When you are running a service desk every day, there are times when the same conversation is going on at different places. For example, the same service request can be created by different people in the team, or someone might accidentally open a new ticket instead of following up with the existing request. This can be misleading when your agents try to work on multiple tickets. To avoid such conflicts, you can merge two or more tickets in Freshservice.

When you merge two or more tickets together in Freshservice:

• One of the tickets becomes the primary ticket (you get to choose). The others become secondary.
• The entire conversation from the secondary tickets is moved to the primary ticket.
• All the secondary tickets will be closed.
• All messages get sorted chronologically.
• A note is added to each of the tickets with a link to the primary ticket.
• If the note is public, an email notification may be sent to the requesters about the merged tickets.

How to merge two or more tickets

1. Log in to your Freshservice account.

2. Go to Tickets > List.

3. Select the tickets you want to merge from the list.

4. Click Merge.

5. In the Merge tickets slider, choose the ticket you want to set as primary.

6. To remove any ticket from merging, click the red minus icon next to it. Note that you cannot remove a ticket from merging when it is marked primary. You can also search tickets with Requester name, ID, or Subject.

7. Click Continue and review the changes.

8. Click Confirm and merge.

Frequently asked questions (FAQs)

1. If an agent is replying to merged tickets, will both requesters from the two tickets receive reply?

After merging tickets, the primary ticket will retain its original requester. However, agents need to manually include the requesters from secondary tickets in the CC field of the reply email. This action only needs to be done once. Subsequently, when agents reply to the ticket, the additional requesters will be automatically added to the CC field.

The action of merging is nothing but closing the merged ticket and creating a private note in the ticket that it is merged into.

2. Can we unmerge two tickets?

You can delete the merged ticket note created in the ticket that is merged into, and re-open the ticket that is closed. This will completely reverse the merge action.

3. How can automatic ticket merging be prevented in Freshservice, and how can you stop email replies from appending to the wrong ticket?

Automatic ticket merging and email threading are governed separately:

1. Prevent automatic ticket merging: Freshservice does not auto-merge tickets natively. If tickets with identical subjects are merging automatically, disable or modify rules in the Auto Ticket Merger app (Admin > Apps).

2. Prevent incorrect email appending: Incoming emails append to existing tickets as long as the Freshservice ticket ID (e.g., [#INC-12345]) remains in the subject line. To ensure a new ticket is opened for a new issue, instruct requesters to remove the old ticket ID from the subject line or send a fresh email.

4. How can incoming emails from a third-party containing external incident numbers be consolidated into existing Freshservice tickets?

Because Freshservice email threading relies on its own ticket ID format ([#INC-12345]), emails containing only third-party incident numbers will create new tickets. Use the Auto Ticket Merger app to merge such tickets.

5. What is the best way to merge duplicate tickets generated by automated third-party vendor alerts in Freshservice?

When third-party vendors send automated emails without including your Freshservice Ticket ID in the subject line, duplicate tickets are created. To consolidate them:

1. Use Auto Ticket Merger: Use the Auto Ticket Merger app to set up automated rules that merge tickets from the vendor’s email address if they share identical subject lines within a defined time frame.

2. Vendor subject line alignment: Request the vendor to configure their outbound email templates to append your Freshservice Ticket ID ([#INC-XXXX]) in follow-up subject lines.