How to see custom field history in Jira

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Priority levels, customer impact, approval status, release version – you might have different fields that adjust your Jira environment to your specific business needs. In addition to the system fields, custom fields can provide more clarity to your workflow. What’s even more insightful, is how those fields change over time. Tracking the change history of custom fields in Jira can significantly boost your team's efficiency. This post will cover how to track custom field history in Jira, a few examples, and the insights they provide.

What is a Custom Field in Jira?

Jira comes with a set of fields that are essential and configured by default. Those system fields cover the basic needs for issue tracking and project management. The precise count of these elements may differ significantly depending on the Jira version and configuration, but generally speaking, there are between 20 and 30 standard fields. 

Examples of the commonly used system fields include Summary, Description, Issue Type, Priority, Status, Resolution, Reporter, Assignee, Labels, Components, Fix Version, Affects Version, Environment, Due Date, Time Tracking, Attachments, Comments, etc.

🗨️ Custom fields in Jira are specialized fields that users can create to capture additional information not covered by the standard fields provided by Jira. 

Because of the great degree of customization offered by these fields, teams can modify Jira projects to better suit their own specific needs. Custom fields offer flexibility in the way data is gathered and presented. They can be text fields, date pickers, dropdown menus, and more.

A few random examples of custom fields and insights.

Custom field	Insights it provides
Pending Reason	Why are certain tasks or issues on hold? This field can capture the specific reasons behind the delay, such as waiting for client feedback, dependency on another task, resource unavailability, or awaiting approval.
Customer Rate	How satisfied is the customer with the resolution of their issue? For example, after an issue is resolved, a customer might rate their satisfaction from 1 to 5, helping teams understand the quality of their solutions.
Release Version	Which issues or tasks are associated with specific releases? Analyzing this data helps us understand the progress of release cycles and more accurately plan future releases.
Approval Status	What stages does it take for some requests to be approved? It can be under Initiated, Under Review, Approved, Rejected, etc.

What field do you need? It really can be anything, depending on your team and business requirements.

How to create a custom field in Jira

Is it possible to search or track Jira custom field changes?

❌ Searching. Jira Query Language allows you to look for different information related to fields. However, if we are speaking about past changes, you will face some limitations because JQL supports only six system fields which include status, assignee, fixed version, priority, reporter, and resolution. So, something like “custom field CHANGED AFTER  "2024-01-01" will not work.

For tracking, there are a few options you may try.

✅ History for a single issue. It’s a free built-in option you will find when opening any task. It offers a thorough changelog of every action taken at the issue level for both standard and custom fields. Thus, you can determine who made changes and when. Example with Pending Reason custom field:

✅ Jira Activity Stream gadget. This option is on the Jira dashboard and provides a stream of activity from across all the projects and issues, including changes to the custom fields. Here, you can see who updated the custom field and when, but no info on what was updated exactly.

✅ Jira automation. Automation rules can be set up to react to modifications in custom fields. As an example, you can configure a rule to receive alerts whenever the custom field is updated. Check out this thread for more details.

✅ Issue History for Jira app. It’s the most popular add-on to track changes for Jira issues with the most number of installations. The app provides different customizable reports which include a history of changes for one issue, multiple issues, specific field history, and a gadget with all issue updates (free trial).

History of changes for specific custom field

With Issue History for Jira, you can get a very detailed report of changes for all fields in one view or filter results by the specific field/fields you are interested in.

For example, if we take the Activity Stream gadget or history for a single issue, you’ll have to scroll until you find the field you are looking for. Issue History for Jira provides a filter to select particular fields.

How to select a field:

Try to create your report for custom fields

This report can be presented under the Activity section for one issue, with a table view for multiple tasks, and with a gadget on the Jira dashboard. 

Takeaway

Custom fields provide valuable insights into workflows, helping teams customize their processes. While JQL has limitations in tracking past changes for custom fields, there are several effective options for monitoring these fields. Utilizing built-in history features, the Jira Activity Stream gadget, automation rules, and third-party apps like Issue History for Jira can help teams stay informed about changes and maintain a clear understanding of project dynamics. 

What custom fields do you have in your projects?