Release notes for 11.30.X

The Atlassian Jira Align team is pleased to announce Jira Align v.11.30.

These features for 11.30 were released to environments on the continuous release track on October 16, 2026, in version 11.30.0. The features will be released to environments on the bundled release track on October 23, 2026, in version 11.30.1.

• Enhancements and features
• Delivered suggestions
• Bug fixes

Enhancements and features

Viewer role: read-only access to epics, capabilities, features, and objectives

You can now give other users read-only access to the work inside specific portfolios. After adding a team member to a portfolio on the Members tab, select Viewer from the role dropdown to give them view-only access. They can then see work items in every program in that portfolio, but can’t create, edit, move, or delete them without program-level membership, even if their system role permissions allow those actions.

In version 11.30, Viewer access applies to epics, capabilities, features, and objectives only.

• Edit access through team membership: Viewer access doesn’t override team membership. If someone is a Viewer on a portfolio but is also a member of a program team, or of an agile team in that program, they can still edit that program’s work items, as long as their system role allows it. When a work item belongs to several programs, viewers can edit the item if they have team membership in one of those programs.
• Read-only work items: Details panels are read-only on every tab, including titles, inline editing, child items, and key results, and Copy, Delete, Split, Drop, and Cancel Item are unavailable. Viewers can still view and download attachments, subscribe, share links, view audit logs, and participate in discussions.
• Grids and pages: Grids, backlogs, prioritization pages, roadmaps, and status reports respect viewer access. Inline editing of fields like health and notes is turned off for work items in programs where users only have view access, and viewers can’t rank stories under features in those programs.
• Program selection: Create, quick-add, and clone controls only offer programs and parent items users can edit, so viewers can’t clone an epic into a program they can only view.
• Imports: Imports respect viewer access, too. The Import page only lists programs users can edit, and rows that don’t match a user’s edit access are skipped and counted in the import summary.
• REST API: The same rules apply to REST API operations for the supported work item types. Blocked write requests return a 403 Forbidden response.

Jira connector: scoped API tokens and OAuth 2.0 authentication

Jira Align now supports two more secure ways to connect the Jira connector to Jira Cloud. You’ll see them as API token with scopes and OAuth 2.0 (Atlassian service account) in the Authentication Type dropdown in Jira connector settings.

• API token with scopes: Works like the existing API token option, but the token can only access the scopes you authorize.
• OAuth 2.0 (Atlassian service account): Uses a client ID and client secret from an Atlassian service account, so the connection isn’t tied to any one person’s account.

We recommend switching to one of these methods for stronger security. Both new methods support Jira Cloud only; authentication methods for Jira Data Center are unchanged.

On-premise environments: These authentication methods aren’t enabled by default. To use them, contact Atlassian Support.

Both of these new authentication methods require you to enable 17 scopes for the connector to function properly. To set up either method and review the required scopes, go to Jira integration setup.

Jira connector: read-only State and Process Step for synced features

Keep Jira as the source of truth for delivery status. A new Jira connector setting makes a synced feature’s State and Process Step fields read-only in Jira Align. You manage them in Jira, and the values stay consistent between the two systems.

To turn it on, set Lock Feature State and Process Step in Jira Align once linked to a Jira work item setting to Yes on the Jira Settings page. The setting is off by default.

• Synced features only: Both fields are locked together on features linked to Jira. All other fields, and features that aren’t linked, remain editable.
• Where the lock applies: State and Process Step are read-only in the feature details panel, and feature cards can’t be dragged between columns on boards. REST API requests that change them return a 409 Conflict response. When you import a spreadsheet with new State or Process Step values for a locked feature, those values are skipped and the rest of the row still imports.
• Visible skipped changes: Audit-log entries explain when supported rollup, bulk-update, drop-from-release, or import operations skip a State or Process Step change because the feature is locked.

Objectives: customize Category terminology

Thanks to your votes on JIRAALIGN-4797, you can now rename the values in the objective Category field to match the terms your organization uses.

In version 11.29, we made the Category field consistent everywhere: Critical Path now displays as Committed, and Stretch goal now displays as Uncommitted. In this release, we’ve added the ability to customize each value on the platform terminology settings page, so you can use any term that best fits your practices.

End-of-support status for classic epics grid

As previously announced, the classic epics grid has been designated with end-of-support (EOS) status. The page remains available, but we’ll no longer add new features or file non-critical defects for it.

You can opt in to make the new epics grid page your primary experience at any time.

Grid pages: inline notes for themes, capabilities, and epics

You can now add and edit the Notes field directly on the new themes, capabilities, and epics grid pages. Update a work item’s notes without opening its details panel.

Epics grid: Effort SWAG and Portfolio Ask columns

You can now add Effort SWAG and Portfolio Ask columns to the epics grid page, and filter epics by Portfolio Ask.

Themes: Status (Health) column and filter

You can now review delivery confidence for themes with the new Status (Health) column and filter, available on the new themes grid page and on roadmaps.

Capabilities: more Work Structure filter options

The Work Structure filter on the capabilities grid page and on roadmaps now supports the Not in operator and a No Value option, so you can exclude specific work structures or find capabilities that don’t have one.

Accessibility: improved structure, labels, and keyboard support

We’ve made more than 300 accessibility improvements across 19 pages, including the portfolio room, backlogs, program room, OKR hub, and capacity pages, building on the improvements we introduced in 11.29. These updates make Jira Align easier to understand and operate for people who use screen readers, navigate by keyboard, or need improved visual contrast and form guidance.

• Screen reader support: Added and corrected headings, landmarks, and page titles, defined data tables so layout tables aren’t announced, and added text alternatives for images and labels for buttons and form controls.
• Keyboard navigation: Made buttons, filter controls, and the Columns Shown dialog work with the keyboard, moved focus into dialogs when they open, corrected tab order, and made keyboard focus visible on grid pages.
• Visual clarity: Improved color contrast and ensured links aren’t identified by color alone.
• Form guidance: Identified required fields and added instructions on forms such as the OKR hub and Risk ROAM report.

Delivered suggestions

Status reports: financial values in epic and feature details

Thanks to your votes on JIRAALIGN-8896, epic and feature status reports now display Forecasted Spend, Estimated Spend, and Accepted Spend in the detail view, so you keep financial context when you open an item from the financial view. This enhancement is currently available for cloud environments only.

Bug fixes

We’ve corrected the following bugs that were discovered while investigating related issues, building new enhancements, and performing maintenance:

11.30.0

• Epics grid: A process step wasn’t displayed after the program assigned to a process flow changed.
• Epics grid: The primary program was also displayed in the Additional programs column.
• Grid pages: Boolean filter values couldn’t be selected using only the keyboard.
• Grid pages: Filter operators couldn’t be selected when more than one filter dropdown was open.
• Roadmaps: Long work item names without spaces didn’t wrap in the progress pop-up, causing a horizontal scrollbar and shifting the close button.
• Roles: The Import permission toggle for tasks remained visible after task import was removed.
• Saved views: Deleting a saved view could fail.
• Themes grid: The filter count was incorrect when default filters were applied.
• Themes grid: The Milestones filter listed milestones from themes the user couldn’t access.