How to easily tailor your Custom Charts for Jira & Confluence to different audiences using the accompanying gadget/macro, Simple Search.
Simple Search
Streamline the way your team searches and filters Jira data so the right answers reach the right people.
The simple search gadget is a Jira dashboard component that lets anyone search and filter Custom Charts data without writing JQL. Drop it onto a dashboard, connect it to any chart or macro, and your team can pull the report they need by typing a few words. No query syntax, no filter manager, no waiting on an admin.
What does the simple search gadget do?
It turns a dashboard into a self-serve reporting surface. A user types a term into the gadget, and every connected chart or macro re-filters to match. The gadget searches across the fields that matter most, including issue keys, summaries, assignees, and custom fields, so a single query narrows the whole dashboard to the issues in scope.
Streamline data discovery for any team
Cut the gap between "I need this report" and "here is the answer."
Search without complex queries. Type the term, get the result — no JQL required.
Pinpoint the exact data set you are looking for. Filter to the issues that matter and ignore everything else.
Search across the fields that matter most: Issue keys, summaries, assignees, and custom fields, all in one place.
Benefits of the simple search gadget
Set up your reporting machine
Connect an interactive issue searcher to any Custom Charts gadget or macro, and your team gets an instant report on the custom fields they care about. Build it once, share it with the whole dashboard.
Save time and improve efficiency
The gadget collapses the work of sorting through large datasets into a single search bar. Time that used to disappear into manual filtering goes back into analysis.
Increase productivity
When data retrieval stops being the bottleneck, your team's hours move to where they create value: Interpretation, decisions, and action.
Improve decision-making
Real-time insights on accurate data mean fewer decisions made on stale dashboards or half-remembered numbers.
How does it work in detail?
The gadget streamlines access to the data your team needs for the work in front of them. Instead of navigating complex reports or wading through results that do not apply, people get to the relevant view immediately.
Full customization for your specific needs
Different roles ask different questions of the same data. Developers searching for an issue key, project managers tracking assigned work, and stakeholders pulling rollups all hit the same gadget with different inputs and get answers tailored to them.
Informed decision-making through accessibility
Easy access to accurate, current data is what informed decisions are built on. The gadget puts that data within reach of anyone with dashboard access, not just the JQL-fluent few.
Drive visibility forward with Custom Charts
The gadget is one of dozens of features in Custom Charts for Jira. Trial Custom Charts and connect the gadget to any chart on your dashboard — your team will be self-serving reports the same day.
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No. The simple search gadget is built for non-technical users. Type a term – an issue key, summary text, an assignee name, a value in a custom field – and the gadget filters Custom Charts results without any JQL. People who do know JQL can keep using it; the gadget sits alongside, not instead of, query-based filtering.
Simple search connects to any Custom Charts gadget or macro on a Jira dashboard. Once connected, any input typed into the search bar filters every linked chart simultaneously, so a single search updates an entire dashboard view.
Yes. Simple search covers default Jira fields – issue keys, summaries, assignees, statuses – plus custom fields configured in your project. That includes free-text custom fields, which is where most teams hit dead ends with standard Jira search.
JQL and the filter manager are powerful but require either query knowledge or admin-defined filters. Simple search is the everyday tool: anyone with dashboard access can refine data on the fly without authoring or saving a filter. JQL stays available when you need precision; simple search handles the 80% of searches that don't.
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