Jira Data Center: Issues not found when searching long comma-separated values

Summary

Jira search fails to find issues when multi-line text fields contain long strings without spaces. Add spaces after commas to fix indexing.

Diagnosis

You encounter this issue if:

• You have a Text Field (multi-line) containing a long list of comma-separated values (for example: IDs, codes, or references).

• You run a JQL search for a specific part of that value.

• Expected: The search returns the issue.

• Actual: The search returns no results, even though the text exists in the field.

Example

Field value: AB-CDE12F34-GHIJKLMNOP-613,AB-CDE12F34-GHIJKLMNOP-637,AB-CDE12F34-GHIJKLMNOP-590

JQL Search: "Custom multiline" ~ "AB-CDE12F34-GHIJKLMNOP-613"

Result: No issues found.

Cause

Jira’s search uses an indexer that is optimized for natural language (sentences, words). For indexing it:

• splits text into tokens (searchable pieces) using rules designed for normal text,

• treats long comma-separated alphanumeric strings without spaces as a single token (similar to a long number),

• drops any token longer than 255 characters for indexing.

If your comma-separated list has no spaces and exceeds 255 characters, Jira treats the entire list as one oversized token and ignores it during indexing. This prevents you from searching for individual items within that list.

This is a known limitation of the current indexing behavior.

Solution

Add a space after each comma in the multi-line text field. Spaces force the indexer to split the string into separate, smaller tokens that fall under the 255-character limit.

Before

Correct search string

Note: You can also use a semicolon (;) or a new line to separate values, as these also trigger the indexer to create new tokens.