Collaborate on work items in Jira

5 min
Beginner

By the end of this lesson, you'll be able to:

  • Add comments to work items and mention team members
  • Share work items with team members
  • Watch work items to stay up to date

Add comments to work items

Comments are the best way to ask questions and share updates. In comments, you can:
  • Mention teammates by @-ing them to bring attention to important info
  • Add a work item key to provide a link to another work item
  • Add images to share more information
You can also get a link to a specific comment to share elsewhere, sort comments in ascending or descending order, and add reactions to comments with emojis like 👍 or 🔥.
👇 Here's how you can use comments to communicate in Jira.

Depending on your project’s configuration, you may not be able to add, edit, or delete comments. Other users may not be able to comment on your work items. Check with your project admin to see how you should use comments.

Share work items

If you need to bring attention to a work item outside of Jira, you can share it. This sends an email with a link to the work item to the one or more email addresses you enter. You can also add a message.
👇 To share a work item, open it and click the share icon in the upper-right corner.
The issue detail screen in Jira. The share button is highlighted in the top right corner of the issue. Below is a pop-up that has options to share the issue with names or teams, or share in slack.
If you just want to get a link to a work item, you can click Copy link in the share menu. This copies a direct link to the work item that you can paste elsewhere.
👇 Click Copy link in the share menu to get a direct link.
The issue detail view in Jira. The Share button has been selected, and the Share issue pop-up is visible, and the Copy link button is highlighted.

Jira sends automatic notifications about activity to users who have engaged with an work item. If you share a work item, whoever you send it to receives an additional notification.

Watch work items

You can watch work items by clicking the eye icon. This notifies you about all activity on that work item.
👇 You can watch an individual work item by clicking the eye icon.
The issue detail view in Jira. The eyeball icon in the top right corner of the issue is higlighted. Below the icon is a pop-up with a Start watching option. It also shows who else is watching the issue.
Why is this helpful? It helps you keep track of your work, always. In Jira, you'll often contribute to work items where someone else is the assignee. You still need to know about updates and changes to the work item.
By watching work items, you'll automatically stay in the loop with email notifications and notifications in Jira.

If the emails get overwhelming, remember you can always un-watch a work item to stop receiving the messages. To stop watching a work item, open it, click the eye icon, and select Stop watching.

How was this lesson?