Automation to archive ideas when having a specific status

[Dominik]

I have a simple automation that archives ideas every working day at 11:30 PM if the idea has a specific status.

status IN ("Migrated to DEV", "Offer Denied", "Won't Do") and "Idea archived[Dropdown]" is EMPTY

The automation worked fine until an Atlassian release. (I guess)

I can change to:

status IN ("Migrated to DEV", "Offer Denied", "Won't Do") AND "Idea archived" is EMPTY

and the validation does work, but the same error appears in the audit log.

So the Audit log shows:

I find the "Idea archived" field in the custom field section, but I have no clue how to find the correct name to add it to my JQL.

It could be a problem with the fields:

Any solutions?
Thanks!

[Jeremiah Rappley · Accepted solution]

Hi Dominik,

My team faced the same issue lately. After working with Atlassian Support, we discovered that this is due to a backend change they're making to migrate the Idea archived field to a single global field, rather than separate project-specific fields. Right now, however, there's both a global field and project fields, so the error you're receiving indicates that automation is unable to determine which one to use. 

According to support:

Our team will soon migrate all project-scoped fields to global fields to allow consistent use of automation rules across all projects without needing to identify specific field IDs. However, we don't have an exact timeline on when it will be rolled out to all our users.

In the meantime, your automation rule will need to be updated to reference the project-level field ID specifically. You can verify the global and project field IDs by following these steps:

1. Navigate to https://<Your_SITE>.atlassian.net/rest/api/3/issue/createmeta?projectKeys=<ProjectKEY>&expand=projects.issuetypes.fields
   1. Two "Idea Archived" field IDs will be displayed.
2. Identify the system field ID by navigating to https://<Your_SITE>.atlassian.net/secure/admin/ViewCustomFields.jspa?customFieldStatus=Active&page=1&searchFilter=idea%20archived
   1. Click on "More (three-dot icon)" > "View field information." The URL will show the Field ID.
3. With the system field ID, you can identify the project field ID, which is the one you should use for automation in your JPD project.

Let me know if you'd like more clarification!

Jeremiah

[Dominik]

Thanks @Jeremiah Rappley 
I was successful with 1 and 2 - but for 3, I don't know where to include this information in my automation.

I found the two Custom Fields (customfield_xxxx1 and customfield_xxxx2)

The automation was working, but the issues are still not in the archive.
I tried with both custom fields using it in the "Then" Advanced Section in the Automation as

{
"fields": {
"customfield_xxxx1": {
"value": "Yes"
}
}
}

[Bill Sheboy]

Hi @Dominik 

I just tried to archive an Idea with a rule and it worked for me, as you tried with JSON.

When using a JSON expression to update a field, please note:

Ensure the field is not selected from the dropdown list AND in the JSON expression, as only one may be used at a time for a single Edit Work Item action.

Kind regards,
Bill

[Dominik]

Thanks @Bill Sheboy 

In the trigger my JSON is:

project = IDEA AND status IN ("Migrated to DEV", "Offer Denied", "Won't Do") AND "Idea archived" is EMPTY

And my Then section is

The JSON finds the right issues and the automation has no error. But the issues are not in the archive.

Any idea what's wrong? 

[Bill Sheboy]

Just to align on terminology...

• Jira Query Language (JQL) is what you are using in the Scheduled trigger, and
• JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) is what you are using in the advanced edit for the Edit Work Item action.

Back to your question, let's confirm you are changing the correct field with that ID, using this how-to article: 

• identify an example Idea which has your field AND is currently archived
• note the key for that Idea
• using another browser tab, lookup the supported smart values / custom field IDs for the issue

yourJiraURL/rest/api/3/issue/yourIdeaKey?expand=names

• search on the results for "Idea archived", such as with Control-F, and you will find two fields
• try using the one with the smallest custom field ID number, as that is the original one added for JPD

[Dominik]

@Bill Sheboy Thanks a lot.

Right now, my JQL does not find any tickets, because the automation (JSON) sets the "Idea archived" to yes.

BUT - in the UI, the ticket is not in the Archived View.

I compared an archived ticket and a ticket that is not archived after it went through automation. I extracted the code sections regarding the Idea archived field.

Archived Ticket

"customfield_10112": "Idea archived",

"customfield_10086": "Idea archived",

"customfield_10112": {

"self": "https://customerURL/rest/api/3/customFieldOption/10243",

"value": "Yes",

"id": "10243"

}

"customfield_10086": {

"self": "https://customerURL/rest/api/3/customFieldOption/10126",

"value": "Yes",

"id": "10126"

}

NOT Archived

"customfield_10112": "Idea archived",

"customfield_10086": "Idea archived",

"customfield_10086": null,

---

This brings me to the conclusion that my JSON is not doing what it should.
Maybe I have to wait for the Atlassian guys, but I'd like to try further.

So what could be the solution looking at my THEN section

[Sedat Sert]

Hi @Dominik apologies for the inconvenience. From your previous messages, it seems that your setup is correct, but you're using the global field for archiving.  

We published an article on this topic yesterday, which you can follow to ensure everything is set up correctly: https://community.atlassian.com/forums/Jira-Product-Discovery-articles/Notice-Automation-Jira-Filters-and-workflows-on-archiving-fields/ba-p/3008866

Paying particular attention to step 13 might be helpful for you.

In summary:

Even though the ideas have a "Yes" value in the global Idea archived field, they don't appear as "archived" right now. This is because the archival state is currently managed by the project-level fields (for you, customfield_10086). As we move forward with our migration, your project will begin using the global fields. At that time, the archival state will be controlled by the global field, and those ideas will move to the Archived view correctly.

If it doesn't bother you that these ideas appear in your regular views for the next few weeks, there's no need to make any changes. Otherwise you can follow the article I linked to set up a duplicate automation rule with project-level field.

If you require further assistance, please let me know. If you'd like us to take a closer look, feel free to open a support case as suggested by Amina and Tanguy.

[Amina Bouabdallah · Accepted solution]

hi there! sorry for the inconvenience. We would love to help. To reproduce, Atlassian needs access to your instance. To get access to your instance, we need a support ticket to be opened. 

Any chance you might open a support ticket?

Thanks!

Amina, JPD PM

[Tanguy Crusson]

To open a support ticket, you can do it directly from Jira Product Discovery, from the place where you can send us feedback (usually on the left sidebar > Give feedback > get help from the support team)

Just paste the following: 

"Amina Bouabdallah from the JPD team asked us to create a support ticket to investigate an issue we're facing with Automation rules in JPD. The Slack thread where the issue is being discussed is https://atlassian.slack.com/archives/C05EZGA8XKL/p1745329380278069 . Thank you. "

[Dominik]

@Tanguy Crusson @Amina Bouabdallah any update from your part?

[Amina Bouabdallah]

Hi @Dominik

Here is an update. We are making JPD system fields global, in 2 stages:

• Stage 1: any new JPD project created since Mar 14, 2025 has system fields that are global.

• Stage 2: all existing JPD projects' system fields will be made global. We're targeting May 31, 2025 for this change.

Thanks to your post, we identified an issue that affected a small number of customers, due to the roll-out of the first stage: some automation rules, Jira filters and workflow rules using the fields used to “archive” ideas today stopped working. If this impacted your site, this post explains how to fix it.

We do apologize for this: the team tested every possible scenario many times over - or so we thought - but this issue was missed.

Here is the community post describing the fix to the issue you are facing. Any chance you might let us know if it helps?

Best

Amina

[Manon Soubies-Camy]

Hi @Dominik,

Does the JQL query work in the issue search view? Switching from basic search to JQL gives me this query:

status IN ("To Do", Done) AND "idea archived[dropdown]" is empty

If the JQL query is buggy, using the "Idea archived is empty" part as a separate condition in your automation should fix the issue:

Hope this helps!

- Manon

[Dominik]

Thanks @Manon Soubies-Camy 
it does not work - but I will follow @Jeremiah Rappley s comment  as it seems he had the same problem and has a statement from the Atlassian Support.