Why did email handler create 3 copies of emailed issue?

Question

On 12/5 and 12/6, client's emailed us several times at our email handler address. For each email they sent, 3 issues were created. My understanding is that maybe as many 20 emails were sent by the client that day resulting in about 60 issues created. The handler configuration looks like this:

Create a new issue or add a comment to an existing issue

jira.handler IMAPimap.gmail.com

* Bulk: accept
* CC Assignee: false
* CC Watchers: false
* Catch Email Address: [removed for privacy]
* Create Users: false
* Default Reporter: yesenia.rodriguez
* Notify Users: true
* Strip Quotes: false

I sent an email to the email handler address yesterday and it only created a single issue. Furthermore, we asked the client yesterday to send another email to this handler and another handler (for a different client) as a test. Only 1 issue was created for each email.

Yesterday, the same client sent several new requests which also only generate 1 issue per request email.

Does anyone have a clue what could have been going on?

Ignacio Pulgar · Answer

Yes, you are using mail handlers for their intended purpose.

It's true that it is really easy to configure email requests in Service Desk projects, but you cannot benefit from that feature without adopting a very specific way of interaction with your customers.

People in charge of communication with customers would be the so called Service Desk Agents (those users who consume a SD license in your instance).

SD can be cool if used as it was designed to, but it doesn't fit well with all organisations and teams, specially if you are limited by the bumber of SD licenses.

Jason Knight · Answer

Are we using this email handler for it's intended use? I'm hearing from other people in my org that Jira Service Desk may be the more appropriate way to take in customer work requests.

Ignacio Pulgar · Answer

Cannot think of an example. Maybe one of both systems stops the looping after 3 times.

You might prevent that loop from happening again by changing the Mail Handler's Bulk property, as described in the docs:

This option only affects 'bulk' email messages whose header has either its Precedence: field set to bulk or its Auto-Submitted field set to no. Such messages would typically be sent by an automated service. When such an email message is received, the following action will be performed, based on the option you choose:

* Ignore the email and do nothing.
* Forward the email (i.e. to the address set in the Forward Email text field).
* Delete the email permanently.

It is generally a good idea to set bulk=forward and set a Forward Email address, to prevent mail loops between JIRA and another automated service (eg. another JIRA installation).