Jira Data Center: How to Track Comment Changes

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The ability to track comment changes in Jira Data Center is an important feature that allows for increasing project efficiency and team productivity. Monitoring such changes becomes more crucial when the team expands, and the complexity of issues increases.

Imagine a situation where a comment thread expands over time. Some comments can be updated, and some can be deleted. In the case of many employees working on some issues, it is an ordinary situation. This can lead to confusion and even delays related to task completion. As a result, it can be difficult to understand what caused the problem.

In this article, we’ll explore how it is possible to track comment changes in the Jira Data Center to prevent unpleasant work situations.

Jira Data Center's Built-in Comment Tracking Challenges

The built-in tracking feature in Jira Data Center enables limited visibility of comment modifications. Jira tracks when users add or modify comments but fails to deliver a comprehensive history of changes.

Jira Data Center users can see when a comment was added and who created it. However, they cannot see the specific changes, and there is no way to compare multiple versions of a comment.

The comment tracking feature of Jira Data Center becomes accessible when you visit an issue page and view the Activity section. The section includes two tabs that display information about comment modifications - Comments and History.

Comments Tab

All comments to the issue will be displayed in the Comments tab. Each comment displays:

• The author’s name.
• The time when the comment was added and last edited.
• If the comment was changed, an “edited” label.

But you won’t see what was changed, just that a comment was edited. Here, Jira does not store nor show the previous versions of the comment content.

History Tab

Users can find detailed records of issue field modifications in the History tab. When it comes to comments:

• The tab contains only basic information about comment additions and deletions.
• The tab shows who made the change and when it occurred.
• Users cannot see the content of comments nor view edit history through this feature.

History tab doesn’t allow users to compare the existing version of a comment with the previous one. It makes the process of tracking comment changes in Jira Data Center very difficult.

Usage of Issue History for Jira App for Tracking Comment Changes

Jira Data Center users can improve their change tracking capabilities by using the Issue History for Jira app. It provides a user-friendly interface that shows all the updates made to the issues.

If we talk about tracking comment changes, this app provides the functionality that enables users to fill the gap left by Jira Data Center's native features.

Issue History shows all comment edits and deletions. You can easily monitor who changed what and when the change was made. Moreover, you can see what the original and updated text of the comment looked like.

Now, let’s explore how to use Issue History for Jira to monitor all the changes made to comments easily. The tracking of comment changes via Issue History for Jira is available for users who installed the app and activated this feature.

Issue History Panel View

Users can monitor comment changes within the Issue History for Jira app through the Panel View directly from any Jira issue.

Here's how it works:

• Open the needed issue.
• Navigate to the Issue History tab located under the Activity section.
• The panel displays changes related to that issue in chronological order.

• You can use the Field filter and choose only changes to comments to be displayed.

With the help of Issue History Panel view, you can do the following:

• Monitor when a comment is added, edited, and deleted. It is logged as a separate entry.
• You can see who exactly made the changes and when.
• It is possible to see the original text of the comment and its updated version. You can easily understand what was changed.

• You can monitor what comments were deleted, when the action happened, and who was responsible.

Issue History Main Table View

Main Table view of Issue History for Jira app provides a dashboard that shows an overview of all issue activities across multiple projects. It provides functionality that is ideal for team leads, project managers, and administrators who need to review multiple issues simultaneously.

Here's how to use it:

• Open the Issue History app in Jira Data Center.
• You can view a list of all tracked changes across issues.
• It is possible to filter the results by project, user, date range, etc.
• To track comment changes, choose Comment in the Column section.

• You will see the detailed information related to all changes made to comments.

The main advantages of tracking comments using Main Table view of Issue History for Jira:

• You can export data in Excel or CSV formats for reporting needs as well as compliance requirements.
• A single interface lets you view every comment update made across multiple issues and users in different time periods.

Try Issue History for Jira app now 🚀

Summing Up

The ability to monitor comment changes in Jira Data Center serves two vital purposes: it enhances collaborative work and prevents misunderstandings in complicated projects. Jira's built-in features deliver basic visibility, but the Issue History for Jira app provides a complete solution for tracking all the issue changes, including those related to comments.