Question
Why does the email that contacts receive include comments even when the "Comment visible to guests" checkbox is unmarked?

Answer
This happens when the email template specified in the notify rule includes the comment; this bypasses the value set by "Comment visible to guests". This is working as designed therefore, as the "Comment visible to guests" is only designed to hide comments from the end user console (Winuser).

To work around this, a new email template without the comments must be created, and a new notify rule that sends the template must be created. The existing notify rule is also changed. Note: Duplicate this process for any email templates and notify rules that send comments, such as the "Guest issue addressed" email template and "Notify contact when closed" notify rule.

The following describes how to perform this workaround, using the "Change notification" email template and "Incident changed" notify rule:

1.  In Helpdesk go to Admin > E-Mail Templates > List E-Mail Templates.
2.  Click on Change notification.
3.  Click on the Clone button.
4.  Change the name of the template, such as "Change notification without hidden comments".
5.  Scroll down to the following lines of code in the Body field near the bottom and delete them. This will remove the comment information from the email template.
   
   

   <tr>
<td colspan="2" class="txtSubTitle">
Comment
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="2" style="padding-left:20px;" class="txtMsgValue">
WORKITEM(workitem_comment)
</td>
</tr>

6.  Click on the OK button.
7.  Go to Admin > Notify Rules > List Notify Rules.
8.  Click on Incident changed.
9.  Click on the Clone button.
10.  Change the name of the notify rule, such as "Incident changed without hidden comments".
11.  Select the new email template in the Send e-mail section.
12.  In the And section, near the bottom, click on the dropdown menu and select <Advanced condition>.
13.  Click on the Add button.
14.  In the When field, enter  workitem_comment_visible_to_guest
15.  Leave the middle section to Is the same as.
16.  In the bottom field, enter 0
17.  In the Compared as field, choose Number.
18.  Click on the OK button.
19.  At the bottom of the page make sure the following are set:
    
    Visible = unchecked
    Locked = checked
    Default = checked
    Active = checked
     
20.  Click on the OK button.
21.  Go to Admin > Notify Rules > List Notify Rules.
22.  Click on Incident changed.
23.  Click on the Edit button.
24.  In the And section, near the bottom, click on the dropdown menu and select <Advanced condition>.
25.  Click on the Add button.
26.  In the When field, enter workitem_comment_visible_to_guest
27.  Leave the middle section to Is the same as.
28.  In the bottom field, enter 1 
29.  In the Compared as field, choose Number.
30.  Click on the OK button.
31.  At the bottom of the page make sure the following are set:
    
    Visible = unchecked
    Locked = checked
    Default = checked
    Active = checked
     
32.  Click on the OK button.