Edit Jira work items after they are closed
Platform Notice: Cloud - This article applies to Atlassian products on the cloud platform.
Summary
Jira does not allow for editing closed work items as they cannot be edited by default. This means the Edit button won't appear, and all fields will appear as plain text with no option to change their values.
There are scenarios where you may need to fix or simply change information on an item that has already been closed. This can be changed by editing the workflow for affected projects and work items.
Remove the jira.issue.editable = false property from workflows
We advise against editing the Default workflow. You should create a copy of the workflow instead and then assign it to the relevant projects and/or workflow schemes.
As a Jira administrator:
- Navigate to the Workflow being used by the work item.
- Select Edit.
- In Diagram Mode, select the "Closed" status and select Properties which appears in the popup window.
- The status name may be different than "Closed" - choose whichever status is blocking editing in your Jira instance.
- Delete the jira.issue.editable Property Key to allow issues in this status to be edited.
- Publish draft on the workflow so the change is applied.
This will allow anyone with Edit Work Item Permissions the ability to edit closed items in your Project(s).