Hey Jira Community 👋
Earlier this year, I wrote about a common Jira problem:
once a work item collects a long comment history, finding the right decision, reply, or mention becomes difficult.
Comments Pulse originally focused on that problem—making comments inside one work item easier to read, filter, search, and reply to.
But there is another situation I often run into:
I remember that a discussion happened in Jira, but I cannot remember which work item contains it.
I might remember who wrote the comment, that someone was mentioned, or a phrase such as “API timeout.” The only option is usually to open likely work items one by one and search through their comments.
That works for a few work items. It becomes much less practical when the discussion is spread across a space.
That is why we added a new Global Comments page to Comments Pulse app.
Search by person across work items
Global Comments starts with a person. You can search using either:
- Author — find comments written by a particular Jira user.
- Mentioned — find comments in which a particular user was mentioned.
From there, you can use a date range and keyword to narrow the results.
For example, I can use it to answer questions such as:
- What did a reviewer say across recent work items?
- Where was I mentioned during the last 30 days?
- Which comments from a particular author included an error message I remember?
- What feedback did QA leave before a release decision?
On the initial load, the page shows comments written by the current user during the last 30 days. You can then select another author, switch to a mentioned-user search, or add more filters.
Narrow the results by date and keyword
The page includes the following date options:
- This week
- Last week
- This month
- Last month
- Last 30 days
- Last 90 days
- Custom date range
The date boundaries use the Jira user’s timezone.
After selecting an Author or Mentioned user, keyword search can match:
- Comment text
- Comment author
- Space key
- Work-item key
- Work-item summary
- Work-item status
This is useful when I remember part of the discussion but not enough to locate the work item directly. For example, I may remember an error message or part of a summary, but not the exact work-item key.
The filters work together, so I can start with a person and then reduce the results using a date range, a second person, or a keyword.
Continue from the search result
Each result includes the surrounding work-item information, including its key, summary, and status.
After finding a comment, I can:
- Open the original comment in Jira.
- Reply directly from the Global Comments page.
- See whether it is an internal note or has restricted visibility.
- Review the work-item context before replying.
For Jira Service Management and Customer Service Management work items, the reply editor also keeps the distinction between an Internal note and a Reply to Customer.
Global Comments follows the user’s existing Jira permissions. It does not give someone access to comments or work items they cannot already view in Jira.
Where I think Global Comments can help
I expect the new page to be especially useful for a few common workflows:
- Release reviews: Find approvals, blockers, and follow-up questions across related work items.
- Support follow-up: Review comments from a particular agent or find discussions where someone was mentioned.
- QA reviews: Find feedback left by a tester without opening every bug individually.
- Personal catch-up: Review where teammates mentioned you while you were away.
- Decision discovery: Find comments containing phrases such as “approved,” “deferred,” or “ready to ship.”
In each case, you remember something about the discussion—the person, the date, or a keyword—but not necessarily the work item.
Try Global Comments in Comments Pulse
Global Comments is available in the Advanced edition of Comments Pulse. The refreshed comment UI also improves the experience inside individual Jira work items.
👉 Comments Pulse for Jira on Atlassian Marketplace
When you need to find an old Jira discussion, what do you usually remember first: the person, the work item, the date, or a keyword?
I’d be interested to hear how other teams handle this today. Your feedback will help us decide what to improve next. 🙌
