How to Use Lookup Fields for Approval, Activity, and Email Actions in Automation

Overview

Lookup fields are custom fields added to ticket forms that display dropdown options pulled from a predefined data source, as configured in the field settings.

To learn how to configure lookup fields, refer to this article.

In automation rules, lookup fields can be used as dynamic placeholders, just like default placeholders such as the creator, CC users, or the assigned agent. When a rule is triggered, these placeholders automatically pull values from the ticket.

Lookup field placeholders can be used in the following automation rule actions:

To learn how to make use of lookup fields in Set Assignee action, refer to this article.

Why is this useful?

• Route approval requests based on ticket-specific manager: Assign the approval request to the Account Manager selected in the ticket’s lookup field. No need to create separate rules per team or customer.

• Send personalized emails to dynamic recipients: Email the Primary Contact linked in a lookup field without hardcoding email addresses in every automation rule.

• Automatically assign agents or groups for follow-ups: Add activities or forward tickets to the ‘support specialist’ or ‘regional team’ selected in the ticket.

• Avoid rule duplication and reduce maintenance overhead: One rule can now support multiple variations just by referring to different field values set at the ticket level.

• Ensure accuracy and consistency: Pull necessary field values directly from the ticket, reducing the chances of human error in manual selection.

• Make your workflows smarter: Lookup field placeholders can be inserted into the text areas of various automation actions, which include:
  Set Subject
  Add Private Note
  Add Public Note
  Send Email to User
  Send Email to Group

• Add flexibility to your automations: They can also be used in both Condition and Action fields of automation rules, making your workflows more dynamic and context-aware.
  To know more about this, refer to this article.

Effective use cases for lookup field placeholders

For a general overview on setting up each type of automation rule, refer to the articles below: -

• Create Ticket Trigger
• Update Ticket Trigger
• Time Trigger
• Ticket Macros

Add approval request action - Auto-routing manager approval when refund ticket created

When someone submits a refund-related ticket, it should go straight to their department manager for approval. The Create Ticket Trigger handles this automatically by sending the request to the right manager.

How to set it up

1. Lookup field: Create an agent lookup field named Manager and add this field to the ticket form used for refund requests.
2. Automation type: Setup a Create Ticket Trigger rule as below.
3. Trigger conditions

• Update Ticket Category as Refund request.
• Update Manager field as Is not empty.
  
  

4. Actions

• Navigate to Set Manager --> Copy value from --> Contacts --> Select Department Manager.
• Then, go to Add Approval Request --> Approvers dropdown --> Select Manager (lookup field placeholder).
  
  

5. Result
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

Send email to user action: Auto-notify account owner on new high-priority ticket

When a customer submits a new high-priority ticket, you want to notify their account owner automatically. The account owner is stored in a user-type lookup field called Account Owner in the contact.
This ensures the right internal stakeholder is immediately informed and can proactively track or intervene in critical issues.

How to set it up

1. Lookup field: Create a user lookup field called Internal Stakeholder and add it to the required ticket form.

2. Automation type: Setup a Create Ticket Trigger rule as below.

3. Trigger conditions

• Update Priority as High or Critical.
• Update Account Owner (lookup field) as Is not empty.
  
  

4. Actions

• Navigate to Set Internal Stakeholder --> Copy value from --> Contacts–> Select Account Owner.
• Once everything is done, send an email to the user.
  
  

5. Result
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

Send email to group action: Escalate inactive tickets to the escalation group

You want to ensure that no ticket stays idle for too long, especially those from high-value customers or with high priority. If a ticket remains unresponded to for over 2 hours, it should trigger an escalation email to the Tier 2 Escalation group automatically.

How to set it up

1. Lookup field: Add an agent group lookup field called Tier 2 Support and add it to the required ticket form.

2. Automation type: Setup a Time Trigger rule as below.

3. Trigger conditions

• Update Priority as High or Critical.
• Update Status, Not in as Closed or Solved.
• Update Hours Since Requester Responded as greater than 2 hours.
• Update Escalation Team (lookup field) as Is not empty.
  
  

4. Action

• Navigate to Set Tier 2 Support --> Copy value from --> Contact Groups --> Select Escalation Team.
• Once done, send email to the escalation group.
  
  

5. Result
   
   
   
   
   

Add activity action: Log pending action and assign activity to product specialist

Support agents frequently receive tickets related to product configuration issues. For tickets categorized under Product Setup Help, agents want to log a follow-up activity and assign it to the appropriate Product Specialist based on a user-type lookup field called Product Specialist.

How to set it up

1. Lookup field: Add an agent lookup field called Product Specialist and add it to the required ticket form.

2. Automation type: Setup a Ticket Macros rule as below.

3. Trigger conditions: The trigger conditions are to be executed manually, that is, the agent runs the macros.

4. Action

• Select the Add Activity option.
• Fill in the following fields: Type, Subject and Description.
• Select the Assignee as Product Specialist.
• Then, select the Due Date, Contact, Status, and Priority.
  
  

5. Result
   The agent doesn’t need to manually select or remember who the Product Specialist is. This information is already stored in the ticket via a lookup field, either by manual or an automated update.
   This ensures that the follow-up activity is dynamically assigned to the correct specialist based on ticket data.

• After macro execution
  
  

Forward ticket action: Auto-forward procurement requests

When an employee submits a procurement request (e.g., for hardware or software) and an agent assigns a Procurement Officer using an agent-type lookup field, the system can automatically forward the ticket to the designated Procurement Officer.

How to set it up

1. Lookup field: Create an agent lookup field called Procurement Officer and add it to the required ticket form.

2. Automation type: Setup an Update Ticket Trigger rule as below.

3. Trigger conditions

• Update Procurement Officer as Is not empty.
• Update Category as Procurement.
• Update Is Ticket Forwaded? to No.
  
  

4. Action

• Set Is Ticket Forwarded? to Yes.
• Once done, forward the ticket.
  
  

5. Result