What Happens to Actors and Rules when Updating to Automation for Jira 9.1 with the Restrict rule actor impersonators changes?

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Note that this KB was created for the Data Center version of the product. Data Center KBs for non-Data-Center-specific features may also work for Server versions of the product, however they have not been tested. Support for Server* products ended on February 15th 2024. If you are running a Server product, you can visit the Atlassian Server end of support announcement to review your migration options.

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Summary

Starting from Jira Automation 9.1, a new restriction has been added in which you’ll only be able to select yourself as the rule’s Actor. This improves your instance’s security by preventing users without required permissions from impersonating other users and creating issues through Jira automation rules (See Restrict rule actor impersonators), but the documentation does not answer a few questions.

What happens to already configured Automation Rules?

Will the rules stop working if the Owner does not match the Actor?

What happens to the users already configured as Actors?

Solution

Environment

Jira 9.x, Jira Automation 9.1 and later

Answers

The already configured Automation Rules will continue working, and the Actor will not be updated. The only difference is that users, including Jira Administrators, will not be able to update those already configured Actors unless the new permission "Impersonate users in A4J global scope" is added to the user/group as described here Restrict rule actor impersonators.

Updated on April 8, 2025

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