Understanding when email replies become public or private comments

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<p id="docs-hc-snippet" style="display: none;">There are a few rules that determine whether a reply to a notification sent from email becomes a public comment or a private comment.</p>
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<p id="docs-ai-summary-toggle">Summary: <span id="up-triangle">◀</span><span id="down-triangle">▼</span></p>
<p id="docs-ai-summary-content">You can tell when an email reply becomes a public comment or a private comment based on who sent it, how the ticket was updated, and your email and CC/follower settings. Replies sent with Reply instead of Reply all, third-party replies, private tickets, and Mail API note commands often create private comments, while end user replies are usually public unless another rule applies.</p>
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<div class="note fastpath">
<span class="fastpathtitle">Location: </span> <span class="ph">Admin Center &gt; Objects and rules &gt; Tickets &gt;
Settings</span>
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<p class="p">There are a few rules that determine whether a reply to a notification sent from email
becomes a public comment or a private comment. </p>
<p class="p">A <em class="ph i">private comment</em> appears in the agent interface as an <em class="ph i">internal note</em>. Private
comments and internal notes are the same thing. This article uses the term <em class="ph i">private
comment</em> to describe these types of comments.</p>
<p class="p"><img class="image img-screenshot" id="topic-1__image_lgs_kcl_fhb" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/ccs_comments_internal.png" width="300"></p>
<p class="p">This article includes these sections:</p>
<ul class="ul" id="topic-1__ul_izw_plx_vy">
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_mpz_nnl_xrb">Checklist: How Support determines comments privacy for inbound emails</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_a3q_z4l_fhb">Using "Reply" instead of "Reply
all"</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_lhb_c4l_fhb">Third party replies to ticket
notifications</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_onr_z2v_ypb">Using the Mail API</a></li>
</ul>
<p class="p">For more information about using CCs and followers with email clients, see <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408824667930" target="_blank">Best practices for using email clients with CCs and followers</a>.</p>
<p class="p">For a complete list of documentation about CCs and followers, see <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408836035866" target="_blank">CCs and followers resources</a>.</p>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title2" class="topic nested1" id="topic_mpz_nnl_xrb">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title2">Checklist: How Support determines comments privacy for inbound emails</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p" dir="ltr">Support performs a series of checks to determine comment privacy for inbound
emails. These are the checks and the order in which they are performed:</p>
<ol class="ol" id="topic_mpz_nnl_xrb__ol_fr2_pnl_xrb">
<li class="li" dir="ltr">If the ticket is being updated (rather than created) and the ticket was
identified from the encoded ID in the email, and the author cannot edit the ticket:<ol class="ol" id="topic_mpz_nnl_xrb__ol_gr2_pnl_xrb" type="a">
<li class="li" dir="ltr">If the author is an agent and is not an assignee, follower, or CC on the
ticket, the comment will be private.</li>
<li class="li" dir="ltr">If the author is an end user and is not the requester or a CC on the
ticket, the comment will be private. </li>
</ol>
</li>
<li class="li" dir="ltr">If the ticket is being updated (rather than created) and the ticket was not
identified from the encoded ID in the email, and the author cannot edit the ticket:<ol class="ol" id="topic_mpz_nnl_xrb__ol_xj3_vnl_xrb" type="a">
<li class="li" dir="ltr">The new comment will be suspended (and if/when recovered, it will follow
similar rules outlined here from the top).</li>
</ol>
</li>
<li class="li" dir="ltr">If the author is a CC, and the requester was not a direct recipient of the
email:<ol class="ol" id="topic_mpz_nnl_xrb__ol_vh5_14l_xrb" type="a">
<li class="li" dir="ltr">If <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408843795482-Configuring-CC-and-follower-permissions#topic_tg2_ct2_hlb" target="_blank">Make email comments from CCed end users public</a>
is disabled, the comment will be private.</li>
<li class="li" dir="ltr">If <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408843795482-Configuring-CC-and-follower-permissions#topic_tg2_ct2_hlb" target="_blank">Make email comments from CCed end users public</a>
is enabled, but there were recipients other than a support address of the account, the
comment will be private.</li>
</ol>
</li>
<li class="li" dir="ltr">If the author is an end user, the comment will be public.</li>
<li class="li" dir="ltr">If the author has a role that can't comment publicly, the comment will be
private. On Enterprise plans, the <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/10702126155674" target="_blank">agent as requester</a> and custom role settings may
impact whether the agent's comments are public or private.</li>
<li class="li" dir="ltr">If the <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408839419034-Using-the-Mail-API-to-update-ticket-properties-from-your-inbox" target="_blank">Mail API</a> was used with the #note command (for
internal note), the comment will be private.</li>
<li class="li" dir="ltr">If <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408822560410" target="_blank">Agent comments via email are public by default</a> is
disabled, the comment will be private—unless the agent doesn't otherwise have access to
the ticket (for example, due to role or group security rules). In that case, the comment
will be public, regardless of this setting.</li>
<li class="li" dir="ltr">If the <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408882462618#topic_q5c_ztz_y2b" target="_blank">ticket being updated is private</a>, the comment will
be private.</li>
<li class="li" dir="ltr">If Support determines that the email contains content that was previously part
of private comments, the comment will be private.</li>
<li class="li">If none of the criteria above is met, the comment will be public. </li>
</ol>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title3" class="topic nested1" id="topic_a3q_z4l_fhb">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title3">Using "Reply" instead of "Reply all"</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">When someone replies to a ticket notification from their email client using <strong class="ph b">Reply</strong>
(instead of <strong class="ph b">Reply all</strong>), the reply becomes a private comment (internal note) on the
ticket.</p>
<p class="p">For example:</p>
<ul class="ul" id="topic_a3q_z4l_fhb__ul_ddp_gql_fhb">
<li class="li">
<p class="p">By default, when an end user CC replies to a ticket notification using <strong class="ph b">Reply</strong>
(instead of <strong class="ph b">Reply all</strong>), the reply becomes a private comment on the ticket because
the requester is not on the reply. CCs are not removed from the ticket. However, if the
<a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408843795482" target="_blank">Make email comments from CCed end users public</a> setting is
enabled, the behavior changes and the reply becomes a public comment instead.</p>
</li>
<li class="li">
<p class="p">Follower replies adhere to the rules for followers (and the <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408822560410#topic_k3f_q1f_hlb" target="_blank">Agent comments via email are public by default</a>
setting), are meant to be seen by agents only, and result in an internal comment,
regardless of whether <strong class="ph b">Reply</strong> or <strong class="ph b">Reply all</strong> is used.</p>
</li>
<li class="li">
<p class="p">Assignee replies adhere to the rules for agents (and the <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408822560410#topic_k3f_q1f_hlb" target="_blank">Agent comments via email are public by default</a>
setting), regardless of whether <strong class="ph b">Reply</strong> or <strong class="ph b">Reply all</strong> is used.</p>
</li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title4" class="topic nested1" id="topic_lhb_c4l_fhb">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title4">Third party replies to ticket notifications</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">In some rare cases, your end users may forward ticket notifications to a third party. A
third party is someone who isn't the requester or a CC, assignee, or follower on the ticket.
This scenario is not common. </p>
<p class="p">If a third party replies to a ticket notification from an email client, these things
happen:</p>
<ul class="ul" id="topic_lhb_c4l_fhb__ul_ljv_j4l_fhb">
<li class="li">
<p class="p">A warning like the following appears in the ticket interface (click the icon to expand
the menu and see the message): </p>
<p class="p"><img class="image img-screenshot" id="topic_lhb_c4l_fhb__image_ctn_4vs_fhb" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/ccs_third_party.png"></p>
</li>
<li class="li">
<p class="p">The reply becomes a private comment (internal note) on the ticket. </p>
</li>
<li class="li">
<p class="p">The third party is <u class="ph u">not</u> automatically added to the ticket as a CC.</p>
</li>
</ul>
<p class="p">As a result, agents may need to do these things: </p>
<ul class="ul" id="topic_lhb_c4l_fhb__ul_w2z_34l_fhb">
<li class="li">
<p class="p">If the reply needs to be a public comment, then the agent must manually copy/paste the
text into a public comment on their behalf. </p>
</li>
<li class="li">
<p class="p">If future replies from this person need to be public comments, then the agent needs to
add them as a CC from the ticket interface. </p>
</li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title5" class="topic nested1" id="topic_onr_z2v_ypb">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title5">Using the Mail API</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">You can also use Mail API commands to make a reply into a public or private comment. By
default the value of the <code class="ph codeph">#public</code> Mail API command is <code class="ph codeph">true</code>,
so the reply will be public. A <code class="ph codeph">#public false</code> command will make the reply
private. Also, you can use the <code class="ph codeph">#note</code> syntax to make a reply into a private
comment. See <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408839419034" target="_blank">Using the Mail API to update ticket properties from your
inbox</a>. </p>
</div>
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