Massive change visibility comment

[FrancoB]

Hi everyone,
I have created a Role "Developer" and now via the lock at the bottom right of the comment I select this Role so that only those in Developer will see the comment.
Now I would like to make this massive change on all old comments as well. Is this possible? also is it possible to distinguish internal tickets from public tickets?
Thank you

[Marc - Devoteam]

Hi @FrancoB 

If you are looking to change the default configuration of the comment visibility with Automation for Jira, this isn't possible.

The only solution is to do this manually.

[FrancoB]

No I don't want to change the Default one, but the one of already created tickets.
I thought you could via api but I can't find info

"visibility": {
"type": "role",
"value": "Developer"
}

[Marc - Devoteam]

Hi @FrancoB 

Aha, this should be possible by using the put call to update a comment via the API

https://developer.atlassian.com/cloud/jira/platform/rest/v3/api-group-issue-comments/#api-rest-api-3-issue-issueidorkey-comment-id-put 

But this call is per issue and you will need the correct comment id of the comment to change.

So internal/external is not in play the comment ID is leading here.

[Akriti Sagar]

Hi FrancoB,

Great questions!

Updating Visibility of Old Comments in Bulk
Unfortunately, Jira (assuming you're using Jira Cloud or Jira Service Management) does not offer a native feature to bulk-update the visibility of comments retrospectively. Each comment’s visibility is set at the time it's posted. However, here are a couple of workarounds you might consider:

Automation or Scripting: If you're on Jira Cloud Premium and have access to the Automation for Jira, or if you're using Jira Server/Data Center with ScriptRunner, you might be able to script a solution to iterate through comments and adjust their visibility.

Manual Review: If the number of affected issues is manageable, a manual update may still be the most straightforward approach.

Distinguishing Internal vs. Public Tickets
There are a few strategies you can use to separate internal and public tickets:

Issue Types or Projects: Maintain separate issue types or projects for internal vs. public work.

Custom Fields or Labels: Add a custom field (e.g., “Visibility: Internal/Public”) or use labels to categorize tickets.

Security Levels: Set up Issue Security Schemes to control who can see the ticket. This is especially useful in service projects where customers shouldn’t see internal issues.

Let me know if you’d like help setting any of these up!

[FrancoB]

Hi Akriti Sagar,
thank you for your response.
Yes I have access to Jira Cloud Premium.
So I could use an automation, could you give me more information?
The modification I would like to replicate is this

[Philine Mitrea]

Hello Akriti Sagar!

Can you please tell us how to utilise Automation for Jira to retroactively change the comment visibility?

Thank you,
Philine