380 lines
17 KiB
Markdown
380 lines
17 KiB
Markdown
---
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stage: Plan
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group: Certify
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info: To determine the technical writer assigned to the Stage/Group associated with this page, see https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/product/ux/technical-writing/#assignments
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---
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# Service Desk **(FREE)**
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> Moved to GitLab Free in 13.2.
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Service Desk is a module that allows your team to connect
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with any external party through email, without any external tools.
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An ongoing conversation in the same place as where your software
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is built ensures user feedback ends up where it's needed.
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With Service Desk, you can provide efficient email support to your customers. They can
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email you bug reports, feature requests, or general feedback. They all end up in your
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GitLab project as new issues. In turn, your team can respond directly from the project.
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As Service Desk is built right into GitLab itself, the complexity and inefficiencies
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of multiple tools and external integrations are eliminated. This significantly shortens
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the cycle time from feedback to software update.
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For an overview, check the video demonstration on [GitLab Service Desk](https://about.gitlab.com/blog/2017/05/09/demo-service-desk/).
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## How it works
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GitLab Service Desk enables people to create issues in your
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GitLab instance without needing their own user account.
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It provides a unique email address for end users to create issues in a project.
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Follow-up notes can be sent either through the GitLab interface or by email. End
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users only see the thread through email.
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For example, let's assume you develop a game for iOS or Android.
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The codebase is hosted in your GitLab instance, built and deployed
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with GitLab CI/CD.
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Here's how Service Desk works for you:
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1. You provide a project-specific email address to your paying customers, who can email you directly
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from the application.
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1. Each email they send creates an issue in the appropriate project.
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1. Your team members go to the Service Desk issue tracker, where they can see new support
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requests and respond inside associated issues.
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1. Your team communicates back and forth with the customer to understand the request.
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1. Your team starts working on implementing code to solve your customer's problem.
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1. When your team finishes the implementation, whereupon the merge request is merged and the issue
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is closed automatically.
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1. The customer's requests are handled through email, without ever having access to your
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GitLab instance.
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1. Your team saved time by not having to leave GitLab (or setup any integrations) to follow up with
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your customer.
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## Configuring Service Desk
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Users with Maintainer and higher access in a project can configure Service Desk.
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Service Desk issues are [confidential](issues/confidential_issues.md), so they are
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only visible to project members. In GitLab 11.7 we updated the generated email
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address format. The older format is still supported, so existing aliases or
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contacts still work.
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If you have [templates](description_templates.md) in your repository, you can optionally select
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one from the selector menu to append it to all Service Desk issues.
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To enable Service Desk in your project:
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1. (GitLab self-managed only) [Set up incoming email](../../administration/incoming_email.md#set-it-up) for the GitLab instance.
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We recommend using [email sub-addressing](../../administration/incoming_email.md#email-sub-addressing),
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but you can also use [catch-all mailboxes](../../administration/incoming_email.md#catch-all-mailbox).
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1. In a project, in the left sidebar, go to **Settings > General** and expand the **Service Desk** section.
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1. Enable the **Activate Service Desk** toggle. This reveals a unique email address to email issues
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to the project.
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Service Desk is now enabled for this project! To access it in a project, in the left sidebar, select
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**Issues > Service Desk**.
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WARNING:
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Anyone in your project can use the Service Desk email address to create an issue in this project, **regardless
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of their access level** to your GitLab instance.
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To improve your project's security, we recommend the following:
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- Put the Service Desk email address behind an alias on your email system so you can change it later.
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- [Enable Akismet](../../integration/akismet.md) on your GitLab instance to add spam checking to this service.
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Unblocked email spam can result in many spam issues being created.
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The unique internal email address is visible to project members at least
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the Reporter role in your GitLab instance.
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An external user (issue creator) cannot see the internal email address
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displayed in the information note.
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### Using customized email templates
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> - [Introduced](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/2460) in GitLab 12.7.
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> - Moved from GitLab Premium to GitLab Free in 13.2.
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An email is sent to the author when:
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- A user submits a new issue using Service Desk.
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- A new note is created on a Service Desk issue.
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You can customize the body of these email messages with templates.
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Save your templates in the `.gitlab/service_desk_templates/`
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directory in your repository.
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With Service Desk, you can use templates for:
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- [Thank you emails](#thank-you-email)
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- [New note emails](#new-note-email)
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- [New Service Desk issues](#new-service-desk-issues)
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#### Thank you email
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When a user submits an issue through Service Desk, GitLab sends a **thank you email**.
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You must name the template file `thank_you.md`.
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You can use these placeholders to be automatically replaced in each email:
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- `%{ISSUE_ID}`: issue IID
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- `%{ISSUE_PATH}`: project path appended with the issue IID
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Because Service Desk issues are created as [confidential](issues/confidential_issues.md) (only project members can see them),
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the response email does not contain the issue link.
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#### New note email
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When a user-submitted issue receives a new comment, GitLab sends a **new note email**.
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You must name the template file `new_note.md`.
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You can use these placeholders to be automatically replaced in each email:
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- `%{ISSUE_ID}`: issue IID
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- `%{ISSUE_PATH}`: project path appended with the issue IID
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- `%{NOTE_TEXT}`: note text
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#### New Service Desk issues
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You can select one [description template](description_templates.md#create-an-issue-template)
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**per project** to be appended to every new Service Desk issue's description.
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You can set description templates at various levels:
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- The entire [instance](description_templates.md#set-instance-level-description-templates).
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- A specific [group or subgroup](description_templates.md#set-group-level-description-templates).
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- A specific [project](description_templates.md#set-a-default-template-for-merge-requests-and-issues).
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The templates are inherited. For example, in a project, you can also access templates set for the instance or the project's parent groups.
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To use a custom description template with Service Desk:
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1. On the top bar, select **Main menu > Projects** and find your project.
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1. [Create a description template](description_templates.md#create-an-issue-template).
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1. On the left sidebar, select **Settings > General > Service Desk**.
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1. From the dropdown list **Template to append to all Service Desk issues**, search or select your template.
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### Using a custom email display name
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> [Introduced](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/7529) in GitLab 12.8.
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You can customize the email display name. Emails sent from Service Desk have
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this name in the `From` header. The default display name is `GitLab Support Bot`.
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To edit the custom email display name:
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1. On the top bar, select **Main menu > Projects** and find your project.
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1. On the left sidebar, select **Settings > General > Service Desk**.
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1. Enter a new name in **Email display name**.
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1. Select **Save Changes**.
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### Using a custom email address **(FREE SELF)**
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> - [Introduced](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/2201) in GitLab 13.0.
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> - [Feature flag removed](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/284656) in GitLab 13.8.
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It is possible to customize the email address used by Service Desk. To do this, you must configure
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a [custom mailbox](#configuring-a-custom-mailbox). If you want you can also configure a
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[custom suffix](#configuring-a-custom-email-address-suffix).
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#### Configuring a custom mailbox
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NOTE:
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On GitLab.com a custom mailbox is already configured with `contact-project+%{key}@incoming.gitlab.com` as the email address, you can still configure the
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[custom suffix](#configuring-a-custom-email-address-suffix) in project settings.
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Service Desk uses the [incoming email](../../administration/incoming_email.md)
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configuration by default. However, by using the `service_desk_email` configuration,
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you can customize the mailbox used by Service Desk. This allows you to have
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a separate email address for Service Desk by also configuring a [custom suffix](#configuring-a-custom-email-address-suffix)
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in project settings.
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The `address` must include the `+%{key}` placeholder in the 'user'
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portion of the address, before the `@`. The placeholder is used to identify the project
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where the issue should be created.
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NOTE:
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When configuring a custom mailbox, the `service_desk_email` and `incoming_email`
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configurations must always use separate mailboxes. It's important, because
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emails picked from `service_desk_email` mailbox are processed by a different
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worker and it would not recognize `incoming_email` emails.
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To configure a custom mailbox for Service Desk with IMAP, add the following snippets to your configuration file in full:
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- Example for installations from source:
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```yaml
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service_desk_email:
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enabled: true
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address: "project_contact+%{key}@example.com"
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user: "project_contact@example.com"
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password: "[REDACTED]"
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host: "imap.gmail.com"
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port: 993
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ssl: true
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start_tls: false
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log_path: "log/mailroom.log"
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mailbox: "inbox"
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idle_timeout: 60
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expunge_deleted: true
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```
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- Example for Omnibus GitLab installations:
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```ruby
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gitlab_rails['service_desk_email_enabled'] = true
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gitlab_rails['service_desk_email_address'] = "project_contact+%{key}@gmail.com"
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gitlab_rails['service_desk_email_email'] = "project_contact@gmail.com"
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gitlab_rails['service_desk_email_password'] = "[REDACTED]"
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gitlab_rails['service_desk_email_mailbox_name'] = "inbox"
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gitlab_rails['service_desk_email_idle_timeout'] = 60
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gitlab_rails['service_desk_email_log_file'] = "/var/log/gitlab/mailroom/mail_room_json.log"
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gitlab_rails['service_desk_email_host'] = "imap.gmail.com"
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gitlab_rails['service_desk_email_port'] = 993
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gitlab_rails['service_desk_email_ssl'] = true
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gitlab_rails['service_desk_email_start_tls'] = false
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```
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The configuration options are the same as for configuring
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[incoming email](../../administration/incoming_email.md#set-it-up).
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##### Microsoft Graph
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> - [Introduced](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/214900) in GitLab 13.11.
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> - Alternative Azure deployments [introduced](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/omnibus-gitlab/-/merge_requests/5978) in GitLab 14.9.
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Service Desk can be configured to read Microsoft Exchange Online mailboxes with the Microsoft
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Graph API instead of IMAP. Follow the [documentation in the incoming email section for setting up an OAuth2 application for Microsoft Graph](../../administration/incoming_email.md#microsoft-graph).
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- Example for Omnibus GitLab installations:
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```ruby
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gitlab_rails['service_desk_email_enabled'] = true
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gitlab_rails['service_desk_email_address'] = "project_contact+%{key}@example.onmicrosoft.com"
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gitlab_rails['service_desk_email_email'] = "project_contact@example.onmicrosoft.com"
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gitlab_rails['service_desk_email_mailbox_name'] = "inbox"
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gitlab_rails['service_desk_email_log_file'] = "/var/log/gitlab/mailroom/mail_room_json.log"
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gitlab_rails['service_desk_email_inbox_method'] = 'microsoft_graph'
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gitlab_rails['service_desk_email_inbox_options'] = {
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'tenant_id': '<YOUR-TENANT-ID>',
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'client_id': '<YOUR-CLIENT-ID>',
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'client_secret': '<YOUR-CLIENT-SECRET>',
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'poll_interval': 60 # Optional
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}
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```
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For Microsoft Cloud for US Government or [other Azure deployments](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/graph/deployments), configure the `azure_ad_endpoint` and `graph_endpoint` settings.
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- Example for Microsoft Cloud for US Government:
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```ruby
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gitlab_rails['service_desk_email_inbox_options'] = {
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'azure_ad_endpoint': 'https://login.microsoftonline.us',
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'graph_endpoint': 'https://graph.microsoft.us',
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'tenant_id': '<YOUR-TENANT-ID>',
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'client_id': '<YOUR-CLIENT-ID>',
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'client_secret': '<YOUR-CLIENT-SECRET>',
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'poll_interval': 60 # Optional
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}
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}
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```
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The Microsoft Graph API is not yet supported in source installations. See [this issue](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/326169) for more details.
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#### Configuring a custom email address suffix
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You can set a custom suffix in your project's Service Desk settings after you have configured a [custom mailbox](#configuring-a-custom-mailbox).
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It can contain only lowercase letters (`a-z`), numbers (`0-9`), or underscores (`_`).
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When configured, the custom suffix creates a new Service Desk email address, consisting of the
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`service_desk_email_address` setting and a key of the format: `<project_full_path>-<custom_suffix>`
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For example, suppose the `mygroup/myproject` project Service Desk settings has the following configured:
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- Email address suffix is set to `support`.
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- Service Desk email address is configured to `contact+%{key}@example.com`.
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The Service Desk email address for this project is: `contact+mygroup-myproject-support@example.com`.
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The [incoming email](../../administration/incoming_email.md) address still works.
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If you don't configure the custom suffix, the default project identification is used for identifying the project. You can see that email address in the project settings.
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## Using Service Desk
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You can use Service Desk to [create an issue](#as-an-end-user-issue-creator) or [respond to one](#as-a-responder-to-the-issue).
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In these issues, you can also see our friendly neighborhood [Support Bot](#support-bot-user).
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### As an end user (issue creator)
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> Support for additional email headers [introduced](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/346600) in GitLab 14.6. In earlier versions, the Service Desk email address had to be in the "To" field.
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To create a Service Desk issue, an end user does not need to know anything about
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the GitLab instance. They just send an email to the address they are given, and
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receive an email back confirming receipt:
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This also gives the end user an option to unsubscribe.
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If they don't choose to unsubscribe, then any new comments added to the issue
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are sent as emails:
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Any responses they send via email are displayed in the issue itself.
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For information about headers used for treating email, see
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[the incoming email documentation](../../administration/incoming_email.md#accepted-headers).
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### As a responder to the issue
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For responders to the issue, everything works just like other GitLab issues.
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GitLab displays a familiar-looking issue tracker where responders can see
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issues created through customer support requests, and filter or interact with them.
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Messages from the end user are shown as coming from the special
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[Support Bot user](../../subscriptions/self_managed/index.md#billable-users).
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You can read and write comments as you normally do in GitLab:
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Note that:
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- The project's visibility (private, internal, public) does not affect Service Desk.
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- The path to the project, including its group or namespace, is shown in emails.
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#### Privacy considerations
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Service Desk issues are confidential, but the project owner can
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[make an issue public](issues/confidential_issues.md#modify-issue-confidentiality).
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When a Service Desk issue becomes public, the issue creator's email address is disclosed
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to everyone who can view the project.
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### Support Bot user
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Behind the scenes, Service Desk works by the special Support Bot user creating issues. This user
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does not count toward the license limit count.
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### Moving a Service Desk issue
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Service Desk issues can be moved like any other issue in GitLab.
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You can move a Service Desk issue the same way you
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[move a regular issue](issues/managing_issues.md#move-an-issue) in GitLab.
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If a Service Desk issue is moved to a different project the customer who created the issue stops receiving emails.
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## Troubleshooting Service Desk
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### Emails to Service Desk do not create issues
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Your emails might be ignored because they contain one of the
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[email headers that GitLab ignores](../../administration/incoming_email.md#rejected-headers).
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### Responses to a Service Desk issue do not generate emails
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Your issue might have been moved to a different project.
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Moved Service Desk issues do not retain email participants.
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