Managing components

Components are sub-sections of a project. They are used to group issues within a project into smaller parts. You can set a default assignee for a component. This will override the project's default assignee, for issues in that component.

You need to have the project-specific Administer Projects permission or the Jira administrator global permission to be able to:

  • Add — create a new component against which issues can be aligned
  • Select a default assignee — choose who is automatically assigned issues with that component assigned
  • Edit — change the details of a component
  • Delete — remove a component

Once a component has been created for a project, the 'Component' field becomes available for your issues. If you cannot see this field on your issue, your project may not have any components yet, or the field is hidden from view.

On this page:

Managing a project's components

  1. In the upper-right corner of the screen, select Administration  > Projects.

  2. Select a project's name to open it.

  3. In the project sidebar, select Components. The Components page is displayed, showing a list of components and each component's details. From here you can manage the project's components as described below.

Adding a new component

  1. The Add component form is located at the top of the "Components" screen.
  2. Enter the Name for the component. Optionally, enter a Description, and select a Component Lead and Default assignee (see options below).
  3. Select Add.

Selecting a default assignee

You can optionally set a default assignee for a component. This will override the project's default assignee for issues in that component.

Multiple components and selecting assignees

In the case of issues with multiple components, the assignee structure works top-down, that is from the least to the most specific. The most specific (Component Lead) takes precedence over others. For example, if an issue has multiple components and some of these components have the Unassigned option selected, some have a Project Lead specified, and some others - a Component Lead, then the Component lead will always take precedence as the Assignee. 

Default assignee option

Description

Notes

Project Default

Issues matching this component will have the assignee set to the same default assignee as the parent project.

If an issue has multiple components, and no assignee is selected for any of the components, we use the Project Default assignee.

Unassigned

The assignee of the issue will not be set on the creation of this issue.

This option will only be available if "Allow unassigned issues" is enabled in the General Configuration.

Unassigned takes precedence over Project default as the Assignee.

Project Lead

The assignee will be set to the project leader.

If the project leader is not permitted to be assigned to issues in the permission scheme, this option will be disabled and will say "Project Lead is not allowed to be assigned issues".

Project Lead takes precedence over Project default and Unassigned as the Assignee.

Component Lead

The assignee will be set to the component leader.

If the component leader is not permitted to be assigned to issues in the permission scheme, this option will be disabled and will say "Component Lead is not allowed to be assigned issues". The Component Lead option will also not be available if the component does not have a lead assigned to the component. Instead under this option it will say "Component does not have a lead.".

If an issue has multiple components, and at least one of them uses Component Lead, then the Component Lead takes precedence over Project Lead, Project Default, and Unassigned as the Assignee. If the components have different Component Leads, the default assignee will be set to the Component Lead of the component that is first alphabetically.

Editing a component's details

  1. On the "Components" screen, open the menu in the Actions column for the component you want to edit, and select Edit.
  2. Edit the component's Name, Description, Lead, and Default assignee in the Edit component dialog.
  3. Select the Save button to save your changes.

Searching for a component

If you need to find a component in a long list, it's easiest to search for it. Start typing text into the search box that you know the component contains, and your list will automatically be filtered for you.

Deleting a component

  1. On the "Components" screen, open the menu in the Actions column for the component you want to delete, and select Delete.
  2. You will be prompted to associate any issues assigned to this component with another component if you wish.
  3. Select Delete to delete the component.

Archiving a component

You can archive the components that are no longer relevant so that they do not clutter your Jira instance. By archiving a component, you make it unavailable to be chosen and linked to issues but you still keep it as reference for reporting purposes. The component still appears on the components' list but is marked as Archived.

To archive a component:

  1. Open your project, and select Components in the project sidebar.

  2. Find the component you want to archive, and select More (> Archive.

    The component will be immediately tagged as Archived.

The component remains on the components' list, marked as Archived. It disappears from the components dropdown on an issue page so that it cannot be selected and linked to a new issue. Archived components linked to issues show as read-only in the Components field.

Archived components, as seen within an issue.

If you use Jira Service Management as well, then your archived components will show as read-only in tickets. Additionally, you will not be able to select and link an archived component to the ticket.

Restoring a component

All the component data remains in Jira, so you can restore it whenever it's needed again.

To restore a component:

  1. Go to Components and select the component to restore.

    tip/resting Created with Sketch.

    You can filter for the Archived status to find the component you need.

  2. Next to the component to be restored select More () > Restore.

    The component will be restored to its original state and marked Active.

Last modified on Oct 8, 2022

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