Stacix

Merge Duplicate Requests: user guide

Merge duplicate Jira Service Management requests into one, without losing anyone. Every requester keeps getting updates, nothing private is shown to other customers, and every merge can be undone.

Install

  1. Install the app from the Atlassian Marketplace on your Jira site.
  2. That's it. Agents see the merge actions on requests in service projects straight away. Jira admins can adjust the settings under Jira settings → Apps → Merge requests.

Merge duplicates into a request

  1. Open the request you want to keep (the main request), for example the one with the most detail or the one your team is already working on.
  2. Choose ••• → Merge duplicates into this.
  3. Tick the duplicates. The app suggests open requests from the last two weeks in the same project with a similar summary. It understands common IT wording, so "Outlook not connecting" matches "Email outage". Each suggestion says Similar summary (a strong match) or Same topic (one shared subject). To find anything else, search by request key (ITS-12) or words from the summary.
  4. Click Review merge. You see exactly what will happen to each duplicate before anything changes.
  5. Click Merge. Keep the window open until it finishes (about 5 seconds per request).

What a merge does

For each duplicate, in this order:

  1. Adds its requester and participants to the main request, so they get every public update from now on. Anyone already on the main request isn't added twice.
  2. Copies its description and all its comments to the main request as one internal note. Internal means only agents see it: one customer's words are never shown to another customer, and nobody gets a flood of emails.
  3. Copies its attachments to the main request (up to the size set in settings; larger files are named in the note so you can open them on the duplicate).
  4. Replies to its requester with a short public message saying the issue is being handled on the main request, with a link to it.
  5. Links it to the main request as a duplicate ("duplicates" / "is duplicated by") and labels it merged-duplicate.
  6. Closes it with the resolution Duplicate where your workflow allows, otherwise with the closest closing step (Resolved, Done, Completed or Closed).

The main request gets an internal summary of the merge.

Merge several requests from the issue list

  1. Search for the duplicates in the issue list (for example a filter on the summary).
  2. Choose Apps → Merge selected requests.
  3. The window lists the requests in your search (up to 20). Untick any that aren't duplicates, and choose which one is the Main request. Closed requests start unticked.
  4. Review and merge as above.

If you close the window part way, the merge stops cleanly. Run it again on the same search: requests already merged into the same main request are skipped.

Undo

Every merge is listed in the Merged requests panel on the main request, with who did it and when. Undo this merge removes the people it added, the note, the copied attachments, the link and the label, and reopens each duplicate.

Some workflows can't reopen a closed request. Jira Service Management's default workflow has no way back from Completed or Canceled. The panel tells you before you undo. When that happens, Undo reverses everything else, the customer is told an agent will follow up on their request, and the request gets an internal "Follow up with the customer" note.

When a customer replies to a merged request

Customers sometimes reply to the email about their old request ("still not working, any update?"). The app copies every new comment on a merged request to the main request as an internal note, so the agents working the issue see it. The customer already follows the main request, so a public reply there reaches them.

Satisfaction surveys

Jira sends its satisfaction survey when a request is closed, including merged duplicates. No app can stop that for a single request. To keep your ratings fair:

  • Every merged duplicate has the label merged-duplicate. Leave them out of your satisfaction reports with labels != merged-duplicate.
  • In company-managed projects, Jira sends the survey when a resolution is set. Add a closing step that doesn't set a resolution and enter its name under Status to close duplicates with in the settings.

Settings (Jira admins)

Jira settings → Apps → Merge requests:

  • Message to the customer on the duplicate. Your own wording; use {main} and {summary} for the main request's key and summary. Leave empty for the built-in message.
  • Status to close duplicates with. A workflow step or status name, if the automatic choice isn't right.
  • Resolution and Link type used for duplicates.
  • Largest attachment to copy (MB), and whether to copy attachments at all.
  • Tell the customer when a merge is undone.

Who can merge

The app acts as the agent who clicks, with that agent's Jira permissions. To merge, an agent needs to be able to comment on, link and transition both requests and add request participants, which service desk agents normally can. Only Jira admins can change the settings.

Limits

  • Up to 20 duplicates in one merge, from the same service project.
  • Attachments larger than the setting (25 MB by default) aren't copied; they're named in the note.
  • Customers can only be added to the main request if they're allowed to raise requests in that service project.
  • A request already merged into another request can't be merged again until that merge is undone.