewing Merged Tickets
      • Searching for Merged Tickets
      • Searching for Linked Tickets
      • Merge/Link Icon Information
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osTicket
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  • Ticket Merge/Link
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Ticket Merge/Link¶

This feature introduces 2 new capabilities in the system: merging and linking Tickets.

The Ticket Merge feature allows you to combine two or more Tickets so that their threads will all be in one Ticket. We will call this the Parent Ticket.

Linking allows you to group tickets together without actually manipulating any Tickets. It just gives you a quick way to access Tickets
that may be related in some way.

Merge and Link Role¶

In order for an Agent to be able to merge or link Tickets, they must be assigned a Role that has permission to do so. In my examples, only the ‘All Access’ Role
has permission to merge or link Tickets. This can be configured by doing the following:

Go to:

Admin Panel | Agents Tab | Roles | Choose a Role | Click the Merge/Link checkbox

Merge Role

Merging Tickets¶

When Tickets are merged, all Ticket threads reside on one Parent Ticket. Any responses sent to a Child Ticket will automatically be routed to the Parent Ticket.
If Child Tickets remain in the system, they will simply be there as a historical record of any fields that were populated on the Child Tickets.

Merging Tickets

On the Parent Ticket, merged Thread Entries have the merge icon on them, and hovering over the icon will show the Ticket Number of the Child Ticket.

Merging Tickets

Both Tickets have a thread event indicating that the Tickets were merged.

There are 2 ways to merge Tickets:
1. From within a Ticket
2. From the Tickets queue

Merging from within a Ticket¶

The ‘Merge Tickets’ option can be found by going to the More dropdown.

Merging from within a Ticket

Once clicked, the Agent will see the Parent Ticket, which is the Ticket they are currently in, as well as the options available when merging Tickets.

Merging from within a Ticket

The first Ticket Number displayed in the list is the Parent Ticket. Moving a different Ticket to the top of the list will change the Parent to that Ticket.
Once a Ticket has been made a Parent, other Tickets can be merged to the Parent, however, the Parent Ticket can NOT be merged to any additional Tickets.

Merging from within a Ticket

Merge Options¶

There are several different options that can be chosen when merging Tickets. We will outline the following below:
- Participants
- Merge Type
- Delete Child Ticket
- Move Child Tasks to Parent

Participants¶

The Participants dropdown allows you to choose how participants of child Tickets will carry over to the Parent Ticket. By default, this is set to ‘User + Collaborators’.
This means that participants of the child Ticket will be added as Collaborators to the Parent Ticket if they are not already participants of the Parent Ticket.
If the ‘User’ option is chosen, the User of Child Tickets will be added as Collaborators to the Parent Ticket if they are not already the User or a Collaborator on the Parent Ticket.

Merge Type¶

There are 2 types of Merges:
1. Combine Threads
2. Separate Threads

Combine Threads: Threads from all Tickets will be displayed chronologically.

Merge Type

Separate Threads: Threads from Tickets will be displayed one Ticket at a time.

Merge Type

Delete Child Ticket¶

Checking this box will result in Child Tickets being deleted upon merging. Data from the Child Tickets is no longer in the system, so the Parent Ticket will not
be displayed as a merge, but rather a regular Ticket. It will still have a thread event stating that another Ticket was merged into it, and each child thread entry
will have the merge indicator icon beside it.

Delete Child Ticket

Delete Child Ticket

Delete Child Ticket

Delete Child Ticket

*Note: If there were any Tasks on a Child Ticket where the ‘Delete Child Ticket’ option was checked, those tasks would be moved to the Parent Ticket.

Ticket With Task Before Merging:

Delete Child Ticket

Ticket Without Task Before Merging:

Delete Child Ticket

Merge Tickets:

Delete Child Ticket

Move Child Tasks to Parent¶

If you are merging Tickets without deleting the child Tickets, there is also an option to manually move child Tasks to the parent Ticket.

Ticket With Task Before Merging:

Move Child Tasks to Parent

Ticket Without Task Before Merging:

Move Child Tasks to Parent

Merge Tickets:

Move Child Tasks to Parent

Parent Ticket After Merging:

Move Child Tasks to Parent

Child Ticket After Merging:

Move Child Tasks to Parent

Parent Ticket After Merging:

Delete Child Ticket

Adding Tickets to be Merged¶

In order to merge in another Ticket, the Agent simply types the Ticket Number into the ‘Select Ticket’ box, select the desired Ticket, click Add a Ticket, and then Save Changes.

Adding Tickets to be Merged

Adding Tickets to be Merged

Merging from the Tickets Queue¶

*Note: The Merge button will be displayed as long as the Agent has the Merge Role permission for at least one Department they have access to; they can only
merge tickets within the departments they have the Role permission to do so. If you do not have permission to merge Tickets from a Department, you will see the following error message.

Adding Tickets to be Merged

If an Agent has a Role with permissions to merge Tickets, they can do so from the Tickets queue for Tickets of that Department. This can be done by using the check
boxes to select Tickets to merge and then clicking the ‘Merge’ button at the top right of the screen.

Merging from the Tickets Queue

Merging from the Tickets Queue

Once selected, the Agent can drag the Ticket they would like to be the Parent Ticket to the top of the list and then Save Changes to merge the Tickets.

Merging from the Tickets Queue

Merging from the Tickets Queue

*Note: For merges, Children Tickets do not show up in the main Ticket queue, however, Agents can still search for them. In this example, Ticket #265518 is the
Parent Ticket and Ticket #516834 is the Child Ticket.

Hovering over the merge icon will allow Agents to see the type of merge that was done.

Ticket Permissions¶

Ticket Permissions for merged Tickets are based upon an Agent’s access to the Parent Ticket’s Department. If Tickets with different Departments are being merged,
the Parent Ticket will automatically be referred to the Child Ticket’s Department so that the Agent will have access to both the Parent and Child Ticket. To read
more about Ticket Referrals, go here.

Tickets in different Departments:

Tickets in different Departments

Tickets in different Departments

Linking Tickets¶

Linking Tickets is similar to merging Tickets, however, linking Tickets does not actually combine thread entries. Linking Tickets simply adds a link to related
Tickets. The Tickets behave exactly as they did before with replies going to their respective Tickets. Linking can be done within a Ticket or from the Ticket queue.

Linking from within a Ticket¶

The ‘Link Tickets’ option can be found by going to the More dropdown.

Linking from within a Ticket

Once clicked, the Agent will see the Parent Ticket, which is the Ticket they are currently in, as well as the options available when linking Tickets.

Linking from within a Ticket

Notice that for linking Tickets, Agents only have the option to add Tickets since thread entries are not affected when linking Tickets. All Ticket data remains the same when linking.

Linking from within a Ticket

Linking from within a Ticket

Linking from within a Ticket

Linking from within a Ticket

Linking from the Tickets Queue¶

Linking from the Tickets queue is done the same was as merging from the Tickets queue. Simply select the Tickets to link and then click the Link icon.

Linking from the Tickets Queue

Remember, the Ticket on top will be the Parent Ticket. For this example, I want to use Test Ticket 3 as the Parent since it is already the Parent of Test Ticket 4.

Linking from the Tickets Queue

Now when I go back to the Parent Ticket, I can see all of its children listed in the Ticket.

Linking from the Tickets Queue

Linking from the Tickets Queue

If I click the ‘Link Tickets’ option from this Parent Ticket, I am given the option to unlink Tickets as well as switch the Parent Ticket.

Linking from the Tickets Queue

Unlink Tickets¶

To unlink a Ticket, simply click the garbage can icon beside the Tickets you want to unlink and save your changes.

Unlink Tickets

Unlink Tickets

Unlink Tickets

Switching Link Parents¶

Since linking Tickets does not change anything about any Ticket involved, you may change which Ticket is the Parent. Within the Ticket, go to the ‘Link Tickets’ option.

Switching Link Parents

Switching Link Parents

This shows you all of the linked Tickets. The Parent Ticket is on top of the list. To change the Parent, simply drag a different Ticket to the top of the list and Save Changes.

Switching Link Parents

Now, Test Ticket 6 is the Parent Ticket.

Switching Link Parents

Merged/Linked Ticket Indicators¶

There are several ways to know if a Ticket has been merged or linked. There are optional configurations that can be set up on queues. Additionally, visiting a Ticket
that is part of a merge or link will have indicators.

Merged/Linked Tickets in the Queue¶

An annotation can be added to a column in a queue to indicate that a Ticket has been merged or linked. To do this globally, go to:

Admin Panel | Settings | Tickets | Queues | Select a Queue

Merged/Linked Tickets in the Queue

Next, go to the Columns tab and click the ‘Config’ button next to the column that should show the merged icon.

Merged/Linked Tickets in the Queue

Go to the ‘Annotations’ tab and select ‘Merged Icon’. Choose where you would like the icon to be visible. In my example, I will show the icon at the end of the
Ticket Number column.

Merged/Linked Tickets in the Queue

Once the changes have been saved, the Merged/Linked Icon shows up, depending on which has been done for Tickets.

Merged/Linked Tickets in the Queue

You can also add a column to indicate if a Ticket has been merged or linked.

Go to:
Admin Panel | Settings | Tickets | Queues | Choose a Queue | Columns Tab

Merged/Linked Tickets in the Queue

Merged/Linked Tickets in the Queue

Merged/Linked Tickets in the Queue

Repeat the same steps for the Linked column.

Merged/Linked Tickets in the Queue

Once saved, the queue will show the new Merged and Linked columns.

Merged/Linked Tickets in the Queue

Viewing Merged Tickets¶

Viewing Merged Tickets

Viewing Merged Tickets

Both Parent and Child Tickets have a ‘Related Tickets’ tab to help easily navigate between the related tickets.

Viewing Merged Tickets

Hovering over the Ticket Number will show a preview of the related Ticket.

Merged/Linked Tickets in the Queue

Merged thread entries have the merged symbol in the top right corner that displays the Child Ticket # when hovered over.

Merged/Linked Tickets in the Queue

Searching for Merged Tickets¶

As mentioned earlier, Child Tickets for merges are not displayed in the Ticket queue, however, they do appear in search results. You can easily do a search for all
Merged Tickets by searching where Merged is checked:

Searching for Merged Tickets

Searching for Merged Tickets

Searching for Linked Tickets¶

Linked Tickets can also be easily found by searching for where Linked is checked.

Searching for Linked Tickets

Searching for Linked Tickets

Merge/Link Icon Information¶

When choosing Tickets to merge/link, the Ticket rows contain helpful information about the Tickets chosen. The columns shown from left to right include:
- Ticket Number
- Ticket User
- Subject
- Thread Entry Count
- Task Count
- Merge Preview
- Link Preview
- Collaborator Preview

Searching for Linked Tickets

*Note: If a Ticket does not have some of the data listed, for example, tasks, a space is left where that icon would be.

Each blue item in the row shows additional information when hovered over.

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