How to: Add a comment during a workflow transition and make it mandatory
Platform Notice: Data Center Only - This article only applies to Atlassian products on the Data Center platform.
Note that this KB was created for the Data Center version of the product. Data Center KBs for non-Data-Center-specific features may also work for Server versions of the product, however they have not been tested. Support for Server* products ended on February 15th 2024. If you are running a Server product, you can visit the Atlassian Server end of support announcement to review your migration options.
*Except Fisheye and Crucible
Summary
Please note that:
adding a comment during a transition and making it optional is possible using Jira's native functionality without the need for a paid add-on
however, making the comment mandatory during the transition will require a Validator coming from a paid 3rd party add-on, since such a validator is not available in Jira out of the box. You can find such validators by installing any of the add-on below:
If you face any issue while using the validator coming from any of these add-ons, we recommend reaching out to the respective add-on support team, since 3rd party add-ons are not supported by Atlassian
The goal of this knowledge base article is to provide a way to add a comment during a workflow transition while making it required.
Environment
Jira Server or Data Center 8.x and later
Default scenario
When transitioning a Jira issue through the workflow, by default, you have some transitions that:
Present a screen with several fields to fill in (e.g. Assignee, Priority, Reporter, Comment, etc)
Do not present any screen. Just move the issue to the next step
Solution
In the example below, a user wants to add a comment while transitioning the issue from the 'Open' status to the 'Start Progress' status.
Log in as a Jira Administrator, and proceed with the following steps:
Go to the page ⚙ > Issues > Screens, and click on the Add screen button located in the top right corner of the screen:
Fill in the options to create a new screen:
After that, leave the configuration page of the newly created screen as it is - without any fields added to it:
Go to the 'Workflows' page and edit the workflow associated with the project:
Note that Jira's system workflow is not editable, so it's necessary to copy it first and then edit the copy. After that, the administrator has to create a new workflow scheme, associate the copied workflow with the new workflow scheme, and associate the scheme with the project.
Click on the 'In Progress' transition:
Click on the Edit button:
In the Transition View field, select the screen that was created in Step 2 (Comment Screen) and hit the Update button:
Steps to make the comment mandatory - ⚠️Requires the usage of one of the paid 3rd party add-on listed at the beginning of this article
Click on the Validators tab, and then click on the Add Validator button:
Depending on the 3rd party add-on that you are using, you might add either of the following validator
If you are using JSU Automation Suite for Jira Workflows, you can use Fields Required (JSU)
If you are using Jira Misc Workflow Extensions (JMWE), you can use either Comment Required Validator (JMWE app) or Fields Required Validator (JMWE app)
If you are using ScriptRunner for Jira, you can use Field(s) required validator [ScriptRunner]
Click on the Publish link, in order to publish the workflow:
Be careful while publishing the workflow. All changes made to it will be published, in case there were changes made before reading this documentation.
You might want to save a backup copy of the original workflow, in case you need to revert your changes in the future.
Create a test issue to make sure everything is working as expected and hit the In Progress button:
From now on, whenever a user hits the In Progress button, they will be presented with a screen to fill in a comment.
⚠️ Depending on the 3rd party add-on that you chose to add the Validator to the In Progress transition, the Comment field might have a red star next to it, and an error message might be displayed in the UI if the user tries to transition the issue without adding a comment. The screenshot below was taken while using the validator Comment Required Validator (JMWE app) coming from the add-on Jira Misc Workflow Extensions (JMWE):
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