No results
The app explains an empty report rather than leaving you with a blank screen. Read the heading first: it names the stage that removed everything.
| Message | What it means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Nothing changed in a period and projects (for example Nothing changed today in SBX) | No work item in the projects you picked was created or changed in those dates | Widen the dates, for example to Last 90 days, or pick more projects |
| No work items match your JQL | Your own JQL (or saved filter) returned nothing. The message quotes the JQL that ran | Run the same JQL in Jira’s work item search. Check project keys and spellings. Check you can browse the project at all |
| No changes in the chosen period (for example No changes in the last 30 days) | Changes exist, but outside the date range | Widen the dates, for example to Last 90 days |
| The |
One refine filter emptied the report | Clear or loosen the filter it names. The message also lists later filters that may need loosening |
Other things worth checking:
- Permissions. You only ever see work items you can browse in Jira. Ask a Jira administrator if a project is missing.
- The right tab. The Reports and Security scanner tabs load their own copy of the history, so they each need their own Run report or Run scan.
- Project scope. Opened from a project’s sidebar, the report is locked to that project.
Missing history for old work items
- Jira does not record everything. Comment bodies, worklog detail and some app-managed fields never enter the changelog, so no app can report on them.
- Very old work items may have thinner history than you expect, particularly if they were imported from another system. An import usually creates the work item without recreating its original change history.
- Work items moved between projects carry their history with the new key. Search on the current key.
- The Created row is added by this app from the
createdfield, because Jira’s changelog has no creation entry. If a work item has no other rows, that is the only row you will see.
The report is slow, or Jira asks us to slow down
Large loads take time, and Jira rate-limits busy sites.
- The progress line shows the stage and the counts so far: Finding work items… then Reading history….
- If Jira returns a rate-limit response, the app waits for the time Jira asks for and retries, up to six attempts, waiting at most one minute between them. It shows Jira asked us to slow down. Retrying in Ns, and that the report is still loading. The report is not lost.
- Cancel stops a load as soon as the current request to Jira returns.
- A load stops at 150,000 changes, as much as a browser tab can work with comfortably, and says so.
If loads are consistently slow:
| Try | Why it helps |
|---|---|
| A narrower date range | Fewer work items and fewer history pages |
| Fewer projects | The search is the first cost |
| A lower Max work items | The load stops sooner, and the report says it did |
| Excluding noisy fields afterwards | Does not speed the load, but makes the result and the export far smaller |
| Running at a quieter time | Rate limits are shared with everything else using your site |
Large sites
On a site with hundreds of thousands of work items:
- Work in slices: one project, one month at a time. Save a view per slice.
- Keep Max work items at 5,000 unless you know you need more, so a mistyped query does not start a huge load.
- Use the dashboards for trends, not for detail. A gadget loads at most 1,000 work items by design.
- Run the backfill once, out of hours. It works through the site page by page in the background and does not block anyone.
- For the biggest exports, prefer CSV and split the period.
Restore failures
| Symptom | Cause and fix |
|---|---|
| Jira refused to create the work item (400)… | Something on the project’s create screen rejected a value. The app automatically retries with core fields only, and tells you when only the core fields were set. Check the create screen for required fields the snapshot cannot supply |
| Fields listed as Not on the create screen for this project/type | The field has been removed from that screen, or the work item type has changed. Add the field to the create screen and restore again, or set it by hand afterwards |
| “X” is no longer an available value | The option was deleted from the field’s configuration since the snapshot. Recreate the option, or set the field by hand |
| Too large to keep in the snapshot | The value was over the storage budget when the snapshot was taken. It cannot be recovered |
| Status was not restored | The workflow has no transition from its first status to the old one. Move it by hand, or add a transition |
| A subtask failed while the parent succeeded | The result screen names the subtask and the reason. Restore it on its own from the list |
| That deleted work item is no longer stored (retention may have expired). | Retention expired. Nothing can be done for that item; consider a longer retention setting |
| Already restored as NEW-123. | It has been restored once. A second restore is refused; open NEW-123 instead |
| A restore of this work item is already running. | Someone, perhaps you in another tab, started a restore in the last two minutes. Wait a moment, then refresh the list |
| Some comments were not re-posted | The result screen says how many Jira refused, usually for want of permission to comment on the new work item, and how many were not attempted because one restore posts at most 40 |
| Restore failed because the project was archived or a required field is empty | Press Edit before restoring… in the preview, change the project or fill in the value, and press Restore now again. See Deleted items |
Revert failures
| Symptom | Cause and fix |
|---|---|
| Row marked Conflict | The field changed again since. The current value is shown. Decide whether you still want the old value and set it by hand |
| Row marked Not revertible | The reason is on the row. Some fields cannot be written back through Jira’s API at all. See Revert |
| Not editable on this work item’s edit screen | The field is not on the edit screen for that project and type. Add it, or edit the work item directly |
| No workflow transition from X back to Y | The workflow does not allow the move. Add a transition, or move the item by hand |
| “X” is no longer an available value | The option was removed from the field. Recreate it, or set the field by hand |
| Failed with a Jira message | Jira rejected the write. Usually a permission, a required field, or a workflow validator. The message is Jira’s own |
Scheduled reports
| Symptom | Cause and fix |
|---|---|
| Nothing arrived | Check the schedule’s Last run line on the admin page. never means its hour has not come round yet: times are UTC. Press Run now to test delivery straight away |
| Failed: Jira refused the attachment on … or … the comment on … | The delivery work item was deleted, moved, or no longer accepts attachments. Delete the schedule and create it again with a working target |
| A scheduled report can only cover projects you can see | The report names a project you cannot browse. Remove it, or ask a Jira administrator for browse access |
| The file is missing a project | A schedule covers only the projects its creator could browse when it was saved. Recreate it as someone who can see that project |
Signed exports
| Symptom | Cause and fix |
|---|---|
| No record for this file. | The file was never signed, or it has changed since, even by one character. Opening a CSV in a spreadsheet and saving it again changes it. Check the original download, and compare its SHA-256 with the one in the .export-record.txt file |
Permission errors
| Message | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Only Jira administrators can change these settings. | The action needs Jira’s ADMINISTER permission. Redeeming or removing an access code, starting a backfill and erasing tracking data say the same in their own words |
| Your Jira administrator hasn’t given you access to … | A feature has been kept to Jira admins or to named groups on the admin page. The security scanner starts as Jira admins only |
| You don’t have access to project X. | You cannot browse the project that deleted item belonged to |
| Please log in to Jira. | The session expired. Reload the page |
| Couldn’t load your UndoTrail permissions… | The app couldn’t check what you’re allowed to use, so it keeps every feature an admin can restrict closed rather than guess. Reload the page. If it keeps happening, contact support |
| Your UndoTrail subscription isn’t active. | Reports, exports, revert, deleted items and restore, the scanner, the gadgets and new scheduled reports need an active subscription. Each work item’s own field changes and comment history stay free |
Nothing loads at all
- Reload the page. Forge apps run in an iframe and an expired session can leave it blank.
- Check Manage apps to confirm the app is installed and enabled.
- Check whether a browser extension or a content blocker is blocking the Atlassian app frame.
- Try another browser or a private window, to rule out extensions and cached state.
- Ask a Jira administrator to confirm the subscription is active.
Getting support
Email help@astrospray.com or use the contact form and we are happy to help. It saves a round trip if you include:
- What you were doing, and the exact message on screen.
- The JQL shown next to the Run button. It is the single most useful line you can send.
- The date range and any filters that were applied.
- The work item key involved, for a restore or revert problem.
- Your site, your browser, and roughly when it happened (with your time zone).
Please do not send secret values from a scanner result. Describe the detector and the severity instead.