Issue with "blocked date" changing on a work item when work item is opened/viewed

Karen May 0 Reputation points
2026-08-13T14:37:03.38+00:00

We have noticed that in our production environment when a user marks a work item (feature) blocked and current date/timestamp.

Later, if the work item is opened (viewed) the blocked date changes to the current date/time it was viewed. We have a rule set to only capture the current date/timestamp when the end user marks the work item blocked. Any thoughts?

Azure DevOps
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  1. Tejaswini Billakurthi 250 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator
    2026-09-02T13:35:48.4333333+00:00

    Hi @Karen May

    Thanks for reaching out to Microsoft Q & A!

    The behavior you're seeing is not expected. Simply opening or viewing a work item should not update the "Blocked Date" field.  

    This behavior is typically caused by a custom Azure DevOps rule or other automation that updates the field whenever the work item is saved or modified, rather than only when the Blocked status changes from unblocked to blocked.  

    We recommend reviewing: • Custom work item rules configured for the Blocked and Blocked Date fields. • Any Power Automate flows, service hooks, or custom extensions associated with work item updates. • The work item's History/Revisions tab to identify which account or process is updating the Blocked Date field.

    For reference, Microsoft documentation: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/devops/organizations/settings/work/custom-rules?view=azure-devops

    Please "Accept the Answer" if this information helped you. This will help us and others in the community as well.

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