Getting started

1. Install

1. In Jira, open Apps → Explore more apps (or go to the Atlassian Marketplace listing).
2. Search for UndoTrail and choose Try it free or Buy now.
3. Approve the permissions. The app asks for read:jira-work, write:jira-work, read:jira-user, storage:app, report:personal-data (the weekly privacy report Atlassian asks of apps that store account IDs), and read:board-scope:jira-software, read:project:jira, read:sprint:jira-software (boards and sprints for the sprint picker), and read:group:jira, read:user:jira, read:avatar:jira (who is in a group picked in the Changed by group filter), and nothing else. It has no permission to send data outside Atlassian.
4. Wait for Jira to finish installing. Nothing else needs configuring, and there is no webhook to create.

Deleted-item capture starts working the moment the install finishes.

2. Open the app

• Full explorer: Apps → UndoTrail.
• One project only: open the project, then UndoTrail in the project sidebar.
• One work item: open it and look for the History+ tab in the Activity section, or the Change history panel.

The first time you open it: Allow access

The first time each person opens UndoTrail, Jira shows a short screen instead of the app: For UndoTrail to display, you need to grant it access to Atlassian apps on your behalf. Press Allow access and accept. This is expected, not an error.

It’s asked because UndoTrail reads Jira as you: history, work items and projects come through Jira’s own API with your permissions, so you only ever see what Jira already lets you see. Each person is asked once per install. It’s worth telling your team before they open the app for the first time.

3. Run your first report

1. Open Apps → UndoTrail. The Changes tab opens first.
2. In Projects, the first box, pick one or two projects. It says All projects until you do. Next time, the report opens on the projects you last used.
3. Leave Dates on Last 30 days to start with.
4. Press Run. Progress is shown while the app finds the work items and reads their history, and you can press Cancel at any point.
5. Use Changed by, Field and Search to narrow the result. These filters are instant, because they work on what has already been loaded.
6. Switch between Activity and Table at the top of the results.
7. Press Export CSV, Export Excel or Export PDF to download exactly what is on screen. Tick Sign it first if the file is going into an evidence pack; see Signed exports.

Full detail is in Reports and the explorer.

4. See where deleted items appear

Open Apps → UndoTrail → Deleted items. Every work item deleted since the app was installed is listed there, newest first, as long as you can browse its project (a secured one also needs Jira to confirm you are in its security level). Press Restore on a row to see a preview of what would come back before anything is written, including any subtasks and captured comments. See Deleted items.

If the list is empty, nothing has been deleted since the install. Items deleted before the app existed on the site cannot be recovered.

5. What an admin should do on day one

Open Settings → Marketplace apps → UndoTrail. Four decisions are worth making straight away.

1. Retention. Deleted work items are kept for 90 days by default. Set anything from 1 to 365 days. A change applies to items deleted from then on; snapshots already stored keep the expiry they were given.
2. Tracking. Comment history and viewer history are on by default. Decide whether you want them, and list any project keys that should be excluded (for example HR, LEGAL). See Tracking for the privacy points to consider.
3. Permissions. Each of the six features (reports, export, revert, deleted items, security scanner, viewer history) can be open to everyone, kept to Jira admins, or limited to named Jira groups. The security scanner starts as Jira admins only; the rest start open. Jira administrators always have access. Jira’s own project permissions apply on top, always.
4. Backfill. Press Snapshot every work item. A work item is snapshotted whenever it is created or changed, so items nobody has touched since the install have no snapshot yet, and would only be partly restorable if deleted. The backfill takes a full snapshot, custom fields included, of each one the app can read. It runs in the background, page by page, and you can leave the page.

Every setting is described in Admin settings. The same page is where you set up scheduled reports, erase captured tracking data, and verify a signed export.

If your site has Atlassian Rovo, people can also ask the UndoTrail Assistant agent about history in plain words. See Rovo agent.

Checklist