Hello Atlassian community,
Jira can turn emails sent to your incoming mail servers into work items and comments. When a mail server stops fetching email though, the cause isn't always clear - an expired token, a changed password, and an unreachable server can all look the same, and the work items just stop appearing.
You asked us to make this easier to diagnose (see JRACLOUD-73011), and today we're introducing connectivity logs. Now you can clearly see for yourself whether Jira is reaching your mail server and when it isn't, why.
What's new
Each custom incoming mail server now has its own connectivity log in the new Audit logs section, which records every time Jira tries to connect and pull email. (The default mail server doesn't have this.) It works for every incoming mail server type: Microsoft and Google, and IMAP/POP with a username and password.
Identical results are grouped into a single entry. A mail server that fails the same way 100 times in a row shows one entry with a retry count, not 100 rows, so any change in status stands out.
Each entry tells you:
- Status: SUCCESS or FAILURE
- Details: what went wrong (authentication failed, invalid password, connection failure) and the error the mail server sent back
- Retries: how many times in a row the same thing happened
- Created / Updated: when it first happened, and when it last happened
How to find it
- In Jira, select the cog icon > System > Incoming Mail.
- Scroll to the new Audit logs section.
- Find your mail server and select View logs.
- Select Refresh to load the latest entries.
What you can fix with it
Some common examples:
- Authentication failed (Microsoft or Google server): the OAuth access expired or was revoked. Edit the mail server and select Re-authorize.
- Invalid password (IMAP/POP server): the mailbox password changed. Update it on the mail server.
- Connection failure: check the host, port, protocol and whether your mail provider is blocking the connection.
Who can see it
Only Jira admins: people who manage incoming mail servers.
Who gets it, and when
- Every Jira Cloud site with a custom incoming mail server configured.
- We're rolling this out gradually. If you don't see the Audit logs section yet, it hasn't reached your site.
- Jira Service Management mail channels aren't affected. JSM projects keep their existing mail audit log.
FAQ
Do I need to turn it on? | No. Logging starts automatically when the feature reaches your site. |
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Will I see history from before the rollout? | No. Entries start the day it reaches your site. |
Does it slow down email fetching? | No. Logging never blocks or fails a fetch. |
Are passwords shown in the log? | No. Mail server passwords are masked in error details. |
How long are entries kept? | 45 days – or until you delete the mail server. |
Coming soon: processing logs
Connectivity logs tell you whether Jira can reach your mail server. Next, we're adding processing logs, which show what Jira did with each email it picked up: whether it created a work item, added a comment, or rejected it (and why). Watch this post for updates.
Questions?
Drop a comment here or contact support. We'd love to hear what else would help you troubleshoot incoming mail.
Bhawna Rajput
Software Engineer, Jira
