Edit issue fields with Jira automation
The information on this page is a collection of tips and hints for editing fields on the Clone, Edit, and Transition actions.
Field specific tips and hints
Labels
The more actions menu ... for the labels field provides access to add/remove operations, which allows you to add or remove specific labels to the existing set of labels, instead of replacing all existing labels (the default operation).
User picker
When you edit a user picker field, make sure the assigned values come from another user picker field. This will establish correct field behavior. Using values from a text field with smart values syntax might cause issues.
For example, custom user picker fields should get values from other user picker fields, such as reporter or assignee. If you must use a text field like description, it should resolve to the user’s key instead of username.
General tips and hints
Adding a value to a multi select field
When editing a multi select field you are performing a set operation rather than an add option. In the example below, the result of the action running will be to set the Components field to Triaged only and any other values that were already set will be removed.
Sometimes, you want to simply add a new value to the existing values set for a field. To do so, you can use the Copy from issue option in combination with any new values to add, which will retain existing values:
Copy values between fields using smart values
You can use smart values in the Edit issue action to copy values between fields without needing the More options section. Let's assume you have a single user custom field called Custom single user picker and you want to copy its value into the Assignee field. To do so:
- In the Edit issue action, select Assignee as the field to set.
- Copy and paste the smart value into the field.
- The value will be automatically recognized as a smart value. Press Enter to validate it.
The smart value will be used to edit the Assignee field.
You can find more examples showing how to combine fields together using smart Values in the following articles: