How do I get a custom field to populate on pre-existing Jira issues?

Question

We created a Custom field in our Jira project that Calculates the total number of related ZenDesk tickets related to the Jira issue. Once I built a filter to try to rank the issues by zendesk ticket count, it only returned three issues. I searched for a few other known issues in the project, and after I viewed them they appeared on the list. Also, an email was sent to the support agent saying the issues were updated. So it looks like the field populates on view. In order for the field to be used as intended, it needs to be populated for all open issues. I know jira issues can be bulk updated, but it looks like you have to add a static value. This field needs to calculate values. Also, I don't know if bulk edit will send out thousands of emails saying the issues have been updated. Do you know of a way to populate the field without having to open and view all the existing issues? Our Jira Admin already tried the following:

* Ran a bulk update to make it effective but it doesn’t seem to resolve. added a label and removed a label.

* Reindexed Jira and zendesk integration. Didn't help either.

Bharat Kalia · Answer

@Stacey Carmichael - I see, so every time someone opens a ticket the custom fields are populated based on the zendesk issues linked to it.

To answer your question, I don't think there is any property that decides when can the value be populated unless there is some-kind of automation that is set to populate those values.

What I can see from this is the data is being calculated only when the issue has been viewed and I can't think of a jira trigger that can do that but if we look at the doc it means, it is being done from the zendesk side as mentioned below -

After completing the setup, the feature automatically updates and displays the following information:

* When a Zendesk ticket is linked to a Jira issue, the Zendesk Ticket Count field is incremented by one, and its ID is appended to the Zendesk Ticket IDs field.
* When a Zendesk ticket is unlinked from a Jira issue, the Zendesk Ticket Count field is decreased by one, and its ID is deleted from the Zendesk Ticket IDs field.

Thanks,

Stacey Carmichael · Answer

Hi @Bharat Kalia  - We thought the custom field would update automatically on all Jira issues, but it only happens when someone views an issue in Jira. The filter results are slowly getting longer as issues are viewed, but we want to force all the open issues to update without having to view each issue individually. I am a Jira end user, and not a Jira Admin, so I can't troubleshoot the problem thoroughly.

When a custom field is created is there a property that determines when the field populates?

Bharat Kalia · Answer

Hi @Stacey Carmichael - Hope you are doing well. I read the zendesk doc and it seems like once the custom fields has been added on the screens, they should be updated automatically? No?

What is the need to bulk update the issues and how many are you looking to update? I think the trigger for the calculation is when the jira ticket has been linked or unlinked to "Zendesk ticket".

There are ways using automation rules where you can uncheck to not send send any updates for the changes made on that ticket during the automation run.

Thanks,