How to see due date changes in Jira

[#1]

Due date in Jira = deadline. “Due date” is a built-in issue field to specify the desired date for completing a task. It helps teams and individuals prioritize their work and ensure that projects are finished on time. Setting due dates in Jira is really simple, but tracking changes in this field is not that simple. However, monitoring deadlines across projects is essential to control project progress. Let’s check the possible solutions to see the history of due date changes in Jira.

What options are available to check Jira due date updates?

❌ Searches with JQL

JQL supports only six issue fields to search past changes; the due date isn’t among those fields. So, it’s not possible to make a query like duedate changed AFTER "2024-01-01":

You can read more about History searches with & without JQL [10 examples]

✔️ History of single issue

If you are interested in due date changes made to the specific task, it’s easy to spot who updated the due date and when. Open an issue and scroll down to the activity section → Select History. Here, you will find all changes made to any field, including due dates.

✔️ Jira Automation

You may configure automation rules to take action in response to changes in due dates. For instance, you can set up a rule to get notifications when someone updates the due date field. If you need some help with automation, check out Jira Automation rules for due dates [5 examples].

✔️ Jira add-ons 

Some third-party apps for Jira available in the Atlassian Marketplace offer improved monitoring and reporting features. Certain apps have features designed specifically to track changes in due dates. In the next section, you will find examples of reports available with Issue History for Jira, which has the most installations among issue history apps and enhanced security. More than 600 companies with about 50,000 users are currently enjoying all the benefits of the app.

How to get due date changes for multiple issues

If you need a diary for every past activity, you can get it with Issue History for Jira. The app is highly customizable, and you can configure the reports according to your needs. In particular, you can select fields where you want to see changes. In our case, it is the due date.

You can also set other filters, such as projects, dates, updaters, etc.

1. Filter issues by Project, Assignee, Sprint, Label, etc. + Updated by field
2. Select the appropriate date range.
3. Choose custom and standard fields to show on the grid using the ‘Columns’ menu.

You can select only the due date field to display in the table. Also, it can be convenient to leave a summary. 

There are different ways to overview the history of due date changes.

1. Sorted by date – you will see updates made to the selected list of issues in chronological order.  
2. Sorted by issue key – you will see updates made to the selected list of issues with changes grouped for each issue. 
3. Filtered by a specific field for a single issue. Here, you can see updates presented as streams for due dates only. 

👀 Which of the three options looks the best to you? If you don't know - it's time to check how it works.

Try to create your report of due date history: 

| For Cloud users | | For Data Center users |

Takeaway 

We need due dates. To set. To follow. To monitor. It’s a key to project timely completion and to business success. Tracking due dates facilitates the early detection of potential risks and problems. When a task is in danger of not being finished on schedule, it makes it possible to take preventive measures to lessen the impact on the project as a whole, like reallocating resources or modifying deadlines.

Do you know some other ways to track due date changes in Jira?