Change History Export to Excel & PDF for Jira

Export the change history (audit trail) of Jira Cloud issues to Excel or PDF for audits, compliance reviews and process reports: who changed which field, when, and from what to what, plus a time-in-status report of how long each issue spent in each status. Pick issues with JQL and an optional date range, then download an Excel workbook (up to 50,000 issues and 200,000 changes per read) or a PDF with one issue per page (up to 5,000 issues). Jira's own issue export leaves the history out. The files are built in your browser; issue data is never sent to GRAMSHIFT or to third parties.

Getting started

1. A Jira admin installs the app from the Atlassian Marketplace. No configuration is needed.
2. Open it from the Jira sidebar: Apps → Change History Export.
3. Find issues and read their history. Type a JQL search. Jira requires a condition, so ORDER BY on its own is not accepted.

   project = ABC ORDER BY key
   project = SUP AND created >= -90d
   key in (ABC-12, ABC-15)
   filter = 10042

   Optionally enter a date range (only changes made in that range are listed) and choose the fields to read:
   • All fields — every entry in the history.
   • Only these fields — up to 9 fields. Status is always read as well, because the time-in-status sheet needs it. Some changes are not tied to one field (issue links, parent changes, workflow changes and work log entries); they are only included with All fields.
   Press Read history. The screen shows progress, and Cancel stops it.
4. Choose what to include. Every field that changed is listed with the number of changes. Uncheck anything you do not want in the change list. Include time in status adds the time-in-status sheet and PDF section.
5. Export. Press Export Excel or Export PDF, then Download Excel or Download PDF.

You see only the issues and history that your own Jira permissions allow. The app cannot edit issues.

What is in the files

Cell types: dates and times are Excel date values (formatted yyyy-mm-dd hh:mm:ss), so you can sort and filter them. Hours and counts are numbers. Everything else is plain text, so a value starting with = is never run as a formula. Excel allows at most 32,767 characters per cell; longer values are shortened and marked.

PDF: the first page states the JQL, the period, the fields read, when the history was read, the time zone and the number of issues, and in red whether a limit stopped the read and how many issues could not be read. After it, each issue starts on a new page with its issue type, current status, assignee, reporter, priority, resolution and created date, then the time in status, then every change in order (time, person, field, from → to). Every page shows when the history was read, the time zone and the page number. Values longer than 3,000 characters are shortened in the PDF and marked; the Excel file keeps up to 32,767. Fonts for Japanese, Chinese, Korean, European languages and emoji (black and white) are embedded when the text needs them.

Screens and file headings are in English, or in Japanese when your Jira language is Japanese. Field names come from Jira in your language.

Time zone and period

All dates and times use the time zone of your browser, including daylight saving time. The screen shows its name under the date fields, and every file states it. This can differ from the time zone in your Jira profile.

With a date range, the Changes sheet and the PDF list only changes made from the start of the first day to the end of the last day, in that time zone. The time-in-status sheet and PDF section list every stay that overlaps the range, with its full length (it is not cut at the edges of the range), and the Summary totals are counted the same way; the files say so.

How time in status is counted

• Calendar time (24-hour days), from one status change to the next. The first stay starts when the issue was created.
• If the issue is still in a status, that stay is counted up to the moment you read the history, and Still in status is set.
• Two status changes at the same moment give a stay of 0 minutes; it is kept so the sequence is complete.
• Status names are shown as Jira recorded them at the time of each change. If a status was renamed later, older stays keep the old name.

How values are shown

• Date-and-time fields are converted to your time zone; date-only fields are shown as YYYY-MM-DD.
• Time tracking fields (time spent, estimates) use Jira's format, for example 1w 2d (1 day = 8 hours, 1 week = 5 days).
• When Jira's history keeps no name for a value (for example on-call teams in the Responders field), the file shows “(N IDs, name not available)” instead of unreadable codes.
• Jira's history can contain the old text of edited or deleted comments and descriptions. Uncheck Comment and Description in step 2 if the file will leave your team.

Limits

• Up to 50,000 issues and 200,000 changes per read. If the search returns more issues, the app keeps the first 50,000 in search order and tells you. If the changes would pass 200,000, the app keeps the first issues in search order whose full history fits, counted in steps of 1,000 issues, so every issue in the file has its complete history, and tells you how many issues it kept.
• A PDF can hold up to 5,000 issues and 50,000 changes; for more, narrow the search or use Excel.
• As a guide from our tests on a desktop PC: reading 10,000 issues with about 68,000 changes took about 1 minute and 31,000 issues with about 139,000 changes about 2 minutes; Excel took 3 to 8 seconds; a PDF of about 1,000 issues took about 10 seconds and of about 5,000 issues about 16 seconds. Your times depend on your computer and your Jira site.
• Arabic, Hebrew, Thai and Indic scripts (for example Bengali and Tamil) are not supported yet and print as empty boxes in the PDF.

Questions and troubleshooting

How do I export Jira issue history to Excel?

Jira's own issue export leaves the change history out. With this app, open Apps → Change History Export in Jira, type a JQL search (for example project = ABC ORDER BY key), press Read history, then Export Excel and Download Excel. The workbook has three sheets: Changes (one row per field change, with date and time, who changed it, field, from and to), Time in status, and Summary.

How do I export the change history from Jira Cloud for one period only?

Enter a date range before you press Read history. The Changes sheet and the PDF then list only changes made from the start of the first day to the end of the last day, in your browser's time zone. To read only some fields, choose Only these fields (up to 9 fields; status is always read as well).

Can I export a Jira audit trail as a PDF?

Yes. Press Export PDF. The first page states the JQL, the period, the fields read, when the history was read, the time zone and the number of issues. After it, each issue starts on a new page with its details, the time in status, then every change in order (time, person, field, from → to). A PDF can hold up to 5,000 issues and 50,000 changes.

Can I get a time in status report in Excel?

Yes. Keep Include time in status checked. The Time in status sheet has one row per stay in a status (status, entered, left, hours, duration), and the Summary sheet gives, for each status, the number of issues, times entered, total hours and average hours per issue. Time is calendar time (24-hour days).

Can I export the history of thousands of Jira issues at once?

Yes. One read takes up to 50,000 issues and 200,000 changes. In our tests on a desktop PC, 10,000 issues with about 68,000 changes took about 1 minute to read, and 31,000 issues with about 139,000 changes about 2 minutes; your times depend on your computer and your Jira site.

Is my Jira data sent anywhere?

No. The app only reads Jira, using your own Jira permissions, and cannot edit issues. The files are built in your browser; issue data is never sent to GRAMSHIFT or to third parties.

Why do I see “Add a search condition”?

Jira does not accept a search without a condition. Add one, for example project = ABC.

Why do I see “Jira is limiting requests right now”?

Jira is busy and asked the app to slow down. The app tries again for you a few times first. If you still see this message, wait a minute and try again, or narrow the search.

Why do I see “Your license is not active”?

Ask a Jira admin to check the app under Manage apps.

Why is a link or parent change missing?

Some changes, such as issue links and parent changes, are not tied to one field, so Only these fields leaves them out. Choose All fields.

Why do the times differ from what Jira shows?

The app uses your browser's time zone, and Jira uses the one in your profile. The file states which time zone was used.

Support

Email contact@gramshift.com. Please include what you searched for, what you expected and what happened (a screenshot helps). Please do not send exported files or confidential issue content unless we ask for it. We reply by email within 72 hours. Support hours are Monday to Friday, 9:00–18:00 Japan time (JST).

日本語（使い方の要約）

1. Jira の左のサイドバーの アプリ → Change History Export を開きます。
2. JQL で課題を探します（例: project = ABC ORDER BY key）。変更の期間（任意）と、読む項目（すべて／9項目まで＋ステータス）を選び、「履歴を読み込む」を押します。進み具合が出て、「中止」で止められます。
3. 一覧に載せる項目を選びます。「状態の滞在時間を含める」で、状態ごとの滞在時間のシートと PDF の欄が付きます。
4. 「Excelを書き出す」または「PDFを書き出す」を押し、ダウンロードします。

Excel は「変更一覧」（1変更1行）・「状態の遷移と滞在時間」・「集計」の3シート、PDF は1ページ目に検索条件・期間・読んだ項目・読み込んだ日時・タイムゾーン（上限で止まったとき・読めなかった課題があるときは赤字で）を書き、その次から1課題ごとに改ページします。状態の滞在時間は期間の境目で切りません。日時はこのブラウザのタイムゾーンで出し、ファイルにもその名前を書きます（Jira のプロフィールの設定と違うことがあります）。1回に読めるのは課題 50,000件・変更 200,000件、PDF は1ファイル 課題 5,000件・変更 50,000件までです。お問い合わせ: contact@gramshift.com（72時間以内にメールで返信します。受付は日本時間の平日 9:00〜18:00）