How to assign a user on a status transition only when there is no assignee

[Sascha]

Hi all, I've set up a workflow that assigns issues to the current user upon a transition. This works well for us, however on occasion we have issues where the user is already assigned and someone else does the transition for them, in this case I don't want the assignee to change. I can't seem to find a way to add a rule to the assignment step that checks whether the field is already set or not. Any ideas how I could achieve what I want?

[Arkadiusz Wroblewski · Accepted solution]

Hello @Sascha 

This is not something you can do directly with the native Assign to Current User Workflow post function, because it does not support an extra condition like “only when Assignee is empty”.

The usual workaround in Jira Cloud is to move this logic into Automation:

1. Trigger: Issue transitioned
2. Condition: Assignee is empty
3. Action: Set Assignee to the user who triggered the transition

That way, already assigned issues keep their assignee, and only unassigned issues get assigned during the transition.

One thing to watch: the acting user still needs permission to assign issues.

[Sascha]

I forgot that this could be an option! Why this functionality isn't available directly in the workflows, I will never understand... Thank you!

[Arkadiusz Wroblewski]

That´s why theres always multiple Possibilities :)

[Ugnius Aušra]

Hello @Sascha 

I quickly made some automation example:

So basically, when work item status changes, it triggers automation, and automation has a condition "IF ASSIGNEE IS EMPTY" only then i will assign agent.

[Sascha]

Hadn't thought about doing it that way, thanks!!