Automation - timezone issues in jql search for related issues with created datetime

Michael Altmann

Hi, im trying to create a automation rule, that when an issue in my project is transitioned to a specific status, it automatically transitions related issues (some custom field values must match) that are older than the trigger issue using the "created" jira field. To be able to compare the timestamps i convert the created timestamp value of the triggerIssue to jqlDateTime:

On most issues this worked, but i have two issues that were created on the same day shortly after another. (difference of 1 hour and 6 minutes), this was still CEST/UTC+2:

Issue 1:

Issue 2:

When the rule executed from transitioning issue 2 it logged the created timestamp in timezone UTC+0 and did not find issue 1:

According to this documentation it says that the created field in jql searches will be relative to "your" configured timezone, but as the jql search is triggered by the automation what timezone is it in? The data center timezone our instance is running in?

https://support.atlassian.com/jira-software-cloud/docs/jql-fields/#Created

Gabriela - LeanZero

Hi Michael,

It isn't the data center timezone, because the date literal in the JQL is read in the rule actor's timezone. I tested this on my test site, where the Automation for Jira actor matched the site's Default user time zone. Your log shows the other half of it, because {{triggerIssue.created.jqlDateTime}} is rendered in UTC, so it gave "2026-10-08 14:57". When the search reads that as CEST, the cutoff becomes 12:57 UTC, and issue 1 was created at 13:51 UTC, so it's left out. That matches your log exactly.

You can wrap the value with convertToTimeZone before the format, inside the JQL quotes:

created < "{{triggerIssue.created.convertToTimeZone("Europe/Berlin").jqlDateTime}}"

Changing the site's Default user time zone won't help here. Your log shows the search already reads the date as CEST, and the mismatch comes from the UTC value going in. I ran my test with a JQL condition and not a For: JQL branch, and the actor docs don't say which timezone their JQL uses. Could you check who the actor on this rule is? If it's a person, use their profile time zone in convertToTimeZone instead.