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Checklist & Google Tasks Integration for Jira – Setup Guide

How to use Checklist with Google Tasks Integration — a team checklist on every Jira issue, your personal Google Tasks list, links, templates, and the checklist in Jira search, boards, Automation and workflow rules.

Overview

Checklist with Google Tasks Integration adds a Checklist panel to every Jira issue. The panel holds two checklists, and always says which is which:

  • Team checklist — shared by everyone who can see the issue and changed by everyone who may edit it. It is stored by Atlassian, in the app’s Forge storage — not in Google, and never on Simplify’s servers.
  • My Google Tasks — your own Google task list for the issue. Every change is made in your Google Tasks, so the same tasks are on your phone, in Gmail and in Google Calendar. Only you see it.

Nothing personal becomes shared by itself: your Google tasks reach the team checklist only when you choose Share with the team… and confirm.

Install and open the panel

  1. Install the app from the Atlassian Marketplace and approve the requested permissions.
  2. Open any issue. Under the issue title, open the apps menu and choose Checklist. The panel appears in the issue, above the activity.
A Jira issue titled Launch the new checkout page with its apps menu open under the title, showing Checklist at the top of the list.

The first time, a short note above the tabs explains what is shared and what stays private. Got it hides it.

The Checklist panel on its first opening: a note saying a team checklist everyone who can see the issue shares, and that Google Tasks stay private; the tabs Team checklist, My Google Tasks, Links, Task lists and Google account; an empty team checklist with an Add field.

The panel has five tabs: Team checklist, My Google Tasks, Links, Task lists and Google account.

Team checklist

“Visible to everyone who can see” the issue — this is the checklist your team works on together.

  • Add an item: type into Add to the team checklist… and press Add or Enter. Everyone on the issue sees it.
  • Complete or reopen: click the circle in front of the item. The bar shows the progress, for example “2 of 6 done”.
  • Who did it: each item says who added or completed it — “you”, or, from version 4, the person’s name from Jira (for example “Completed by Omar Diaz”; before that, “a teammate”).
  • Edit: click the title or Add details to change them.
  • Due date: Add due date opens a calendar.

The ⋯ button of an item has the rest:

  • Copy to my Google Tasks — a personal copy in your Google Tasks (your “My Tasks” list), named with the issue key. When you complete the copy in Google, the team item is completed for everyone the next time you open the panel.
  • Add subitem — one level of subitems, as in Google Tasks.
  • Move up / Move down / Make a subitem of… / Move to the top level — reorder from the keyboard. With the mouse, drag an item to a new place.
  • Delete… — asks in the row first: “Delete this item and its subitems for everyone?”

Who may change it. Jira’s permissions decide, checked on every change: people who can browse the issue see the team checklist; people who may edit the issue can change it. Everyone else sees the items read-only, with the reason. If a teammate changed an item a moment before you, the panel says so and shows the latest version.

Templates. In the Task lists tab, Copy to the team checklist… adds the open tasks of one of your Google lists (a “Definition of done”, for example) to the team checklist.

My Google Tasks

“Only you — kept in your Google Tasks.” Your personal checklist for the issue, stored in your own Google account.

Connect Google

The first time the panel needs Google, it asks you to connect your Google account (Forge, Atlassian’s app platform, shows the consent screen). Sign in with Google and allow:

  • Create, edit, organize, and delete all your tasks — https://www.googleapis.com/auth/tasks, the checklist itself;
  • See your primary email address and basic profile — userinfo.email and profile, so the panel can show which Google account is connected.

The app asks for nothing else: it cannot read your mail, calendar or Drive. How this data is handled is described in the privacy policy.

Create or attach a list

An issue without a list says No checklist yet:

The My Google Tasks tab with No checklist yet and two buttons: Attach an existing list and Create checklist.
  • Create checklist creates a Google task list named after the issue — “[SMK-3] - Launch the new checkout page” — and attaches it, in one click.
  • Attach an existing list opens the Task lists tab, where you pick one of your lists.

Work with your tasks

  • Add a task, then complete it with the circle; completed tasks move to Completed, where you can reopen or delete them.
  • Click a title or Add details to edit; Add due date sets a date (Google Tasks keeps the date and reminds you in Google Calendar and the Google Tasks apps).
  • The ⋯ of a task: Attach a Drive link, Add subtask, Duplicate, Delete….
  • Drag and drop to reorder, or drop a task onto another to make it a subtask.
  • ↻ reads the list from Google again — changes you made in Google Tasks elsewhere appear.
  • The list title can be renamed in place; its ⋯ has Remove or delete list… (remove it from the issue, or also delete it in Google Tasks).
  • Share with the team… copies the list’s open tasks into the team checklist, after a question that says who will see them.

Attach a Drive link: in Google Drive choose Share → Copy link, paste the link and give it a name. It is added at the start of the task’s details as 📎 <name> (https://drive.google.com/open?id=…). The app does not upload files and does not read your Drive.

A list of links kept with the issue (in Jira, not in Google), visible to everyone who opens the panel on the issue.

The Links tab: an Open Google Drive button, Title and Link fields with Add link, and two links, Checkout design and Rollout runbook, each with a remove button.

Enter a Title and a Link (web addresses only) and press Add link. The trash icon removes one link; Remove all links… removes all of them.

Task lists

The Task lists tab with a list chosen in Your Google task lists, and the buttons Preview, Attach to this issue, Copy to this issue, Copy to the team checklist, Use the issue key and summary, and a New list name field with Create list.
  • Your Google task lists — pick one of your lists, then Preview it in a large dialog or Attach to this issue.
  • Copy to this issue — use a list as a template: a new list named after the issue, with the template’s tasks and subtasks, becomes this issue’s checklist. The template is not changed.
  • Copy to the team checklist… — the list’s open tasks become team items.
  • New list name + Create list — a new list in your Google Tasks; Use the issue key and summary fills in the name.

Google account

The Google account tab: Connect a Google account, Disconnect and refresh buttons, a note on how to disconnect, and Google account for this issue with Use for this issue.
  • Connect a Google account — connect another Google account.
  • Google account for this issue + Use for this issue — which of your accounts this issue uses (per person and per issue).
  • Disconnect… — opens your Atlassian account’s connected apps, where you remove this app’s “Google” connection. You can also remove the app’s access in your Google Account (Security → Third-party access).

Find issues by their checklist (Jira search, boards, Automation)

From version 4, every change to the team checklist is copied into the issue as a Jira issue property (simplify-team-checklist), so Jira can search it. Nothing needs to be set up: these fields work in Filters → Search work items (JQL) for every user.

Jira work item search in JQL mode with the query teamChecklistItem ~ "load test" AND teamChecklistOpen > 0, finding SMK-3 Launch the new checkout page.
JQL field What it holds Example
teamChecklistDone items done teamChecklistDone > 0
teamChecklistTotal all items, subitems included teamChecklistTotal > 0 — has a checklist
teamChecklistOpen items not done teamChecklistOpen > 0 AND status = Done
teamChecklistPercent done in whole percent, rounded down (0 for an empty one) teamChecklistPercent < 50
teamChecklistComplete "true" when there are items and all are done teamChecklistComplete = "true"
teamChecklistItem the items’ titles (word search) teamChecklistItem ~ "security"
teamChecklistDue the dates of the items not done teamChecklistDue < now() — overdue items

true and false are reserved words in JQL, so put them in quotes. An issue whose team checklist was last changed before version 4 appears in these searches after someone who may edit it opens the panel once.

Boards. Jira does not let apps draw on board cards, but a board admin can use the fields above on a company-managed board: Board settings → Card colors → Queries (for example teamChecklistOpen > 0 in amber and teamChecklistComplete = "true" in green), Quick filters (“Checklist not done”: teamChecklistOpen > 0) and Swimlanes → Queries.

Automation. Rules can use the JQL above in a condition (“Work item matches JQL teamChecklistComplete = "true"” → transition to Done) and read the values as smart values: {{issue.properties."simplify-team-checklist".done}} of {{issue.properties."simplify-team-checklist".total}}. The property is a copy for reading: a rule that changes it changes nothing in the team checklist.

Block a transition until the team checklist is done

From version 4, a Jira admin can keep an issue from moving to, say, Done while its team checklist has open items. It is off until an admin adds it to a transition.

Step 1: Add the rule to a transition

Open the workflow (Project settings → Workflows → Edit workflow), select the transition — for example the one into Done — and under Rules choose + next to Validate details. The rule Team checklist is done is listed among the rules (and under Marketplace rules → Google Tasks Integration: Checklist for Jira).

The rule needs no configuration — choose Add, then Update workflow.

Step 2: What people see

Moving an issue through that transition works only when its team checklist is complete. Otherwise Jira refuses the move and says: “Finish the team checklist first: every item must be done (the Checklist panel shows what is left).” Issues without a team checklist pass.

The rule is offered in company-managed workflows, and in team-managed ones where Jira lets apps add rules. It reads the copy of the checklist kept in the issue, so it is a workflow guard, not a lock: someone who may edit the issue could change that copy through Jira’s REST API.

What is stored, and where

  • In Atlassian (the app’s Forge storage): which Google task list is attached to an issue; each person’s choice of Google account per issue; the Links tab’s links; the team checklist (titles, details, dates, done or not, and who added, completed and last changed each item, as Atlassian account ids); which team items you copied to your Google Tasks.
  • In the issue (Jira, from version 4): the copy of the team checklist for search, Automation and workflow rules — progress, open items’ dates, item titles; no details, names or account ids.
  • In your Google Tasks: your lists and tasks, which you see and control in Google.
  • On Simplify’s servers: nothing — the app has no server of its own.

Details: privacy policy.

Troubleshooting

  • “The task list could not be found in Google Tasks” — the attached list was deleted in Google, or it is in someone else’s Google account. Google task lists cannot be shared: for a checklist the whole team sees, use the Team checklist.
  • “Your Google access has expired or was removed” — reconnect in the Google account tab.
  • “Google Tasks is busy right now” / “not answering right now” — Google refused for a moment and the app already retried; try again in a minute.
  • “You can view this team checklist; changing it needs permission to edit the issue.” — ask a Jira admin for the Edit issues permission in the project.
  • “Checklist with Google Tasks needs an active licence” — ask a Jira admin to renew the app in Manage apps.

Questions? Contact us through our Support Desk.