Search for related issues in Outlook (sidebar)

Owned by Tamara Braun
Last updated: Jul 11, 2024
3 min read

Feature overview

A separate sidebar makes it is easy to find related Jira issues of the conversation. It displays relevant issue information like status, due dates, or priorities. Get to Jira by clicking on the Jira issue key.

How-to

  • Select email where you like to find related issues to → Click on “Related issues” (in the ribbon) → Sidebar opens → Pin sidebar to have it constantly available (via pin) → Filter by “Conversation” or “Sender”.

The conversation tab

Issues for the current conversation are selected by multiple criteria:

  • Previously created issues based one of the emails in the conversation

  • Added an email to an existing issue

  • Link to a Jira issue within the body

  • Mentioned issue keys in subject or body

Conversation issues are the same for every user. If a mail is send to multiple recipients, they all will be able to see if there are related issues in Jira.

Email conversations are defined by Outlook. Most often it is a conversation if users are using Reply/Forward on the email.

The sender tab

To determine the sender issues, the add-in uses the email address of the sender and searches for it in Jira. It is limited to the last 5 modified issues.

Work with sidebar

  • Select an issue → Issue information appear in sidebar → Choose between three tabs:

    • Details: Shows most important issue information such as due date, assignee etc.

    • Comments: Shows all available Jira comments

    • Files: Shows all attachments to the email/issue

  • The best: Jump to Jira, if required by clicking on the issue key in the sidebar (below the “Details” tab)

  • Even change or adapt issue information right in Outlook and e.g. change the assignee or write a comment (in the “comments” tab)

Quick actions

  • You can even work with your issues in Outlook → Select an issue in sidebar → Click on menue dots → Decide on action you’d like to take (e.g. Assign to yourself, Watch/unwatch …)

No issues found

If the sidebar could not find any issues and remains empty, you can create an issue easily from the sidebar with the create new issue button or you can use the ribbon.

Feature requirements

In order to use the sidebar in Outlook, the following set-up and configuration needs to done:

Jira & Microsoft deployment

  • Jira Cloud, Server & Data Center

  • Microsoft 365 & MS Exchange