7 ways to stay ahead of upcoming Atlassian Cloud updates

[#1]

Atlassian Cloud is constantly updated to improve performance, enhance security, and deliver a better user experience.

While Atlassian does send email notifications about these updates, they can sometimes be missed or end up in spam folders. That’s why timely awareness is essential - to prepare internally, communicate with users, and implement changes smoothly.

Atlassian provides plenty of tools to help admins monitor, prepare for, and even test changes before they go live - from email notifications, product roadmaps to Labs and the Community.

This article outlines 7 effective ways you can stay in control of Atlassian Cloud updates.

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1. Review your Email Preferences to avoid missing key updates

Atlassian sends various types of emails - product updates, workspace invitations, onboarding tips, and more. But if you've accidentally unsubscribed from the wrong categories, you might miss something important.

Go to the Account settings > Email > Email preferences center:

• Select the products for which you want to receive emails (Jira, Confluence, JSM, etc.)

• Enable categories like Product Recommendations, Customer Success, and Invitations.

• Avoid clicking “Unsubscribe all” if you still want to receive product updates.

👉 Read more: https://support.atlassian.com/atlassian-account/docs/manage-your-email-and-notification-preferences

2. Check the Atlassian Cloud Roadmap

Atlassian provides a visual Cloud Roadmap where users can see what's in development, coming soon, or already released.

Why it matters:

• Get early insights into major feature rollouts, UI updates, and security changes

• Filter by product: Jira, Confluence, Trello...

Pro tip: Bookmark this page and check it monthly.

Check out Cloud Roadmap here: https://www.atlassian.com/roadmap/cloud

3. Monitor Product Updates in the admin panel

If you're a site admin, here's how to track upcoming updates:

• Go to Atlassian Admin > Products tab > Release management > Product updates

• View the latest release notes by product

Why it helps:

• See exactly what has changed in your environment

• Share timely updates with your internal team

👉 Read more: https://support.atlassian.com/organization-administration/docs/keep-up-with-changes/

4. Choose the right Release Track

Atlassian allows you to manage how and when updates roll out to your organization:

Navigate to Atlassian Admin > Products tab > Release management > Release tracks

There are 3 track options:

• Continuous track (default): Receive all changes as soon as they are released (applies to both production and sandbox).

• Bundled track: Get grouped updates monthly, starting at 22:00 UTC on the second Tuesday. Timing cannot be customized.

• Preview track: Test Bundled changes in advance (sandbox only).

While updates can’t be disabled, you can at least control the rollout timing.

👉 Read more: https://support.atlassian.com/organization-administration/docs/what-are-release-tracks/

5. Turn on Jira Labs to test new features early

Jira Labs lets you preview experimental features before they go live:

• Go to Settings > General settings > Jira Labs

• Enable options like New navigation, New work transition experience, etc.

Note: Labs features are experimental and may change or be removed at any time.

6. Enable experimental features in JSM Feature Labs

If you use Jira Service Management (JSM), there’s a dedicated JSM Feature Labs for testing new experiences:

• Navigate to JSM project > Project settings > Features and scroll to the Feature Lab section

• Enable beta features like Journeys, Project summary, or experimental integrations

Benefits:

• Preview how changes impact your support workflows

• Prepare your team before wide-scale rollout

👉 Read more: https://support.atlassian.com/jira-service-management-cloud/docs/what-is-the-feature-lab/

7. Stay informed via Atlassian Community – What's New & Coming Soon

The Atlassian Community isn’t just for troubleshooting - it’s a key channel for product news and early announcements.

In the What’s New & Coming Soon section, you’ll find:

• Monthly feature roundups

• Announcements of major changes

• Early Access Program (EAP) invitations

You’ll also benefit from insights shared by global admins who’ve already tested or adopted these changes.

Check out Atlassian Community here: https://community.atlassian.com/

Tip: Follow relevant product groups or subscribe to the monthly newsletter.

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Plan ahead, not fall behind

Atlassian Cloud updates are mandatory, but staying ahead of them is completely in your control. When you know what’s coming, you can prepare guides, train users, and avoid surprises.

The best part? Atlassian already gives you everything you need to succeed. You just need to start using it.

👉 Start simple: check your release track, follow the roadmap, and test a new feature in sandbox today.

[Jens Schumacher - Released_so]

Another option is Cloud Updates for Atlassian site.

The site aggregates changes from the Atlassian Cloud Changes Blog and Admin panel and adds filtering, searching and export options. 

• Quickly spot what’s new this week
• Filter changes by product or status
• Export the full list to CSV or PDF
• Subscribe to updates via RSS

👉 https://cloud-updates.released.so

[Brita Moorus]

Great roundup of practical tips! I've definitely missed a few key updates in the past, so I'm trying to be more proactive about checking the Cloud roadmap and using the Release Tracks. Previewing features in sandbox has also saved me from a few surprises during team rollouts 😅

Thanks for putting this together, it's a solid checklist for any admin trying to stay ahead! 🚀

And thanks @Jens Schumacher - Released_so - didn't know about this one! Bookmarked ✅

[Rune Rasmussen]

This is not a great setup. It is entirely too fragmented and inconsistent.
What you explain is currently the best way to try and stay on top of updates, but I think it's good to have a critical discussion about the current state of things.

The email preferences shouldn't be opt-in for admins.
If you're Org admin you get notifications for everything related to your organization and its products.
If you're Product admin you get notifications about everything related to the product(s) you are admin for.
And so on for the other admin roles.
Being able to opt-out should still be possible.

The public cloud roadmap basically has no information apart from "The thing is coming" but it has no actual information about what the thing really is or links to more information.
It also doesn't cover everything that's coming.

The Product Updates page in the admin portal has a great level of information, but also doesn't contain everything, and it suffers the same opt-in/opt-out problem as email preferences where you have to go in and actively subscribe to each update item.

You also have to prowl the admin menus and hope you spot a banner about an upcoming change before it disappears.

You also have to sift through JAC (the public Jira board) and watch/follow bugs/feature requests for things relevant to your organization.
Some changes/updates are only announced in there.

And then there is the problem of uncertainty of timelines.
Atlassian is either unable or unwilling to inform admins of when a change will hit, or begin rolling out, to their specific site(s).
Either way is a pretty damning situation for Atlassian, and it does not inspire confidence.

We customers could benefit greatly from Atlassian having a single repository of all coming updates:
Then the public roadmap and the product updates page in the admin portal could be populated and filtered based on that.
Email notifications could be sent out based on that.
If it's not in the unified update repository it doesn't get rolled out.

[Dave Mathijs]

@Phong Nguyen - Atlassian Solutions Engineer Thanks for sharing

However, if you need a 'manual' just for covering all the different resource channels, then there is no single source of truth.

#fomo

[Phong Nguyen - Atlassian Solutions Engineer]

Thanks, everyone, for your valuable feedback and additional insights!

I really appreciate Jens's suggestion of "Cloud Updates for Atlassian site" – that's another great resource for the community. Brita, I'm glad you found the checklist solid and that previewing features in a sandbox works well for you

Rune and Dave, I hear your points about the fragmentation of information loud and clear. It's a valid concern, and I agree that a single, unified repository would be incredibly beneficial. My aim with this article was primarily to provide strategies for admins to get ahead of updates sooner than general users, enabling them to prepare and communicate internally. This is why some of these sources might seem fragmented, as they're tailored for early awareness rather than a singular "source of truth" for all users at all times.

It's clear that different target users have different needs when it comes to updating information. Your comments highlight the ongoing challenge and importance of clear communication from Atlassian. Thanks again for contributing to the conversation!