Search Jira history with WAS and CHANGED

Published 2026-09-28 by Sidecar Tools. Every JQL query and error message below was run against a Jira Cloud site on 2026-09-28. Automation steps use Jira's current "work item" wording; older sites say "issue".

Short answer

Use WAS to ask "was this field ever this value" and CHANGED to ask "did this field change". For example, everything that has ever been In Review:

status WAS "In Review"

And everything moved to Done in the last seven days:

status CHANGED TO Done AFTER -7d

Queries you can paste

You want	JQL
Was in a status at any point this week	`status WAS "In Progress" DURING (startOfWeek(), now())`
Moved from one status to another recently	`status CHANGED FROM "In Progress" TO Done AFTER -7d`
Status changes you made this week	`status CHANGED BY currentUser() AFTER startOfWeek()`
Work you were ever assigned	`assignee WAS currentUser()`
Reassigned away from you	`assignee WAS currentUser() AND assignee != currentUser()`
Priority raised to High or Highest	`priority CHANGED TO (High, Highest) AFTER -30d`
Reopened after being resolved	`resolution CHANGED FROM Done`
Never went through review	`statusCategory = Done AND NOT status WAS "In Review"`

Predicates you can add

AFTER, BEFORE, ON and DURING (start, end) limit the time window. They take dates such as "2026-09-01", relative dates such as -7d, or functions such as startOfMonth().
BY limits the change to a person. Use currentUser(), an email address or an account ID; display names are not accepted.
FROM and TO limit which values the field moved between.

Which fields have history search

Only a few fields keep searchable history: assignee, fix version, priority, reporter, resolution and status. Other fields are rejected. For example:

labels WAS urgent

fails with "History searches do not support the 'labels' field." The same applies to custom fields and to CHANGED.

Notes

Renamed statuses. History search uses status names, so a status renamed last month may need its old name too.
WAS includes the current value. status WAS Done also matches work that is Done right now.
Negation. Put NOT in front of the clause, as in the last table row.

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