Troubleshooting the Jira Connector

Who can use this?

Plans:

  • Smartsheet Advance Package
  • Business
  • Enterprise

Troubleshoot the Smartsheet Jira Connector

Who can use this?

Plans:

  • Smartsheet Advance Package
  • Business
  • Enterprise

Find and fix sync errors

You can use the following resources to find and resolve workflow errors:

  • Run History: Go to this page to see a count of sync errors for a workflow, along with the error message and issue details. 
  • Error Reports: When issues occur, the workflow owner and the person who edited the field or workflow row that caused the issue receive an email.
  • Error Column: Check this column in your sheet to review a message on rows with a sync issue.

Run history

After creating a workflow, you can access the Run History page to view the sync history and any errors that occurred. You can access the Run History by selecting your workflow's timestamp in Last Run.

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Jira last run log

There are the following run types in your Run History:

  • Sync to Smartsheet: Workflow runs for changes from Jira that were synced to Smartsheet.
  • Sync to Jira: Workflow runs for changes from Smartsheet that were synced to Jira.
  • Filtered Row Finder: Workflow runs for changes to any issues that should be filtered out according to your workflow configuration. Filtered Row Finder is a background process that runs every 2 hours. Filtered-out issues are added to your sheet's Filtered Out by Connector—Not Synced hierarchy. The Filtered Row Finder process only runs with automated workflow types. This process runs even if you have not specified filters in your workflow.

Common errors 

As issues occur, the workflow owner and the person who edited the issue/row in the workflow that caused the problem, receive email error reports. Here are some common errors and issues.

Field [Group] not set

Subject

Details

Details

Issues with no grouping value set in Jira appear in a hierarchy named field group not set

Troubleshooting

Give a grouping value to issues in Jira

Filtered Out by Connector-Not Synced

Subject

Details

Details

This occurs with the Salesforce and Jira Connector. The Filtered Out by Connector-Not Synced row doesn't add rows with sync issues; it only shows items deleted in Jira or rows that no longer meet the Jira Filter criteria and aren't syncing with Jira.

Troubleshooting

  • If there are rows with errors or sync issues, you see an error in the Sync Error field that must be resolved before the row syncs successfully to Jira.
  • The Connector automatically creates the Filtered Out by Connector-Not Synced row, and any rows that aren't syncing are indented below.

Field <field name> cannot be set. It is not on the appropriate screen or is unknown.

Subject

Details

Details

This error appears if the field value you want to set is not on Jira's Edit screen. Only fields on the Edit screen in Jira are editable from the Smartsheet Jira Connector.

Troubleshooting

  • Configure the Edit screen in Jira and add the specified field. For more information, see Defining a Screen in the Jira documentation.
  • Map the specified field in one direction only (Jira to Smartsheet). This creates a one-way map; changes in Smartsheet aren’t written back to Jira.

Setting up the notifications failed

Subject

Details

Details

The Jira Connector is unable to receive change notifications from Jira via Webhook. When this happens, the connector cannot detect updates in Jira and sync them to Smartsheet.

Troubleshooting

Verify Webhook registration in Jira:

  • Log in to Jira as a System Administrator.
  • Go to Settings > System > WebHooks.
  • Confirm that a Webhook for the Smartsheet Jira Connector is listed and active. If it is missing or deactivated, the Connector doesn’t receive notifications.

Check Jira System Administrator permissions:

  • The account used to connect Jira must have System Administrator privileges. If permissions were recently changed, the Webhook may have been removed or deregistered.

Re-authenticate the Connector:

  • In the Jira Connector, go to Settings and re-authenticate with a Jira System Administrator account. This attempts to re-register the Webhook.

Check for Jira firewall or network restrictions (self-hosted Jira only):

  • If you are using a self-hosted (on-premises) Jira instance, make sure the server can reach Smartsheet's Connector endpoints. Review the requirements for a successful self-hosted setup to confirm your network is configured correctly.

Verify no Jira application updates broke the Webhook:

  • After Jira version upgrades or plugin updates, Webhooks can sometimes be removed. Confirm your Jira instance is running a supported version.

 If the issue persists after the steps above, contact Smartsheet Support and provide a Workflow Execution Support Info (WEX) file to help expedite resolution. See Generate a WEX file for Support below.


Generate a WEX file for Support

If you've worked through the troubleshooting steps above and still need help, generating a Workflow Execution Support Info (WEX) file before contacting support helps the team diagnose your issue faster and reduce back-and-forth.

The WEX file contains detailed information about your workflow, including field mappings, sync direction, and filter configurations. It doesn’t contain your Smartsheet or Jira data.

Any Smartsheet SysAdmin or Connector Admin can generate a WEX file using these steps:

  1. Log in at https://connectors.smartsheet.com/c/jira.
  2. In the Jira Connector dashboard, select the timestamp under the Run Date column for the affected workflow. This opens the workflow's run history.
  3. Select the timestamp under Last Run for the most recent run.
  4. On the following page, open the hamburger menu (three horizontal lines in the upper left) and select Download Workflow Execution Support Info.

Attach this file when submitting your support ticket or sharing it with Smartsheet Support.

The WEX file is in JSON format. Support parses it on their end — you do not need to interpret it yourself.

FAQ

Issue: Row order is not as expected

When running an automated workflow, issues are sorted by ascending Issue Key, even if they are sorted differently in Jira. To sort issues synced with an automatic workflow, utilize Row Grouping.

For manual workflows, the Filtered Row Finder process does not run. In this case, you can manually sort rows in your sheet.

If you want to sort issues manually while still using an automated workflow, follow these steps:

  1. Sync Jira to a different sheet.
  2. Use a cross-sheet index/match or vlookup formula to bring the values into your main sheet using the issue key. Example formula: =INDEX({Range that contains value to return}, MATCH([Search Value]@row, {Range that contains search value}, 0))

The issue could not be saved to Jira

You must have write permissions to the connected Jira projects to save data to it.

Data is not removed from a sheet after filter updates

Smartsheet will not delete data pulled from Jira because each row might contain important column data, attachments, or comments.
When the Jira Issues in your sheet no longer meet the workflow filter criteria, Smartsheet creates a Filtered out by Connector—not synced section at the top to retain the information that the Connector filters out. Any rows that are filtered out will not sync until they meet the filter criteria again, and these rows can be deleted if your team no longer needs them included in the sheet.

Error updating error column in Smartsheet

You will see an error if you remove the Sync Error column from the connected sheet. Make sure that the sheet includes a Sync Error column; it is required. You can edit your workflow to remap the Sync Error column to your sheet. See modifying workflow to learn more.

Error Column

This column is automatically added to your sheet by the connector and will display details about any sync issues that occur for the row. 

 

..is not a valid user for the given JIRA project

This message can occur when an invalid email is entered into a Smartsheet field synced to Jira and can cause issues with contact syncing. 

Additionally, within Jira Cloud, this error can occur if the user is not assigned to the project in Jira or if, in Jira, external services (such as the Smartsheet Jira Connector) have been prevented from viewing email addresses. A per-user configuration can be modified by accessing Profile > Manage your account > Profile and visibility and modifying the Who can see this? setting for the Contact field at the bottom. If this is set to Only you and the admins, then the Jira Connector cannot access email address information for the user with this setting and will not populate the email field.

When I try to access the Jira Connector, it's saying I'm not authorized to perform this action. What do I do?

It's possible that you don't have the permissions needed to access the Jira Connector yet. Reach out to your Smartsheet Sys Admin for assistance. 

Learn how to contact your Sys Admin.