"sendNotifications: false" in Automation "Add comment" action has no effect – emails are still being

Hi Community! 👋

I hope you can help me out – I'm running into an issue that has me completely stumped, and I'd really appreciate your experience and insights.

Context

We've built several global automation rules in Jira Cloud as part of our GDPR deletion process. These rules run on a schedule (JQL trigger), mark work items for deletion, and leave a comment on each affected issue.

Each rule consists of two actions:

1. "Edit issue" – sets two custom fields

2. "Add comment" – leaves a comment informing users that the work item will be deleted in one year

The Configuration – GUI vs. JSON

There's an important distinction here:

"Edit work item" action: The GUI offers an official "Send notifications" checkbox under the advanced options, which I've set to false.

📸 Screenshot 1

"Add comment" action: The GUI does not offer an official "Send notifications" checkbox for this action type. I therefore set sendNotifications: false manually in the exported JSON and re-imported the rule. Jira accepted the import without any errors.

{
  "component": "ACTION",
  "type": "jira.issue.comment",
  "value": {
    "comment": "System Notification: ...",
    "publicComment": false,
    "sendNotifications": false,
    "addCommentOnce": true
  }
}

JSON of the comment action with sendNotifications: false

The Problem

Despite having sendNotifications: false manually set in the JSON of the "Add comment" action, users who are listed in the notification scheme of the affected projects for the "Issue Commented" event are still receiving email notifications.

The rule is intended to be applied initially to approx. 85,000 work items – and then on an ongoing basis to any new items matching the criteria. Preventing an email flood of this scale is absolutely critical for us.

Interestingly, sendNotifications = false on the "Edit work item" action works correctly – no emails are triggered there.

🤔 My Questions

1. Is sendNotifications in the JSON of the "Add comment" action actually evaluated by Jira at all, or is it silently ignored on import because it's not a supported parameter for this action type?

2. Is it known behavior that the "Add comment" action simply has no way to suppress email notifications from the notification scheme?

3. Is there a reliable workaround – other than removing the comment action entirely?

Here's what I've considered so far:

• Combining publicComment: false + sendNotifications: false in the JSON → emails still come through

• Removing the comment action entirely → no emails, but also no comment on the issue

Any hints are very much appreciated! Thanks in advance 🙏

Environment:

• Jira Cloud

• Automation: Global rule, JQL-triggered (scheduled)

• Actor: Automation for Jira (system account)

• Affected action: jira.issue.comment