How to export issue history from Jira?

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Time for monthly/annual reports? Issue history is a way to review your team members’ activity. If you need to export issue history for further analysis or audit requirements, there are a few solutions you can use. 

The issue in Jira lives its own life since the time it is created. It can be passed from one project to another through different assignees. Every person can change the summary, description, status, labels, or other. All those modifications are saved in the history of the issue. You can find it in the Activity section of every task.

Monitoring of the activity or history records helps to find out:

• What changes have been made
• When modifications occurred
• Who is responsible for updating the issue

Extract issue history using REST API

Jira doesn’t provide history export out-of-the-box, so using REST API is a good option if you don’t mind some programming. Besides, you can use tooltips from the ones who succeed.

Here is an example of how it looks:

jira = JIRA(options, basic_auth=(USERNAME, PASSWORD))

issue = jira.issue('FOO-100', expand='changelog')

changelog = issue.changelog

for history in changelog.histories:

    for item in history.items:

        if item.field == 'status':

            print 'Date:' + history.created + ' From:' + item.fromString + ' To:' + item.toString

You can find more details here.

There is also a great article with a Python example for server users – Extracting complete issue history via API.

The pitfall of this method is that you can extract history only for one issue at a time, not the list of issues.

Export issue history for different hosting types 

Let’s look at what plugins you can use to export the history of issues for Server, Cloud, or Data Center versions.

• Cloud, Data Center

With Issue History by SaaSJet, you can monitor every change made to the selected list of issues. You’ll get one-stop access to all vital data and clear reports to audit your teamwork. Issue history export is available as XLSX or CSV files.

Besides, the plugin allows you to keep deleted issues and every record will be saved after activating the option. 

The app is Cloud Fortified, so it supplies you with additional security and support.

• Data Center, Server

Electronic Signature for Jira by Inlabs helps to comply with CFR Part 11. The add-on requires user authentication so that no one can make changes to the workflow without an electronic signature.

Here, you can export the activity history, which will be automatically attached to issues into PDF format. Also, it tracks and extracts the access attempts. 

• Server

IssuePlus for Jira by Narwhals Consulting allows exporting issue history from one or many issues into CSV or PDF.

If you’re looking for a way to export issue history, consider the ones described in the article. Which method would you like to try?