How can I capture the previous version of an edited comment using Jira Automation?

[Ivan Monma]

Hi everyone,

I'm trying to keep a history of comment edits in a custom field using Jira Automation in Jira Cloud.

Here's what I attempted:

• I created an automation rule triggered when an issue is updated.

• I added a condition to check if the comment field was changed.

• Then I used {{changelog.comment.fromString}} to try to capture the previous version of the comment.

However, it seems that when a comment is edited, the changelog does not include the comment field, and {{changelog.comment.fromString}} is empty.
I also tested using the trigger "Comment edited", but that doesn't seem to expose the previous version either.

My goal:
To append the previous version of an edited comment to a custom field (like “Comment History”) for audit purposes.

Is there any way to do this natively in Jira Cloud?
If not, is it only possible with ScriptRunner or a Forge app?

Thanks in advance!

[Charlie Misonne · Accepted solution]

Hi @Ivan Monma and welcome to the Atlassian Community!

As you pointed out: the changelog does not include the previous version of the comment. As far as I know Jira only stores the current comment and not any of the previous versions.

That being said. Not even Scriptrunner or a Forge plugin will allow you to retrieve the comment history. Unless you start storing all the comment edits yourself in some location like a field as suggested by @arielei 

I found 2 plugins that might be interesting for your use-case:

• Comment History Log for Jira | Atlassian Marketplace
• Issue History for Jira (Work Item History) | Atlassian Marketplace
  Related article: How to track comment history in Jira - Atlassian Community
  As you can see you need to enable comment history tracking. And from that point onwards the plugin will start storing comment edits.

[Natalia_Kovalchuk_SaaSJet_]

Hi everyone! 

@Ivan Monma, when a comment is edited in Jira Cloud, the changelog doesn't include its previous version.

Charlie Misonne, thank you for recommending the Issue History for Jira (Work Item History) app from my team! It really can help in such a case. 

After the app is installed and comment tracking is activated, it is possible to monitor updates made to every comment in Jira. @Ivan Monma, you can see what was changed or deleted, when it happened, and who is responsible for that. The Issue History app is highly useful for auditing purposes as it tracks all the changes made to work items.

If we talk about monitoring changes in specific projects, you can use Issue History Table view. With the help of filters, it will display all changes made to work items' comments in the required project for the specified date range. For example:

When discussing tracking comment changes for a specific work item, you can utilize the Issue History Panel view. By choosing Comment with the help of the Field filter, you will get a list of changes similar to this one:

Hope this info will be useful!

[arielei · Accepted solution]

Hey @Ivan Monma 

I suggest that you will add a custom field of type "Paragraph" , call it "Comment History"

Then, every time a comment is added / edited - copy it to that field.

Ariel.