Cloud enterprise orgs can now temporarily pause new changes during critical business periods

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Hello Atlassian Community!

I am Alex, a Product Manager on Atlassian’s Enterprise Cloud team, and I’m excited to share a new capability now available in beta for Cloud Enterprise customers: Freeze windows.

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Loom demo: https://www.loom.com/share/e4904b61ea234465a3a8c75e83dfc0b1

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What’s new?
Starting today, administrators of Cloud Enterprise organizations can temporarily pause the rollout of new changes in Jira, Jira Service Management, and Confluence during critical business periods—helping you maintain stability when it matters most. Whether it’s earnings season for financial services, the holiday rush for retail, or any other sensitive time, Freeze windows gives you more control to avoid disruptions and keep your teams focused.

How does it work?
Admins can designate a Freeze window of up to 14 days, during which new changes will be paused for your eligible products. This flexibility helps you prepare your organization and ensure a smooth experience for end users.

How to get started with Freeze windows in beta:

1. Visit admin.atlassian.com and select your eligible organization.

2. Go to Apps and choose Release Management → Freeze windows to set up your freeze period.

Please note:

• Freeze windows is available only for Enterprise-entitled Jira, Jira Service Management, and Confluence apps.

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In Apps, go to Release Management > Freeze windows, then click Create Freeze window.

Select the critical business period when you want to pause changes. Set the Start date and End date (up to 14 days), then click Next.

Choose up to 10 apps to include in the Freeze window. After selecting your apps, click Next.

Review your selections to confirm the freeze period and apps are correct. When ready, click Create.

Once created, your Freeze window will appear on this page. From here, you can create additional Freeze windows, view details, or remove existing ones.

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Please note the following about Freeze windows (Beta):

• Freeze windows can be scheduled up to 60 days in advance and can last between 2 and 14 days.

• Freeze windows cannot overlap, and a mandatory 5-day cooldown period is required between consecutive freeze windows.

• Freeze windows is available only for temporarily pausing the release of new changes to Enterprise-entitled Jira, Jira Service Management, and Confluence apps.

• Each Freeze window can include up to 10 apps. All Jira family apps (Jira & JSM) on the same site URL count as a single app and must be frozen together.

• During the current beta, some changes with long rollout periods that have been communicated separately to org admins (e.g., the new navigation experience) will not be eligible for Freeze windows and will be released as previously announced.

• Critical updates, such as security or bug fixes, will not be paused and will continue to be released during a Freeze window.

• Any new changes or bundled releases temporarily paused during a Freeze window will be released as soon as the window ends.

• As Freeze windows is in beta, it may be rolled back at any time. If this happens, we’ll update this Community post with details and next steps.

Have questions, feedback, or comments? Learn more in our support documentation or share your thoughts below!