Watch all issues in a certain Project

[Liann Gal]

This question is in reference to Atlassian Documentation: Watching and Voting on an Issue

Hi All,

I wanted to know if it is possible to automatically watch all issues in a project, without mark each one of them individually?

Thanks,
Liann 

[Joe Pitt]

I handle this by creating a role called Watching and adding it to the notification scheme everywhere Watcher is. Then the project lead can assign people to it.

[Liann Gal]

Hi Joe,

Thank you for the quick response. So just to make sure I understood you correctly, you weren't actually able to watch all issues, but you created a patch that enables to receive e-mail notification for anything going on in the project?

[Steven F Behnke]

Joe is saying you can modify the Roles and Notifications scheme to add your own "Watching" project role. Adding a user to the new, custom "Watching" role would allow you to easily add new users who need notifications. 

[Joe Pitt]

I wouldn't call it a patch since it doesn't involve updating any code.  It is a method to allow the project lead to assign people to a role that gets all the same updates as watchers for all issues. You need to use this carefully as it can bury them in email if the project is busy. Also, I setup the role in the permission scheme for just browse permission. I ended up changing the notifications to milestone events like create, ready for test, passed testing, and closed. No comments. That also requires creating events for the milestones you're interested in and updating the post functions in the transitions to fire those events.

[Liann Gal]

Thank you all! 

[sneaky4oe]

Is there a certain instruction on how to do it step by step? How do I add a role (looks like there are only 3 predefined ones), and how do I add the role to watch all issues?

[Joe Pitt]

First, you need to be a JIRA admin.

1. Add a new project role. Project roles are universal so they will be available in all projects. I would call the roles something like 'watch all' so it isn't confused with users manually watching issues. 

2. go to the notification scheme and add the role 'watch all' to the notification you want

3. the project leads can now add users to the 'watch all' role

copy/paste the following link for more information about project roles

https://confluence.atlassian.com/adminjiracloud/managing-project-roles-776636382.html 

[Andrey Lytovchenko]

Hello!

Is it possible to "Watch all" issues in the next-gen projects?

[Aaron S]

@Liann Gal ,

I believe there is an easier (more straight-forward) way of doing this and I just did it myself through bulk change. If you go to advanced search and have your JQL query return all of the items you want to watch, you can just click the three dots in the top-right corner and select "Bulk Change All ## Issues." From there you just select all -> click next -> select the "Watch Issues" selection and hit confirm. 

[Martin Delabat]

Thanks Aaron - you nailed this, nice & simple!

[Sai Krishna Nimmagadda]

Isn't it, this way only watches tickets already assigned to project, but any new tickets in coming are not watched ?

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

Correct - watching is something you should be doing on an issue by issue basis.

If you want to be notified about all change in a project, then you should be placed in a group or role that gets notified automatically.  That's not what watching is for.

[GabrielleJ]

Joe's suggestion is simplest and straightforward way to do it.

Alternatively, you can create a "Post-Function" in the "create" even of your project's workflow to add Watchers.

[Jaime Drysdale]

No you cannot. There is no Post Function that will add a watcher.

[Jaime Drysdale]

No you cannot. There is no Post Function that will add a watcher.

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

You can with apps that provide one (or scripting functions)

[Jaime Drysdale]

It would make it way easier if I could setup a Post Function in the workflow transition.

I love Jira Software... but it continually perplexes me; the things that you cannot do without jumping through hoops or paying for plugins.

[Corey_Tabb]

wouldn't be Jira if you didn't jump for hoops and pay out the nose for functions that should be available