Automatically send emails when certain fields change in Jira Cloud
Platform Notice: Cloud Only - This article only applies to Atlassian apps on the cloud platform.
Summary
With Automation for Jira, we can use the field value change trigger to monitor field changes and take corresponding actions, including sending email updates. However, the traditional method does not support sending emails specifically for changed fields.
In this scenario, we focus on three common fields on a Jira work item:
Description
Assignee
Due Date
We will demonstrate how to monitor each of these fields and send individual email notifications when any of them are changed.
Note
Please note that in this example, we are using the Send Email action. However, you can use other automation actions based on your specific requirements.
Automation rule to monitor and report on field changes
Prerequisite: Ensure that whichever fields you're monitoring are present in the appropriate Edit Issue Screen for your project
Please be mindful of Automation Usage limits as this rule may run very frequently depending on your instance
See How is Automation Usage Calculated? for more information
Inside the rule, we'll use the smart value {{fieldchange}}. This smart value can capture various details about the field change that triggered the automation rule. For example:
{{fieldchange.field}}:The name of the changed field{{fieldchange.fromString}}:The string value of the field before it was changed{{fieldchange.toString}}:The string value of the field after it was changed
These pieces can combine into a useful report which Automation can send to you as an email, or post as a comment on a Jira work item. Let's configure our rule.
Create rule and log the field change
Go to Project Settings > Automation > Create Rule
Select Trigger: Field Value Change
Add the three fields to monitor: Description, Assignee, and Due date
Select the Change Type and for which Operation you would like to monitor these fields
Add a Log action
Set the Log message as: Field
{{fieldchange.field}}changed from{{fieldchange.fromString}}to{{fieldchange.toString}}This will record the Field name, the previous value and the new value of any edits on our selected fields to the Automation audit log.
Add actions to alert users of field edits
Now that our rule logs changes, we can also have it send emails and/or post comments when fields are edited.
Continue editing the rule, and select either the Send email or Comment on work item actions
Add the following content:
Field {{fieldchange.field}} has changed. Old value : {{fieldchange.fromString}} New value: {{fieldchange.toString}}
Optional: use different actions depending on which field changes
The If condition block can check which field is edited, and branch the rule depending on the field. If you'd prefer to send emails after Description changes, but only comment on Assignee changes, for example, try an If block!
If {{fieldchange.field}} contains the word description then we conclude that the description field has changed. We then add a Send email action in that section of the rule editor. We can use another if block for the other fields as necessary.
See the below screenshot for an example of an If block used in a field monitoring rule:
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