Is there a way tell the search in Jira cloud to include text in the comment field in its lookup?

Question

The search near the top right corner of Jira Software cloud does not search for text in the comment and work log sections of issue.

For example:
In the Work log section I indicate a ship track number of a package. When I search for this ship track number in the search field, it does not return any result.

Mykenna Cepek · Answer

I was able to validate your use case:

* Log time to an issue and include a unique sequence of digits (e.g. 2468013579) in the Worklog Entry Comment.
* Wait a bit (for reindexing to complete) and use Global Search in Jira for that unique sequence of digits.
* Search returns an error, or no results.

Digging into the docs, I was able to find two reasons why this doesn't work:

* Even when searching with JQL, only some fields are considered searchable. While this isn't a smoking gun related to Global Search, it does strongly suggest that some fields aren't supported. Notably, any fields related to Worklog Entries are not listed.
* Even when using the "contains operator" with a JQL search on the WorklogComment field, it still doesn't work. I note that this operator is not listed as supporting that field.

The JQL that I used for the latter bullet point above...

worklogComment ~ "2468013579"

...results in "No issues found", despite a Worklog Entry containing that value.

My conclusion is that Worklog Entry Comment text is not searchable in Jira Cloud.

Two workarounds for you to go with instead:

* Create a custom field for "Tracking Number" or "Shipping Number" and use that. Custom fields (I believe) are always searchable.
* Put your package ship track numbers into the Description field, or into a Comment instead. Those fields are very searchable.

Hope that helps!

Jack Brickey · Answer

Did you try advanced search …

text ~ “my text”

or

comment ~ “my text”