Timeline Share

How to Start

Shared Timeline lets Jira users share a timeline of their work items with external users.

The external user sees bars on a calendar, the work item hierarchy on the left, and any fields you choose to show as columns beside it.

A timeline share does not copy an existing Jira timeline. It builds a new one from a JQL query. The default JQL is project = "KEY" order by Rank ASC, which matches what Jira's own timeline shows for the space. You can change it to anything JQL can express.

The timeline supports any depth of hierarchy. The tree is built from parent links, so epics, stories, sub-tasks, and deeper levels (on Jira Premium hierarchies) all nest correctly. A work item whose parent is not in the JQL result appears as a top-level row. Rows keep the order the JQL asks for, unless the reader sorts by a column.

• Preview: See how the external share contents will appear.

• Activity: View the history. For full documentation: Activities

• Share Visitors: See who has opened the share.

• Mentions: Tag external users in comments of work items using @name, linking to the comment, with work item selection limited to items exposed by the Timeline Share. How to Mention External Users

• Timeline Settings

---

Share Configuration Options

You'll find various configuration options, which include:

General, Permissions, Security, Custom fields, Custom content, Extensions, Timeline Configuration

Timeline Settings

Open the Timeline Settings tab on the share form. It decides what external users see the first time they open the share. Changes are saved automatically shortly after you stop editing.

1. Saved views

A saved view is a named arrangement of the timeline: layout, columns and widths, sort, filters, grouping, colors, and zoom. A recipient picks between these on the shared page. With none, the share opens on the settings below (a new share starts with "This share offers no named views yet").

1. Arrange the settings below the way you want the view to look.

2. Type a name in Name a new view and click Add view from these settings.

3. Click Make default on the view external users should open on.

To edit a view, click its name to load it into the controls, change them, and click Save the settings below into the view. Use x to delete a view.

The first view you add becomes the default. A share holds up to 10 views, and a view name can be up to 60 characters. Only someone who can edit the share can change these views. External users cannot change them, but they can save views of their own on the shared page.

2. Columns

Two panes control the columns:

• Columns to add lists the fields you can show.

• Columns on the chart, in order lists the columns the share opens with.

Any Jira field can be a column, custom fields included. Add a column with + or by dragging it to the right pane, and drag the rows there to change the order. Set a Width between 60 and 480 pixels, or leave it empty (Auto) to let the column fit its content. With no columns, the timeline shows only the work item beside the chart.

A column is shown only when external users may view that field. If a column is marked "Not shown: recipients cannot view this field," grant View for it on the Permissions tab.

Child work items are always shown on a timeline share. The Child Work Items view permission does not apply to it.

3. Starting zoom

Choose the zoom level the timeline opens at: Days, Weeks, Months, or Quarters. Months is the default.

4. Sort rows by

Choose a column to sort rows by. Leave it empty to keep the order the JQL asked for. Sort descending appears once a column is chosen.

5. Start with the tree collapsed

Opens the timeline with only the top-level rows visible.

---

Using the Shared Timeline

This section describes what an external user can do on the shared page. Nothing they change here affects the share's settings or other readers.

Across the top of the shared timeline are its main controls: Start watching this share, Search Timeline, Filter, the Default view menu (saved views), Group, the Timeline / List toggle, and the View settings (gear) icon.

Layout and zoom

• Timeline shows the work items as bars on a calendar. List shows them as a table, without the chart.

• Pick Days, Weeks, Months, or Quarters, and click Today to centre the calendar on today.

• A work item without a start or due date shows NO START DATE or NO DUE DATE on its bar.

• Expand all and Collapse all open or close the whole tree. Each row with children has its own arrow.

Fields (columns)

• Add fields opens a picker with every field the share allows. It shows how many are visible, for example "3 of 12 fields shown".

• Drag a column's right edge to resize it. Double-click the edge to fit that column to its content.

• The ... menu on a column moves it left, right, first, or last, collapses it, fits it, or removes it. At least one field always stays.

• Fit to content sizes all columns to their content.

Sorting

Click a column header to sort by it. The first click sorts ascending, the second descending, and the third returns to the share's own order. Reset sorting does the same at once. Sorting applies at every level of the tree.

Search and filters

If the search box is enabled, type a key, part of a summary, or a field value to find work items at any depth.

Filter opens a panel with two parts:

• Filters: add a rule on a field, for example Status is Done, Summary contains "login", or Due date between two dates. The fields offered are Details (key and summary), Under (work under a chosen parent), Work type, and every column the share allows.

• Hierarchy: choose which levels to look at (From and To), and turn on Show full hierarchy to keep the parents above each match, so a match is never shown without its context.

Filters work on rows already loaded, so they answer at once.

Grouping

Open Group to sort work into folders by any field the share allows, for example by Assignee or Status.

• Group work by selects the field to group on, or None for no grouping.

• Only show child work items that have the same group-by field value as their parent keeps children out of a folder they do not belong to.

• Clear all groups returns to the plain tree.

View settings

Open the View settings (gear) icon to adjust how the timeline looks:

Saved views on the shared page

Open the Default view button to see the Saved views panel, which can show two groups:

• This share's views: the views set up in Timeline Settings. Every reader sees them.

• Your views (this browser): the reader's own saved views. This group appears only after the reader creates one with Save as a new view, and only that reader sees them.

Your own views are kept in the current browser, for this share alone. Anyone else opening the link sees only the share's own views.