Watcher list

[Francesco Carullo MMS]

HI, I'm trying to understand how to set the way users are added to the watcher list. In this ticket there are 3 watchers and I cannot see any event that added them to the list. I'm also sure that nobody manually added them. I believe that comments add autoamtically users to the watcher list, but I'm not sure. I'd also like to understand if there are other events that may add users to the list. Where can I set this? Thanks, Francesco

[Walter Buggenhout · Accepted solution]

Hi @Francesco Carullo MMS,

Users can manually decide to watch a work item by adding themselves as a watcher to it. But apart from that, there is also an auto-watch feature in Jira that adds users automatically as watchers when they actively interact with a work item. This happens when they create or interact with it (e.g by adding a comment).

This support article describes how you can modify the auto-watch settings, either globally for your entire site or as an individual user from your user profile settings.

Hope this helps! 

[Francesco Carullo MMS]

Hi Walter, thanks foy your reply. I followed the instructions mentioned in the support article, but I just found how to disable autowatch "on own work items". It seems that in my case users are automatically added to autowatch list when they comment a ticket. Maybe a comment is a "work item"? 

[Christos Markoulatos -Relational- · Accepted solution]

Hi @Francesco Carullo MMS ,

Watchers in Jira Service Management can be added through several automatic mechanisms, which is likely why you're not seeing a clear audit trail for them.

The most common automatic triggers are: being the reporter or assignee of the issue (Jira adds these users as watchers by default based on your notification scheme settings), being mentioned in a comment, and yes, adding a comment does also add the commenter to the watcher list. Beyond that, project admins can configure notification schemes that auto-watch users when certain events occur, and automation rules can also add users to the watcher list as a post-action. To review and control this behavior, go to Project Settings, then Notifications, and check the notification scheme linked to that project. That scheme defines which events trigger watch/notification behavior. If you also have automation rules in place, it's worth checking under Project Settings and then Automation to see if any rules include an "Add watchers" action.

If after checking those settings you still can't trace how those three users ended up on the watcher list, the audit log in Atlassian Administration may have more detail, and raising a support ticket would be the best next step to get Atlassian eyes on the specific issue.

Hope this helps!

[Francesco Carullo MMS]

HI @Christos Markoulatos -Relational- , thanks for your reply. I noticed that all commenters also become watchers, but I haven't found any setting in the notification scheme that enables this behavoiur (see attached image). There isn't any automation either. Where else can I check? Thanks

[Christos Markoulatos -Relational-]

Unfortunately there is no one click way to exclude the commenters. Jira offers an option in Default user preferences under the User Interface section in the left menu. The "Autowatch own work items" setting there controls whether each user is automatically added as a watcher on issues they interact with. However, this is a per-user default, meaning it only prevents a user from auto-watching if they have it disabled, and it applies to all their interactions equally, not just commenting.

The most practical option is to make an automation workaround: disable autowatch globally in Default user preferences, then set up an automation rule to re-add the reporter and assignee as watchers on issue creation. It is a bit of a setup, but it gives you the result you are after.

Also i dont think there is a 3rd party app that helps with this but am not 100% sure.

Hope this helps!

[Francesco Carullo MMS]

I did not mean to exclude the commenters, just wanted to check all the possible the triggers to autowatch. It's clear that in my case all the users in the autowatch list have commented the ticket and that's enough.

Thanks for your help