End User Quick Reference Guide
Out of Office Assistant records when you are away, shows it to your team and passes your work items to a colleague. This is the short reference for setting your own absence; nothing here needs administrator rights.
In Jira, open Apps and select Out of Office Assistant. It opens on Team Availability.
Where things are
Tab | What you use it for |
|---|---|
Team Availability | Who is away and when, with AVAILABLE, LEAVING SOON or OUT OF OFFICE against each person. Show details opens one person's rules, templates and integrations. |
My Rules | Your own absences, under Current rules. The header carries Reload, Change priority and Add rule for myself. |
My Templates | Rule settings saved without dates, for a new rule or integration to reuse. |
My Integrations | Your connections to Google Calendar, Office 365 (Outlook), Slack and Tempo Planner. |
The remaining tabs are App Settings, for administrators, and Support.
Set your absence
On My Rules, select Add rule for myself. The form Schedule your Out of Office Rule opens as a full page.
Set Start Date, the one required field. Add End Date (Optional) or leave it empty for an open ended rule. Start Time and End Time stay on All day unless you leave or return mid-day.
Choose which work items the rule applies to. Work Item Selection opens on Spaces with the picker on All spaces, so an untouched rule covers every space. Narrow it, or switch to JQL Work Item Filter.
Decide what the rule does. Name Coverers to take over those work items, name Approver Coverers to stand in on approvals, write Message Text for the app to post as a comment, or tick Show Out of Office status in work item glance only (skip coverer, approver, and message). Any combination of the first three works; the glance only tick replaces them and removes Work Item Selection too.
Select Create Rule. Cancel at the bottom or Back to Rules at the top left leaves without creating anything.
Create Rule stays greyed out until the rule does something. Dates alone are not a rule: it becomes available once the rule has a coverer, an approver coverer, message text, or the glance only box ticked.
Rule Configuration Guide covers the rest of the form, including repeating and overlapping absences.
While the rule runs
A new rule is listed as Scheduled and turns Active on its start date. When it runs out it moves to Expired rules lower down.
A rule's Actions menu offers Edit, Delete, Bulk assign, and one entry that pauses or resumes it depending on whether it is running.
Bulk assign hands over work items you already hold, which a rule does not touch on its own. See Bulk Assign.
Colleagues see your status in the Out of Office section of a work item's details column, with whoever can take it over.
Let a calendar create your rules
On My Integrations, an unconnected card carries Connect and How it works. A connected one carries Show connection details, Disconnect, How it works and Configure, the gear in its top right corner.
Configure opens that integration's own page - the Google Calendar card opens Google Workspace (Personal) Integration - where Your templates lists the settings it reuses for the rules it creates, and Add template from library adds another.
Tempo Planner is the exception: its card reads This integration is managed by your administrator and Configure is its only control.
Related pages
Out of Office Quick Start Guide - your first rule, step by step.
The List of Out of Office Rules - every column and row action on My Rules.
Templates for Out of Office Rules - building the templates your integrations reuse.
Reclaiming Reassigned Issues - taking your work items back when you return.
Permissions and Access Requirements - who can see and edit your rules.