Troubleshooting the Jira Connector | Smartsheet Learning Center (2024)

See Create workflows with the Smartsheet Jira Connector to learn about the permissions required to create or edit a workflow.

Find and fix sync errors

You can use the following resources to find and resolve workflow errors:

• Run History: Go to this page to see a count of the number of sync errors for a workflow and the error message with the issue details.
• Error Reports: When issues occur, the workflow owner and the person who edited the field or workflow row that caused the issue will receive an email.
• Error Column: Check this column in your sheet to review a message on rows with a sync issue.

Run history

After creating a workflow, you can go to the Run History page to see the sync history and any errors that occurred. You can access Run History by selecting the timestamp in Run Date for your workflow.

You’ll see the following run Types in your Run History:

• Sync to Smartsheet: Workflow runs for changes from Jira that were synced to Smartsheet
• Sync to Jira: Workflow runs for changes from Smartsheet that were synced to Jira
• Filtered Row Finder: Workflow runs for changes made to any issues that should be filtered out based on your workflow configuration. Filtered Row Finder is a background process that runs every 2 hours. Filtered out issues will be added to your sheet's Filtered Out by Connector—Not Synced hierarchy. The Filtered Row Finder process will only run with automated workflow types. This process will run even if you have not specified filters in your workflow.

Best practices

Save and refresh often

To minimize sync errors as users work across both systems, save changes and refresh your sheets as you make updates. Saving and refreshing frequently will ensure that others see your changes. Learn more about saving and refreshing Smartsheet sheets.

Lock columns to avoiderrors

Do not modify data in the required Issue Key field in Smartsheet. To secure the integrity of the data in this column, the sheet Owner or someone who shared the sheet with Admin privileges should lock the Issue Key column. For more information, see .

View changes

Use the Smartsheet View History feature to see a record of changes made to a cell. For sheets that include data shared between Smartsheet and Jira, the name of the user associated with the difference will be the person who created the workflow. This can help pinpoint a specific user’s workflow if unexpected changes are being made to your sheet.

For more details on tracking changes in Smartsheet, see Viewing Cell History in the Help Center.

Check sheet permissions on unexpectedly blank columns

If a column appears empty on a sheet you’ve mapped in your workflow, the column may be locked. Have the sheet Owner (or another Admin) grant you Admin permissions on the sheet.

Push data from Smartsheet to Jira for specific rows only

To give you greater control over which rows explicitly push data back to Jira, you can create an Update Issue in Jira column on your sheet and a Sheet Filter in the Smartsheet Jira Connector workflow to sync only those rows with the Update Issue in Jira checked.

Jira webhooks

As of November 15, 2023, we've upgraded the webhook scheme of the Smartsheet Jira Connector for enhanced efficiency. Now, all bi-directional workflows created after this date will benefit from a shared webhook system. This strategic enhancement is designed to align with the July 2024 Atlassian Jira Cloud limit change to 100 Jira webhooks per Jira environment, which introduced a limit of 100 Jira Webhooks per Jira Cloud environment. The advantage? You're now equipped to establish as many workflows as necessary, circumventing Jira's webhook constraints.

Before July 2024, and to ensure the new system is activated, you should convert at least one workflow to the new webhook scheme.

To convert an existing workflow to the new system, the workflow owner should:

1. Disable workflow.
2. Refresh the page.

3. Select the Reset button to re-enable the workflow.

   This action should be taken by the workflow owner as any Jira user can disable a workflow but only the owner can re-enable a workflow.

Consolidate automated workflows when possible

Atlassian’s best practices for webhooks suggest having as few webhooks as possible. One way to consolidate workflows is by using a more general filter on the workflow and use the connected sheet as a staging site for your data. You can then use DataMesh to filter and send data between sheets.

If you have a lot of workflows and are experiencing Jira slowness, visit Atlassian’s webhook troubleshooting guide to find ways your Jira Admin can diagnose which webhooks could be causing the slowness.

Enable asynchronous webhook processing

By default, Jira Server and DataCenter process these webhooks individually after every change to an issue.

Jira has an unofficial dark feature will tell Jira to process webhooks asynchronously, making the UI more responsive after changes. Enabling this change will require a user with Jira Administrator permission.

According to this Jira ticket, you can enable the feature by:

1. Manually enable the com.atlassian.jira.webhookEventsAsyncProcessing feature flag with the following instructions.
2. Restart your Jira instance (or each node in case of DC)

The following versions of Jira Server and DataCenter can enable this feature:

• 8.13.25, 8.20.12 or later
• 9.2.0 or later

Connector limitations

1. The Smartsheet Jira Connector has a maximum capacity of 20,000 rows, which aligns with Smartsheet’s row limit.
2. Limit data pulls to ten projects at once for best performance.
3. Avoid mapping to the End Date column if Dependencies are enabled.
4. The connector will re-sortthe sheet each time it runs; use reports for custom sorting.
5. Manual reordering of Jira tasks could cause errors; use Custom Grouping instead.
6. Assign tasks to Jira sprints, not Smartsheet, due to one-way connection restrictions.
7. The Jira Portfolio add-on, which introduces the Initiative issue type, is not supported.
8. System-generated, unique IDand specific Project Settingscolumns may cause complications (one-way or no mapping) when mapping the connector.
9. Ensure you have admin or editor access on both platforms to avoid permission-related errors in workflow updates.