The first step to configure Jira for processing incoming email is to set up the inboxes that Jira will use to poll the email from:
- Navigate to Administration > System > Incoming Mail.
- Click on the Add POP / IMAP mail server button.
- Enter a name for the new mail server. We will be using this when adding the mail handler later.
- Provide the credentials and click on the Test Connection button to make sure that Jira is able to connect to the mail server. If the test is successful, click on the Add button. After we have set up the mail inbox, we can set up what are known as mail handlers in Jira to poll and process email. In this recipe, we will use the most common handler to create and/or comment on issues from email contents.
- Click on the Add incoming mail handler button.
- Enter a name for the mail handler.
- Select the mail server you just added from the Server drop-down list.
You can use the Local Files option to test your configuration. This allows you to place a test email on the filesystem so that you do not have to send test emails all the time.
- Set the Delay timer in minutes for how often the handler should poll for new emails. Generally, you should not set the time too short: 5 minutes is usually a good delay.
- Select the Create a new issue or add a comment to an existing issue handler.
- Click on the Next button to configure the mail handler, as shown in the following screenshot:
- Enter the mail handler configuration details. The most important configurations are as follows:
- Project: You can only select one project. All emails from the inbox will go into the selected project.
- Issue Type: This is the issue type from which new issues will be created.
- Create Users: Check this if you want to automatically create a new account based on the email addresses. Note that this will count toward your license seat.
- Default Reporter: If you do not want to create new accounts, you can select an existing user who will be the reporter for all new issues created from emails.
- Click on the Add button to create the mail handler.
The following table explains the various parameters that you need to set:
| Parameter | Description |
| Project | This is where the project's new issues will be created. Note that this is only used for creating new issues. While adding comments, this is ignored, as comments will be added to the issue key specified in the subject. |
| Issue Type | This is the issue type for all newly created issues. |
| Strip Quotes | If this option is checked, the text wrapped in quotes will not be used as an issue description or comment. |
| Catch Email Address | An email with the specified address will be processed if this option is selected. |
| Bulk | This option dictates how to process autogenerated emails, such as an email from Jira. This is to prevent the creation of a loop where Jira sends email to the same inbox that it is polling the email from. |
| Forward Email | This option sets an address to which Jira can forward all the emails that it cannot process. |
| Create Users | This option creates a new user if the sender's email address cannot be found. |
| Default Reporter | This option sets the user who will be used as the reporter if the sender's email address cannot be found. |
| Notify Users | Uncheck this option if you do not want Jira to send an account-related email. |
| CC Assignee | Check this option if you want the first user in the CC list to be the issue's assignee if a matching account can be found. |
| CC Watchers | Check this option if you want to add the CC list as watchers to the issue if matching accounts can be found. |
The following screenshot shows these parameters:
It's time to see the working information.