JQL to find empty fields in Jira

Published 2026-09-24 by Sidecar Tools. Every JQL query and error message below was run against a Jira Cloud site on 2026-09-24. Automation steps use Jira's current "work item" wording; older sites say "issue".

Short answer

Use is EMPTY. For example, open work with no labels:

labels is EMPTY AND statusCategory != Done

Hygiene checks you can paste

You want	JQL
No description	`description is EMPTY AND statusCategory != Done ORDER BY created DESC`
No priority	`priority is EMPTY AND statusCategory != Done`
No component, in one project	`component is EMPTY AND project = KAN AND statusCategory != Done`
Done in the last 30 days with no fix version	`statusCategory = Done AND fixVersion is EMPTY AND resolved >= -30d`
Bug reported against a version but no fix version yet	`affectedVersion is not EMPTY AND fixVersion is EMPTY AND statusCategory != Done`
Using labels you want to retire	`labels in (old-label, legacy) ORDER BY updated DESC`
Has attachments (bugs)	`attachments is not EMPTY AND type = Bug`

Fields that cannot be searched for EMPTY

Not every field supports is EMPTY. The common trap is comments:

comment is EMPTY

Jira Cloud rejects it with "The field 'comment' does not support searching for EMPTY values." There is also no comment count field. See how to search Jira by last comment date for what works instead.

Notes

EMPTY and NULL are the same. is EMPTY and is null behave identically.
Custom fields. Put the field name in quotes, for example "Story Points" is EMPTY.
Components. Components are per project, so the component check is most useful with a project clause.

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