Is there a way tell the search in Jira cloud to include text in the comment field in its lookup?

[BeeFC]

The search near the top right corner of Jira Software cloud does not search for text in the comment and work log sections of issue.

For example:
In the Work log section I indicate a ship track number of a package. When I search for this ship track number in the search field, it does not return any result.

[Mykenna Cepek]

I was able to validate your use case:

• Log time to an issue and include a unique sequence of digits (e.g. 2468013579) in the Worklog Entry Comment.
• Wait a bit (for reindexing to complete) and use Global Search in Jira for that unique sequence of digits.
• Search returns an error, or no results.

Digging into the docs, I was able to find two reasons why this doesn't work:

• Even when searching with JQL, only some fields are considered searchable. While this isn't a smoking gun related to Global Search, it does strongly suggest that some fields aren't supported. Notably, any fields related to Worklog Entries are not listed.
• Even when using the "contains operator" with a JQL search on the WorklogComment field, it still doesn't work. I note that this operator is not listed as supporting that field.

The JQL that I used for the latter bullet point above...

worklogComment ~ "2468013579"

...results in "No issues found", despite a Worklog Entry containing that value.

My conclusion is that Worklog Entry Comment text is not searchable in Jira Cloud.

Two workarounds for you to go with instead:

• Create a custom field for "Tracking Number" or "Shipping Number" and use that. Custom fields (I believe) are always searchable.
• Put your package ship track numbers into the Description field, or into a Comment instead. Those fields are very searchable.

Hope that helps!

[Jack Brickey]

Did you try advanced search …

text ~ “my text”

or

comment ~ “my text”