Objects

In Zammad you can add your own fields to tickets, users, organizations and even groups (these are called “objects”). This can be useful if you need to add further information to a ticket or any other object in Zammad and the information doesn’t fit in any existing field.

Note

Try to avoid deleting attributes (and disable them instead) as Zammad might run into unexpected conditions if they are referenced somewhere.

Here’s an overview of object attributes. On the upper right you can add new attributes. By default, there will be no custom fields - standard attributes will be grayed out, you can’t delete or change those. You can edit custom attributes (they are displayed in black font and have a trash bin on the right side) just by clicking on them.

Note

Attributes you add to Zammad, no matter if they have default values or not, will not update existing information. This means a new ticket field technically will be empty unless you populate it.

Especially in ticket scope this also means that newly added attributes will be indicated as “changed” to agents that view the ticket. This may interfere with Zammad’s tabs behavior.

Learn more

• Attribute types
• Attribute permissions

Ordering attributes

Since Zammad introduced Core Workflows the need to have a custom positioning for attributes has become more important than ever.

To adjust the position of such an attribute, simply click on the attribute entry in question, scroll down and adjust the position number. Please note that you cannot change the positioning of default attributes.

In case two attributes have the same position value, Zammad will sort alphabetically by name automatically.

Updating database after adding or editing attributes

When adding or changing attributes, Zammad will not apply the changes instantly, but instead shows you the changed attributes first. If you’re ready to go, just click on “Update database” to apply the changes to Zammad. If you made a mistake or just want to discard your changes, click “Discard changes”.

After applying the changes with “Update Database”, a restart of Zammad is mandatory. If you don’t perform it, you may experience unexpected behavior or even errors. You may want to do this kind of configuration during maintenance windows.

Changes on objects require you to update the database to apply these changes.

Tip

🤓 Service restarts can be automated

Hosted environments automatically restart for you.

If you’re using a self-hosted installation you can use environment variables

System attributes

Zammad comes with pre-configured attributes. Some of them can’t be edited via UI (or at all). This is required for proper operation of Zammad and not a bug.

Ticket State

If the pre-configured states aren’t enough for you or you want to change them, you can do so by clicking on the cogwheel icon in the state row in the ticket tab. But you should be careful when changing pre-configured states. This can lead to unwanted behavior in some cases.

Handling of states

In the state configuration screen, you can add new states, disable states or change states.

To add a new state, click on the “New Ticket State” button in the top right corner. To change an existing state, simply click on the affected state. This opens an edit dialog.

You can also clone a state or set them to “Default for new tickets” or “Default for follow-ups” by clicking on the ⁝ action button and select the desired function.

Default for new tickets means that this state is used for every newly created ticket.

Default for follow-ups means that this state is used if the ticket is re-opened after it was closed.

Ticket state in detail

Below you can find a description for each field and option. Please head over to the example to see the edit dialog.

Name

This is the name of the state and what you and your agents are seeing when choosing a state somewhere (e.g. in tickets, trigger configuration).

Type

There are different state types you can choose from. By default, Zammad comes with one state per state type.

• new: for states for tickets that are new and it hasn’t been worked on them

• open: for states for tickets that are in progress and agents are working on them

• merged: for states for tickets that are merged with other tickets

• pending reminder: for states for tickets that are in progress and you want to set a reminder. (default example: pending reminder)

• pending action: for states for tickets that are waiting for a specified time and then change their state (default example: pending close)

• closed: for states for tickets that are finished and do not need to be processed further

Attention

⚠️ Choosing the correct state type is important! If you are in doubt, have a look on the default states and their types!

Ignore escalation

Here you can define whether tickets of this state will count to escalation time or not.

Note

You can create a note for the state to inform other admins about the state. This has no effect on tickets.

Active

Set the state to active or inactive.

Note

it is technically possible to set all states to inactive. To keep Zammad working in such a case, the inactive flag of one of the states is ignored.

Ticket state example

Let’s assume we want to create a new state which indicates that the ticket has to wait for a response of a third party (e.g. service contractor or manufacturer) and we want to to be able to set a reminder.

First we give the new state a proper name. In this example we call it “waiting for manufacturer”.

As state type we choose “pending reminder”. This indicates that the ticket is still open and we can set a reminder. This reminder can be useful if our manufacturer sometimes isn’t responding or we want to remind him to give us an answer.

We choose “no” for “ignore escalation” because we want to escalate the tickets even if we are waiting on the manufacturer’s feedback.

The result in the creation dialog will look like this:

Ticket Priority

If the pre-configured priorities aren’t enough for you or you want to change them, you can do so by clicking on the cogwheel icon in the priority row in the ticket tab:

Handling of priorities

In the priority configuration screen, you can add new priorities, disable priorities or change priorities.

To add a new priority, click on the “New Priority” button in the top right corner. To change an existing priority, simply click on the affected priority. This opens an edit dialog.

You can also clone a priority or set them to “Default for new tickets” by clicking on the ⁝ action button and select the desired function.

Default for new tickets means that this priority is used for every newly created ticket.

Priorities in detail

Below you can find a description for each field and option.

Name

This is the name of the priority and what you and your agents are seeing when choosing a priority somewhere (e.g. in tickets, trigger configuration).

Highlight color

Switch between Low priority (light blue), High priority (red) and - (default). This affects the displayed color for ticket titles in overviews.

The color options are currently limited to the mentioned options.

Note

You can create a note for the priority to inform other admins about the priority. This has no effect on tickets.

Active

Set the priority to active or inactive.