Jira Action Items

What Are Jira Action Items?

Jira action items were introduced by Atlassian in late 2024 to allow you to include checkboxes in Jira rich text Jira fields (Description, Comments, custom paragraph fields.). Similar to Confluence action items, users can create Jira action items by:

Selecting the checkbox icon in the text formatting menu
Typing a pair of square brackets “[ ]”
Using the “/ action Item” slash command

‍What Are the Advantages and Limitations of Jira Action Items

Action Items are good for spelling out steps on an issue when you don’t want, or need, to create a subtask. However, Action Items currently have some important limitations:

They do not work with Jira automation
They are not repeatable / reusable
They cannot be converted into issues or subtasks
They cannot be enforced with a workflow validator
Their completion state is not searchable

Checklist / Action Item Use Cases

Organize Work on Issues

Action items will work well for making a simple to-do list on an issue. However, if you need a different set of steps for each status of a workflow, combine Checklist with automation to change or append checklist items.

Agile Processes

Agile development processes such as Definition of Done work great with a checklist. To ensure consistency and hold all teams to the same standards, you’ll want to apply the Definition of Done across multiple issues projects: easily done with Global checklist or a default checklist template.

Plan Work

Since Checklist for Jira items can be converted into a separate issue or subtask in a single click, they can be used for keeping a backlog under control. Simply create one Epic issue with a checklist on it. Then when the team ready to start work on that epic, convert the checklist items into issues.

QA and Compliance

A checkbox is a great tool for enhancing QA and accountability. Checklist for Jira adds enforcement by allowing you to validate for checklist completion.

Search for assigned Items or Issues with Incomplete Items

Checklist for Jira supports JQL Expressions that make it easy to find issues with checklist items waiting to be completed. There is also an Assigned items page and a dashboard gadget so users can quickly find items assigned to them.

Jira Action Items vs Checklists for Jira Feature Comparison

Feature	Jira Action Items	Checklists for Jira (Free)	Checklists for Jira (Pro)	Checklists for Jira (Enterprise)
Rich Formatting
User mentions, dates, emojis, links, clickable issue keys	✅	✅	✅	✅
Reusable Checklists
Checklist templates	❌	✅	✅	✅
Global checklists	❌	❌	❌	✅
Automatically apply checklists per projects / issue type	❌	✅	✅	✅
Item Statuses
Checked / unchecked	✅	✅	✅	✅
Open / In Progress / Done / Skipped	❌	✅	✅	✅
Create custom item status	❌	✅	✅	✅
Integrate with Jira
Jira automation	❌	✅	✅	✅
Jira workflow validators	❌	✅	✅	✅
Jira workflow post functions	❌	✅	✅	✅
Clone items with issue	❌ (cloned as simple bullets)	✅	✅	✅
Convert Item to Jira Issue
Convert item to Jira issue	❌	✅	✅	✅
Convert unchecked items to subtasks	❌	❌	✅	✅
Set Custom Permissions
View checklists	❌	❌	✅	✅
Work on checklists	❌	❌	✅	✅
View checklist templates	❌	❌	✅	✅
Work on checklist templates	❌	❌	✅	✅
Search / JQL
Search for issues with items	❌	✅	✅	✅
Search for issues with incomplete items	❌	✅	✅	✅
Search for item text	✅	✅	✅	✅
Search for item with user mention	✅	✅	✅	✅
Search for issue with X number of items	❌	✅	✅	✅
Notifications
Jira notification when mentioned	✅	✅	✅	✅
Email notification when mentioned	✅	❌	✅	✅
Assigned items dashboard gadget	❌	✅	✅	✅
My Assigned Items page	❌	✅	✅	✅
View Checklist Progress
View progress as ratio	❌	✅	✅	✅
View progress as percent	❌	✅	✅	✅
View progress on board cards	❌	✅	✅	✅
Checklist History
View changes to items in Jira history	✅	✅	✅	✅
Search checklist history	❌	✅	✅	✅
Print / export checklist history	❌	✅	✅	✅
Clear checklist history	❌	✅	✅	✅
Tool tip of recent changes to checklist	❌	✅	✅	✅
JSM Portal
Allow customers to view checklist progress on the portal	❌	❌	✅	✅
Allow customers to view checklists on the portal	❌	❌	✅	✅