Can I create separate triggers for Field value changes - new value vs edit existing value?

[Sia _Nastassia_ Sharasheuskaya]

I currently have an automation setup for editing the "finalised Due Date" field that posts to relevant team slack channels. 

What I'm trying to do is have separate messages for when the date is added for the first time to a blank field vs when the date is updates and changed from a previous value.

Here is my setup:

[Bill Sheboy · Accepted solution]

Hi @Sia _Nastassia_ Sharasheuskaya 

Although changes to issue fields are usually recorded in the history, there is no easy way to access the prior values beyond what most recently changed.

An automation rule can use the changelog smart value to detect the current edit that triggered the rule, such as when a field changes to / from values, including empty values: https://support.atlassian.com/cloud-automation/docs/jira-smart-values-issues/#--changelog--

That would help detect the blank --> non-blank value, or the opposite case.  To properly detect the first time this happens, you would need another field to detect the condition to track it.

Theoretically, if an issue has not changed too many times, the history could be checked using a REST API endpoint and the Send Web Request action to find older, prior values.  This may not help with many issue edits as paging through the history would be required.

Kind regards,
Bill

[Sia _Nastassia_ Sharasheuskaya]

Thanks! I tied the edit to a status transition based on your suggestion, it now works!