Merge duplicate tickets automatically

Customers often write again before you answer. An auto-merge rule spots the duplicate and merges it into the original ticket, so your team answers once.

How a duplicate is found

A new ticket is a duplicate when it has the same requester and matches an unsolved ticket (New, Open, Pending or On-hold) created within the time window, on the subject or on a field you choose. The new ticket is closed and its comments are added to the oldest matching ticket. Subjects are compared without Re: and Fwd: prefixes, ignoring case and extra spaces.

Only new tickets are checked, right after they are created. A ticket an agent split off from another one on purpose is left alone.

Create a rule

1. Open Admin Center, Business rules, Auto-merge and choose New rule.
2. Give it a Name, for example "Duplicate payment queries".
3. Optional: under New tickets that, add conditions so only some new tickets are checked, for example channel is Email.
4. Under Match on, choose Subject or a custom ticket field such as an order or transaction number. Any one matching is enough.
5. Set the window under Within: from 1 minute to 7 days.
6. Under Merge, decide whether to Tell the requester (the merge comments become public replies instead of internal notes).
7. Choose who to Record the merge as. That agent needs the Merge tickets permission.
8. Save.

Rules are checked in order and the first one that finds a duplicate merges it. Use Active to switch one off.

See what was merged

Recent automatic merges lists the last 25 merges: when, which rule, which ticket went into which, and what matched.

Related

• Merge tickets
• Trigger and automation conditions