How to configure Activity Stream Gadget for Jira [instruction + bonus]

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How often do you need to check user activity in Jira? This info might help you to see how your team is progressing with their daily tasks. For example, you need to know: how many tickets from clients were created/resolved today, who created them, who changed the description, or who added comments. That’s exactly what Jira Activity Stream Gadget does. Let’s find out how to use it.

What is Activity Streams Gadget?

Activity Stream Gadget is a visualization of team activity in chronological order. With the most recent event at the top, the gadget lists past events one by one. You will learn which issue was updated, when, and by whom. It allows you to monitor the activity of a specific user or team in general.

Configuration of Jira Activity Stream Gadget

Let’s look at the configuration. You will find the gadget on the Jira dashboard. 

Go for Dashboards > Open/Create dashboard > Edit > Add Activity Stream gadget (the first one in the list).

After you add the gadget to your dashboard, go for configuration: Press three-dot ellipses in the upper right corner > Configure > Add a filter.

You can select a project, user, date, issue, issue type, and activity and get results based on it. Here is a table with all the filter options you have: 

Filter	Operators	Options
Account ID	is	All users from your project: Type a user name or ID and select it from the list
	is not
Project	is	Start typing and select the project
	Is not
Jira Issue Key	is	Enter the issue key
	is not
Update Date	is	Single date
	is before	The period before the date you select
	is after	The period after the date you select
	is between	The period between two days
Activity	is	Attachment added, Comment added, Issue closed, Issue created, Issue edited, Issue opened, Issue progress started, Issue progress stopped, Issue reopened, Issue resolved, Issue transitioned
	is not
Issue Type	is	All issue types you have in the project, select the one you need
	is not

Example: Get all comments added by a specific user in the Marketing project.

After you select the filters you need, just press “Save” on the gadget and “Done” on the dashboard. The result will look like this:

Add any filters you need from the available or check all activities without filtering.

Limitations:

• Limited amount of events you can filter in the activity section
• No ability to export/download the report
• No ability to change the structure and adjust it to your needs

How to get more flexible reports for user activity in Jira

If you find Activity Stream Gadget helpful in auditing the change history, you might gain even more insights into team activity with Issue History to Jira. It records all past events in a customizable table view. You can play with the data and build the report you need.

The main options:

• Flexible table view: add/remove any standard or custom issue fields, sort/rearrange the columns
• Bunch of filters (project, assignee, JQL, etc) + ability to get changes “By Updater”
• Advanced date picker (presets or custom selection)
• Export user activity report to CSV/Excel
• Save&restore deleted issues + revert changes made to the description

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Here are the main differences between Jira Activity Stram Gadget and Issue History for Jira app.

Final thoughts

Activity Stream Gadget is a convenient way to check how your team progresses daily or during some given period. It displays all events chronologically from the newest and has additional filters to get updates made by specific users, activities, dates, etc. In addition, you can try Issue History for Jira and monitor user activity from different perspectives. It can be really useful to try both solutions and get the most complete observation of all team actions. 

Related publications:

Which users have worked on Jira issues within a project?

How to see the last changes made by agents to Jira tickets