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How can I change the issue's reporter using an automation?

Hergenhan, Maria

I want to set the issue's reporter by using an automation.

Issues are created via a contact form from our webpage. The reporter is a no-reply address and the real reporter mail address is a string within the issue description.

I can extract the mail address but how can I set this value as the new reporter?

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Bill Sheboy

Hi @Hergenhan, Maria

Do you want to set the Reporter field for the work item / issue?

If so, when the work item is created, an automation rule could use text functions to extract the email address from the Description field, and then set the Reporter using that email address.

The key to making this work is knowing the layout of the text in your Description field so the email address can be properly extracted.

Here are some references to help you get started creating your rule:

Kind regards,
Bill

Hergenhan, Maria

Hi Bill,

as described, I want to set the initiator of an issue, created via a contact form. I am talking about jira service management automation.

Extraction is done but how can I set that value as the initiators email address?

Bill Sheboy

For automation rules, the "initiator" is who did the action to trigger the rule. That cannot be changed.

I asked if you instead want to set the Reporter: the person who is reporting a particular issue.

Please review the linked information I provided to learn how to set the Reporter using the Edit Work Item action by selecting that field and supplying the email address (or the user account ID).

Hergenhan, Maria

Ok Thank you. Now, I got the definition of the initiator, here.

And yes, then it is the reporter.emailAddress that i want to set.

My problem is, that there is no user account in that moment. I would have to add a new customer to my project with the extracted email address (which is a string in that moment) and further, I would set this new customer as the reporter.

2025-10-08 22_21_58-Greenshot.png

Paul Wiggers

Hello @Hergenhan, Maria

This is possible and by extracting the e-mail address, you are already well on your way.

It is important that your automation first creates a new customer (add service project customer), after that, you can assign the newly created user by using the account ID of the newly created user.

This is the automation that I am running

Screenshot 2025-10-10 at 21.54.20.png

I fill the e-mail address with the data extraction smart value. In my case this is:

{{Issue.description.substringAfter("Customer Email: ").substringBefore("Screenshots:")}}

In the next step I edit the reporter field with the smart value:

Is this something you can work with? Let me know how it went!

Paul

Hergenhan, Maria

Hi @Paul Wiggers ,

thank you for your comment. I've designed it exactly the same way. But as this extraction smart value gives a string, it would always claim, that the "add new customer" function awaits a real email address.

(sorry, my screenshots are in German)

to check the extraction, I let the automation print it into the comments:

If i would copy this string just manually into the "add new customer" UI, it would work.

So my question to you: what format has this customer emailaddress in your case?

Thanks for your help!

BR, Maria

Paul Wiggers

Hello @Hergenhan, Maria

That is strange, I have just tested it again and it created the customer without issues.

Just to be sure, the email address is provided as plain text in the description. When it is provided as a link (mailto:) then I run into issues.

Here are some screenshots of the test case that I just ran, perhaps this can help you set it up

This is the test item:

Screenshot 2025-10-11 at 10.03.50.png

As you can see, it is just plain text.

I then trigger the automation from the item itself, this creates the user based on the address in the item

Screenshot 2025-10-11 at 10.04.21.png

When the user is created, you can use the Account ID to set the reporter.

Screenshot 2025-10-11 at 10.05.04.png

The only reason it now fails, is if the reporter is already known as a user. I am sure you can catch that error by using a simple if statement to first set the reporter when it is found, otherwise, create it when the user isn't in the system yet.

Does this help?

Perhaps you can share some screenshots with dummy data so that we can take a look at your current situation and what might be going wrong.

For example, what does the log of your automation say when it fails?

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