How to see if a value that changed was empty or not empty before it changed?

[Khira Niemeier]

We are currently setting up an automation.

It should trigger on value Change (Due Date).

It needs to have two different outcomes. 

1. when value (Due Date) was empty, it should do one thing.
2. when value (Due Date) was not empty, it should do the other thing.

How can I ask if the value was empty or not empty before the automation triggered?
Is this even possible?

we are working with this trigger:


and after this we are checking on the issue type and on if the issue is currently not empty
and then triggering the executions.

The problem that we currently have is that we can not tell if the value was empty before or not and so we can only have one outcome, but we would need the 2 of them for this automation to work.

Is there a way to tell if the Due Date was empty before the value changed or not?

[Bert Dombrecht · Accepted solution]

Hi @Khira Niemeier 

You can use the {{smart values}} condition with the smart value {{fieldChange.from}}.

[Khira Niemeier]

Oh what a nice solution - thank you so much I will remember this for the next time when I have to set up such an automation. <3

Way easier than what I found! :) 

[Khira Niemeier]

I think I found the solution myself:

Using the {{changelog}} smart value fixes the problem.

Using the {{smart values}} condition works well.

the smart value {{fromString}}{{/}} asks for the previous value and this is exactly what we were looking for.

We have a second if request that asks for equals EMPTY and I just tested it. It works! :)  

[Mikael Sandberg]

Since you are triggering on an action that edits a work item you can use the {{changelog}} smart value to see what the previous value was.