How can I set (and forget) issue summary based on custom fields

[Lukasz]

I am using JSM, and customers can submit issues using portal. My request types each have a form linked, and the form fields are linked to custom Jira fields. I have a few specific fields that I want to use to build the Summary, so my agents can see consistent Summaries.

Issue 1

There seems to be no way to hide the field "Summary" from the user-facing form. It is always displayed, no matter what I do. I want to hide it, because the Summary is supposed to be constructed based on user inputs into other fields. 

Can I hide the Summary from user-facing form?

Issue 2

My current workaround is to link Summary to a short text question named "Internal use only, don't modify" populated with a random string. Very awkward. 

On issue creation, I have an Automation rule that rewrites the summary by taking my custom fields, concatenating them, and overwriting the summary. It works fine, though unfortunately the first email notification goes out with email subject still being the random string, before the Automation rule had a chance to overwrite the summary. 

How can I make my rule run even before the email notification is sent?

Issue 3

Because my random string field linked to the Summary field remains in the form, if an agent needs to make edits to the form re-saving the form overwrites the result of my automation rule back again with the original random string, so I would need to create another automation to re-overwrite it again. At this point it gets really clunky.

Is there a way to get the form to stay in sync with the updated Summary field after initial form submission?

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Or, maybe I'm really overcomplicating things? All I want is my Summary to always be constructed based on 2 or 3 custom fields and stay in sync with those fields.

[Lukasz · Accepted solution]

I ended up sticking with the team-managed projects, removed the field from the form, and left it in the customer-visible part of the request on the portal. I lose a bit of flexibility on formatting, but in principle things work.

[John Funk]

Hi Lukasz,

1. Yes, just hide the Summary field on the Request Types form and put in a generic value like New Ticket. 

2. You can't force the out of the box email notification to wait until after the automation rule has run. But you can turn that off and create a custom email using the same automation rule. Just tack the Send Email action to the end of your rule.

3. Get rid of the clunky random string field - you don't need it if you do step 1 above. 

Give it a try and see if it works for you. 

[Lukasz]

Thanks @John Funk 

1. sounds obvious, but for the life of me I can't figure out how to do it. When I try to drag the summary field to the "hide" section, it's not possible:

I also can't rename the field.

I should probably mention I'm in a Team-managed project.

Thanks again for your time.

[John Funk]

Ah, yeah that is probably the problem that it is a Team-managed project. I would not recommend using those. 

[Lukasz]

Thanks for the help. 

I ended up sticking with the team-managed projects, removed the field from the form, and left it in the customer-visible part of the request on the portal. I lose a bit of flexibility on formatting, but in principle things work.