Managing Versions

Managing a project's versions

1. Log in to JIRA as a project administrator.
   A project administrator is someone who has the project-specific permission 'Administer Project', but not necessarily the global permission 'JIRA Administrators'.
2. Click the 'Administration' link at the top of the screen.
3. Click 'Projects' and select the project of interest.
   Keyboard shortcut: 'g' + 'g' + start typing 'project'
4. You will now see the 'Project Summary' screen (see Defining a Project). On the lower right, a summary of the versions is displayed, showing each version's status and the scheduled release date for that version (see Screenshot 1 below).
5. Click 'More' to display the 'Versions' screen (see Screenshot 2 below), which shows a list of versions and each version's status. From here you can manage the project's versions as described below.

Screenshot 1: The 'Versions' section of the 'Project Summary' screen

Screenshot 2: The 'Versions' screen

Version status

Each version can have any of the following four statuses:

• Released — a bundled package
• Unreleased — an open package
• Archived — a semi-transparent package

• Overdue— the release date is highlighted

  The status affects where the version appears in drop-down lists for version-related issue fields ('Fix For Version' and 'Affects Version').

Adding a new version

1. The 'Add Version' form is located at the top of the 'Versions' screen (see Screenshot 2 above).
2. Enter the name for the version. The name can be:
   • simple numeric, e.g. "2.1", or
   • complicated numeric, e.g. "2.1.3", or
   • a word, such as the project's internal code-name, e.g. "Memphis".
3. Optional details such as the version description and release date (i.e. the planned release date for a version) can be also be specified.
4. Click the 'Add' button. The version management list is updated immediately, with the newly created version added at the top of the list — you can drag it to a different position if you wish, by hovering over the 'drag' icon at the left of the version name:

Releasing a version

Before you begin: If you have integrated JIRA with Atlassian's Bamboo, you can trigger a Bamboo build to run automatically when releasing a version of JIRA. The JIRA version will only be released if the build is successful. See these alternate instructions: Running a Bamboo Build when Releasing a Version.

1. On the 'Versions' screen (see Screenshot 2 above), hover over the relevant version to display the cog icon, then select 'Release' from the drop-down menu.
2. If there are any issues set with this version as their 'Fix For' version, JIRA allows you to choose to change the 'Fix For' version if you wish. Otherwise, the operation will complete without modifying these issues.

To revert the release of a version, simply select 'Unrelease' from the drop-down menu.

Archiving a version

1. On the 'Versions' screen (see Screenshot 2 above), hover over the relevant version to display the cog icon, then select 'Archive' from the drop-down menu.
2. The version list indicates the version 'archived' status with a semi-transparent icon. The list of available operations is replaced with the 'Unarchive' operation. No further changes can be made to this version unless it is un-archived. Also it is not possible to remove any existing archived versions from an issue's affected and fix version fields or add any new archived versions.

To revert the archive of a version, simply select 'Unarchive' from the drop-down menu.

Merging multiple versions

Merging multiple versions allows you to move the issues from one or more versions to another version.

1. On the 'Versions' screen (see Screenshot 2 above), click the 'Merge' link at the top right of the screen.
2. The 'Merge Versions' popup will be displayed. On this page are two select lists — both listing all un-archived versions. In the 'Merging From Versions' select list, choose the version(s) whose issues you wish to move. Versions selected on this list will be removed from the system. All issues associated with these versions will be updated to reflect the new version selected in the 'Merge To Version' select list. It is only possible to select one version to merge to.
3. Click the 'Merge' button. If you are shown a confirmation page, click 'Merge' again to complete the operation.

Editing a version's details

1. On the 'Versions' screen (see Screenshot 2 above), hover over the relevant version to display the pencil icon.
2. This will allow you to edit the version's Name, Description and Release Date.
3. Click the 'Update' button to save your changes.

Deleting a version

1. On the 'Versions' screen (see Screenshot 2 above), hover over the relevant version to display the cog icon, then select 'Delete' from the drop-down menu.
2. This will bring you to the "Delete Version: <Version>" confirmation page. From here, you can specify the actions to be taken for issues associated with the version to be deleted. You can either associate these issues with another version, or simply remove references to the version to be deleted.

Rescheduling a version

Recheduling a version changes its place in the order of versions.

• On the 'Versions' screen (see Screenshot 2 above), click the icon for the relevant version, and drag it to its new position in the version order.

See also

• The GreenHopper documentation on Setting Up a Version Hierarchy.