Is there a way to automatically combine tickets with the same title?

[Eric Lebolt]

I'm currently using Jira Service Desk to keep track of vendor maintenance notifications. These are automated emails, and we frequently receive multiple of the same email. Every time an email is received, an issue is opened.

Is there a way to automatically combine issues with the same title when they come in? For example, if we have 3 issues automatically created titled "Revision to Your Account," could we have one issue open, and the rest be left as comments, instead of having 3 separate issues opened?

[Angélica Luz · Accepted solution]

Hi Eric,

Thank you for reaching out to Atlassian Community!
Currently, it's not possible to merge issues manually on Jira, due to that, there is no option on Automation to combine/merge the tickets.
We have a feature request suggesting the implementation of this ability:
- https://jira.atlassian.com/browse/JRACLOUD-3592
Please, click on vote and watch to receive updates about the feature.

Regards,
Angélica

[Sebastien_LaForge]

Hi Eric,

Reviving this because the answer has changed since 2019. Full disclosure: I am the developer of Merge Assistant, one of the apps in this space.

Jira still has no native merge, and Automation has no merge action. You can get part of the way with a rule on "Issue created" that matches the summary, links the new ticket as a duplicate and transitions it to Resolved. What no rule can do is carry over the comment history and the attachments, and that is where it hurts: the customer keeps replying to the closed duplicate and the conversation splits across two tickets.

That is the gap apps in this category fill. Merge Assistant detects likely duplicates automatically, so an agent opening a ticket sees "3 potential duplicates" without searching for them, and merging forwards comments and attachments onto the surviving ticket. On a JSM project it also posts a public note on the closed one so the reporter knows where the conversation continues.

One caveat, since you asked specifically about automating it: I would not merge automatically at creation time, and I know of no app that does. Two tickets sharing a subject are not always the same request, and an irreversible merge on a false positive costs more than it saves. Detection is automatic, confirmation stays with a human.

https://marketplace.atlassian.com/apps/3453335153/merge-assistant?hosting=cloud&tab=overview