Automatically adding a specific user as a watcher on status change

[Israel Solomon]

Hi,

How can I automatically add a specific user as a watcher when case status changes in Jira Service Desk tickets?

Thanks,

I. Solomon

[Yury Lubanets]

Hi Israel

I think you need to use some plug-ins for that. Jira doesn't do it out the box. Do you use any automation plug-ins (Scriptrunner, Suite Utilities for Jira, Automation for Jira (pro))?

[Israel Solomon]

Hi, many thanks for your assistance.  We managed to make it happen.

We implemented  JSU post-function during status transition using Update Any Issue Field (JSU).

It works!

[Kirstin Seidel-Gebert]

Hi Israel,

how did you achieve this?
I've tried this for about 0.5 h now but all I get is an error on ticket creation.

I tried setting the field Watchers to the user name of the person in question.
I also tried to set the Perform As User option to a user with Manage Watchers permissions to avoid permission problems.

Cheers,
Kirstin

[Evn Tomeny [Appfire]]

@Kirstin Seidel-Gebert

I'm hoping you've been able to find an answer to this in the past year, but on the off chance that you haven't, here it is:

Atlassian Cloud uses unique identifiers for users, not username. Here's how to find that:

1. Select Filters -> Advanced Issue Search and "Switch to JQL" if you're in Basic mode.
2. Type "Assignee = username" with the person you're trying to add as a watcher, then select them from the list that pops up. Jira will now automatically convert their username to an alphanumeric string.
3. Copy this value.
4. Create an "Update Any Issue Field (JSU)" Post Function - have it update the Watchers field, and for the value, paste the alphanumeric user ID you copied.
5. Check the "Append Value" option so you don't overwrite anything entered on Create.

Feel free to let me know if you run into any issues!

Cheers,
Evn

[Kirstin Seidel-Gebert]

Thanks for pointing me to this, Evn! I'll have a look again when we're finally on cloud sometime this year.