Jira issue comments are different from other Jira issue fields, as those are not actual fields. Issue Navigator won't display them as a column. You can't access them like you access the assignee, priority or issue type fields.
Viewing Jira comments as a field is an open feature request for Atlassian, but the suggestion is now abandoned. According to the latest comment from 2015(!) by Atlassian, you can't expect them to pick it up as it's not being considered.
As a consequence, making Jira export comments to Excel is not available via the built-in export feature. As another consequence, the Jira Cloud for Excel add-in can't import comments, either.
Make Jira export comments to Excel
Jira comments are basically a type of issue metadata. You need a tool that can handle and export Jira issue metadata, like issue change history, worklogs or comments correctly.
This is very similar to exporting Jira project metadata. Check out our blog on exporting Jira projects if you want to learn how to export Jira projects to Excel.
Better Excel Exporter for Jira Cloud is a Jira app that can export Jira issue comments to Excel format. The app can export the issue comments or export a more complex spreadsheet filled with other Jira issue data, plus add comments.
Start a free trial now on the Atlassian Marketplace and see what is it like to export your Jira issue comments to Excel!
Steps to export Jira comments to Excel
Steps:
- Open the required issue list in Issue Navigator.
- Select the Better Excel Exporter icon in the top.
- Choose the "Comments (Current fields)" export option.
Watch this video to see this in action:
Exporting comments to Excel
The Comments (Current fields) export option uses the issue-navigator-with-comments.xlsx template. This option will export the Jira issue comments in 3 separate columns in the generated Excel file (comment author, submission time and text).
Want to see more export examples? Check out this section of the documentation!
Exporting calculated fields to Excel
On top of exporting all comments on a specific Jira issue, Better Excel Exporter also supports calculated custom fields. With calculated custom fields, you can easily export the last comment text, last comment date and last commenter user values to Excel reports.
To export these values, just create new text type custom fields for each of the mentioned attributes. Better Excel Exporter will automatically recognize those, perform calculations during exporting and create an Excel file.
A custom Excel export can help satisfy audit RFIs (Request for Information), support management in decision-making or share issue "logs" with other users.
If you need other data than the built-in custom fields, you can add your calculated custom fields to your Excel templates as well.
Exporting other Jira issue metadata to Excel
Wondering if you can export other metadata to Excel? Well, good news! A few other types of Jira issue metadata can be exported to Excel, like issue change history, built-in or Tempo Timesheets worklogs.
Better Excel Exporter offers you dedicated export options called "History (Current fields)" and "Worklogs (Current fields)". (Note that there are more advanced variations of these that enable repeating fields to ease reporting.) Just select the right one for your needs from the pop-up and your Jira Excel export is downloaded in seconds!
Exporting Jira comments to Excel has not been trivial, but now you know an easy way to do it!
Export Jira comments to Excel now!