How to Create a Related Ticket Automatically Using HappyFox Workflows

This article explains how to use the Create Related Ticket, Create Related Ticket With Ticket Template, and Relate Tickets actions in HappyFox Workflows to automatically generate and link tickets as part of a workflow.

Applicable Plans: Available on all plans.

Prerequisites

• A workflow must already exist with a trigger configured. See How to Build Your First Workflow if you have not set one up yet.
• You must have admin access to HappyFox Workflows.

When to use these actions

These three actions serve different purposes. Choose the one that fits your process:

• Create Related Ticket — Creates a new ticket from scratch and links it to the ticket that triggered the workflow. Use this when you need to spin up a sub-ticket with specific fields, contact details, and a custom message — for example, an IT provisioning ticket generated when an onboarding ticket is raised.
• Create Related Ticket With Ticket Template — Creates a new related ticket using a pre-configured ticket template. Use this when the related ticket always has the same structure, such as a standard procurement checklist or an offboarding task list.
• Relate Tickets — Links two existing tickets together without creating a new one. Use this when a second ticket already exists and you want to establish the relationship programmatically.

How to add a related ticket action to a workflow

1. Open the workflow in the workflow builder.
2. Click Add Action at the point in the workflow where the related ticket should be created.
3. In the action search field, type relate.
4. Under HappyFox Helpdesk, select the action you want — Create Related Ticket, Create Related Ticket With Ticket Template, or Relate Tickets.

The action search panel showing the three related ticket actions under HappyFox Helpdesk.

Configuring Create Related Ticket

The Create Related Ticket action opens a configuration panel with the following fields.

Contact fields

These fields identify the contact on the new ticket.

• Contact Name — Required. Enter a static name or use Insert Merge Fields to pull the value from the triggering ticket.
• Contact Email — Required if Contact Phone is not provided. Enter a static email address or use Insert Merge Fields.
• Contact Phone — Required if Contact Email is not provided. Enter a static phone number or use Insert Merge Fields.
• Create as a private ticket? — Toggle on to create the related ticket as a private ticket. Off by default.
• Contact Custom Fields — Click + to map values to any contact-level custom fields.

Ticket fields

• Category * — Required. Select the category the related ticket should be created under.
• Status — Optional. Select a status or leave blank to use the category default.
• Priority — Optional. Select a priority or use Insert Merge Fields to carry over the triggering ticket's priority.
• Assignee — Optional. Select an agent or use Insert Merge Fields to assign dynamically.
• Due Date — Optional. Enter a date or use Insert Merge Fields to calculate from a dynamic value.
• Ticket Custom Fields — Click + to map values to any ticket-level custom fields.
• Task Template — Optional. Select a task template to attach a task list to the related ticket.
• Cc — Optional. Add email addresses to copy on the related ticket.
• Bcc — Optional. Add email addresses to blind-copy.
• Subject * — Required. Enter the subject line for the related ticket, or use Insert Merge Fields to generate it dynamically.
• Message * — Required. Enter the body of the related ticket. Use the rich text editor to format the message, or use Insert Merge Fields to include values from the triggering ticket.
• Copy All Original Attachments — Toggle on to copy all attachments from the triggering ticket to the related ticket.
• Attachments — Optional. Select specific attachments to include, or use Insert Merge Fields to reference attachment values.

5. Fill in all required fields — Contact Name, at least one of Contact Email or Contact Phone, Category, Subject, and Message.
6. Use Insert Merge Fields on any field to pull values from the triggering ticket into the related ticket automatically.
7. Click Save to save the action configuration, or Save & Test to save and run a test against a real ticket immediately.

Note: If any required field is left empty, the action will fail at runtime and log an error in Run History. Always verify required fields are populated — either with a static value or a merge field that is guaranteed to resolve. See How to Use Run History to Debug Workflow Issues if you need to trace a failed action.

The Create Related Ticket configuration panel, showing contact fields, ticket fields, and the message editor.

Configuring Create Related Ticket With Ticket Template

Use this action when the related ticket should be created from a pre-defined ticket template rather than built field by field.

The configuration panel has two steps.

Step 1 — Source ticket

• Ticket ID * — Required. This identifies the triggering ticket. By default, this is pre-populated with the Id merge field from the trigger event. Do not clear this field.

Step 2 — Related ticket details

• Contact Name — Required. Enter a static name or use Insert Merge Fields.
• Contact Email — Required if Contact Phone is not provided.
• Contact Phone — Required if Contact Email is not provided.
• Create as a private ticket? — Toggle on to create the ticket as private.
• Ticket Template * — Required. Select the ticket template to use for the related ticket.
• Copy All Original Attachments — Toggle on to copy attachments from the triggering ticket.
• Attachments — Optional. Select specific attachments or use Insert Merge Fields.

5. Fill in Contact Name, at least one of Contact Email or Contact Phone, and Ticket Template.
6. Click Save or Save & Test.

Note: The ticket template must already exist in HappyFox Help Desk before it can be selected here. If your template does not appear in the dropdown, verify it has been created in HappyFox Help Desk.

The Create Related Ticket With Ticket Template configuration panel, showing Step 1 (Ticket ID) and Step 2 (contact and template fields).

Configuring Relate Tickets

Use this action to link two tickets that already exist — for example, when a ticket ID from a previous workflow action or a merge field identifies the second ticket.

The configuration panel has two steps.

Step 1 — Source ticket

• Ticket ID * — Required. Identifies the ticket that triggered the workflow. This field is pre-populated with the Id merge field and a live preview of the ticket ID is shown below. Do not clear this field.

Step 2 — Ticket to relate

• Relate to * — Required. Enter the numeric ID of the ticket you want to link to the source ticket. This can be a static ticket ID entered directly, or a merge field that resolves to a numeric ticket ID.

5. Confirm the Ticket ID in Step 1 is pre-populated correctly.
6. In the Relate to field, enter or insert the ID of the second ticket.
7. Click Save or Save & Test.

Note: Both tickets must exist at the time the action runs. If the ticket ID in Relate to does not match an existing ticket, the action will fail. Check Run History for the error detail.

The Relate Tickets configuration panel, showing Step 1 (source Ticket ID with a live preview) and Step 2 (Relate to field).

Use cases

• IT onboarding: When a new employee onboarding ticket is created in HappyFox Help Desk, automatically create a related IT provisioning ticket assigned to the IT team, pre-filled with the employee's name and email from the parent ticket.
• Procurement approvals: When a purchase request ticket is raised, create a related procurement checklist ticket using a standard ticket template, ensuring every request follows the same process.
• Escalation tracking: When a ticket is escalated to a senior tier, use Relate Tickets to link the original ticket to an existing management review ticket, giving both teams visibility into the connection.
• Facilities and HR coordination: When an onboarding trigger fires, create two separate related tickets — one for Facilities (desk setup) and one for HR (benefits enrollment) — each with the appropriate category and assignee.

Frequently Asked Questions

A required field in my Create Related Ticket action is empty at runtime — what should I check? Open Run History and find the failed action. The error detail will identify which field was empty. The most common cause is a merge field that references a ticket field that was not populated on the triggering ticket — for example, a phone number field that the contact did not provide. Add a fallback static value or make the field optional in your workflow logic.

Can I attach files from the triggering ticket to the related ticket? Yes. Toggle Copy All Original Attachments on to copy all attachments, or use the Attachments field with Insert Merge Fields to reference specific attachment values. Note that attachments in Workflows are passed as URLs, not as binary files. If the receiving system requires a binary upload, the attachment transfer may not behave as expected.

Can I create more than one related ticket from a single workflow? Yes. Add multiple Create Related Ticket or Create Related Ticket With Ticket Template actions to the same workflow. Each action creates an independent related ticket linked to the same triggering ticket.

What is the difference between Create Related Ticket and Relate Tickets? Create Related Ticket creates a brand new ticket and links it to the triggering ticket in a single action. Relate Tickets only establishes a link — both tickets must already exist. Use Relate Tickets when the second ticket is created upstream in the same workflow or already exists in the system.

Your workflow is now configured to create or link related tickets automatically. Next, use Run History to verify the action ran correctly and confirm the related ticket was created with the expected field values.