Link Microsoft Teams messages to issues

The Teams integration allows linking a Microsoft Teams conversation to an existing Jira issue, capturing additional information during project discussions. This ensures specific details are preserved across both tools. Moreover, new related tasks can be synchronized, offering a comprehensive overview of what needs to be done.

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Feature at a glance

Link MS Teams messages to existing issues

At times, there might be information shared in a MS Teams conversation or chat, that somehow or directly relates to an issue & project your team is currently working on. In order to not lose this information and share it with the rest of the team, you can easily link that message to an existing issue in Jira.

Link to Jira issue dialogue - part 1

When clicking “link to Jira issue,” a new dialog opens. Our app seamlessly adopts the Jira interface, simplifying the process of filling out the required fields. The message being linked to the issue is automatically available in the preview field (view-only).

Selecting the option “link first message in thread” (toggle on), will ensure that only Microsoft Teams conversations starting from the specific message you wish to link, will be synced to Jira. If you leave the toggle off, the entire message thread will be displayed in the Jira issue.

Choose among sharing options for the Microsoft Teams conversation you wish to link to an existing issue. When sharing is enabled, all users with access to the issue in Jira will be able to view the conversation and its details. Conversely, if sharing is disabled, only you and the team members who have access in MS Teams will be able to see the conversation (eventually in Jira, too, if they have a Jira user).

Link to Jira issue dialogue - part 2

Select “Channel & issue” to notify the channel through a bot notification and a Jira comment that this specific conversation has been linked. Alternatively, you can choose to keep it and opt for “don’t send notifications”.

This feature allows you to not only link the MST Teams message to an issue, but also to link the MS Teams message thread to that issue for future reference.

Linkage between MS Teams message and Jira issue

Once you link a message to an existing issue in Jira, our Smart Connect app bot will notify you about this newly established connection, complete with a link to the issue.

This ensures that any further information added to that message in MS Teams, will also be reflected in the corresponding Jira issue. Data is seamlessly synchronized across tools.

Relation between sharing permissions and automation

The Smart Connect bot, while not an integral component of Microsoft Teams, operates within Jira. To effectively link information with issues in Jira, it necessitates permissions from Microsoft Teams to access the required data.

If sharing is disabled, the bot will thus, be unable to access information from Microsoft Teams, which means it cannot back up any data (in Jira).

Follow link here to learn more about the automation action “Backup Teams messages”.

Feature configuration

First of all, in order to use Jira features in MS Teams (such as linking MS Teams chats / conversations to an existing issue) a connection between Jira and MS Teams needs to be established.

This connection needs to be set-up by your MS Teams team owner (refer to: Admin configuration).

User configuration

This feature offers instant accessibility with no user configuration needed; you can start using it right away.

Admin configuration

To get started, the installation of the Smart Connect for Jira app (free) is necessary. This task should be carried out by either the Microsoft Teams team owner or the Microsoft Teams admin.

The installation process is straightforward and can be completed in just a few clicks by following the instructions available within the Jira admin settings.

If you’re not a Jira admin but a team owner, you can follow this link to directly start the installation in Microsoft Teams: Install Smart Connect in Microsoft Teams.

Useful links

• Further information as well as the technical reference on shared office items can be found here: Sharing access to Microsodt 365 items

• Additional information on the process of automatic linking can be found here: Teams app