Configuring sub-tasks

Disabling sub-tasks

Sub-tasks are enabled by default. However, this feature can be disabled from the Sub-Tasks administration page.
Sub-tasks will be disabled by default if your Jira installation was upgraded from a version prior to 4.2 that had sub-tasks disabled.

1. Log in as a user with the Jira Administrators global permission.

2. Choose > Issues. Select  Issue Types > Sub-Tasks to open the Sub-Tasks page.

3. Click the 'Disable' Sub-Tasks link. The page reloads and informs you that sub-tasks are now disabled.

Please note: Sub-tasks cannot be disabled if one or more sub-tasks exists in the system. You must remove any existing sub-tasks (or convert them to standard issues) before you can disable this feature.

Enabling sub-tasks

Sub-tasks can be enabled from the Sub-Tasks administration screen.

1. Log in as a user with the Jira Administrators global permission.

2. Choose > Issues. Select  Issue Types > Sub-Tasks to open the Sub-Tasks page.

3. Click the 'Enable' Sub-Tasks link. The page will reload and inform you that the sub-tasks are now enabled.
   A default sub-task issue type is automatically available for use. You can edit it by clicking its Edit link in the Operations column.

Defining sub-task issue types

Sub-tasks must be assigned one of the sub-task issue types, which are different to standard issue types. Please note that at least one sub-task issue type must be defined in Jira for users to be able to create sub-tasks.

Sub-task issue types can be customized on the Sub-Tasks administration page (described above). The Sub-Tasks administration page also allows you to create, edit (i.e. the name, description or icon), and translate your sub-task issue types.

Creating a sub-task issue type

1. Log in as a user with the Jira Administrators global permission.

2. Choose > Issues. Select  Issue Types > Sub-Tasks to open the Sub-Tasks page.

   

3. Click Add New Sub-task Issue Type button to open the Add New Sub-task Issue Type dialog box.
4. Complete the following:
   
   

   • Name — enter a short phrase that best describes your new sub-task issue type.

   • Description — enter a sentence or two to describe when this sub-task issue type should be used.

   • Icon URL — supply the path of a image from an accessible URLor an image that has been placed somewhere inside <jira-application-dir>/images/icons of your Jira application installation directory.

Editing a sub-task issue type

1. Log in as a user with the Jira Administrators global permission.
2. Choose > Issues. Select  Issue Types > Sub-Tasks to open the Sub-Tasks page.
3. Click the Edit link (in the Operations column) for the sub-task issue type that you wish to edit.
4. Edit the Name, Description, and/or Icon, as described above in Creating a sub-task issue type.

Deleting a sub-task issue type

You can only delete sub-task issue types through the Manage Issue Types page. For details, see Deleting an issue type. 

Blocking issue workflows by sub-task status

It is possible to restrict the progression of an issue through workflow depending on the status of the issue's sub-tasks. For example, you might need to restrict an issue from being resolved until all of its sub-tasks are resolved. To achieve this, you would create a custom workflow and use the Sub-task Blocking Condition on the workflow transitions that are to be restricted by the sub-tasks' status.

Configuring sub-task fields displayed on parent issues

Jira system administratorscan define which fields of sub-tasks are displayed in the Sub-tasks section on the 'view issue' page of a parent issue (which contains one or more sub-tasks). This is done by editing the value of the jira.table.cols.subtasks property on Jira's Configuring advanced settings page.

Specify which fields you want to show in the Sub-tasks section of a parent issue's 'view issue' page by entering the appropriate 'value' for each field in a comma-separated list. The jira.table.cols.subtasks property can accept the values indicated in right-hand column of the IssueFieldConstants table on the Constant Field Values page (of Jira's API documentation).

Please note:

• The order of each value in this list determines the order of their representative fields in the Sub-tasks section of a parent issue's 'view issue' page.
• The summary field is a mandatory value which assumes first position in this property's value.

Tracking all your Jira issues can be overwhelming. Check out these sub-tasks apps on the Atlassian Marketplace to assign and track smaller tasks separately: 

• Create on Transition for Jira: Automatically create multiple issues and sub-tasks when a select issue transitions through a workflow
• Quick Subtasks for Jira: Create multiple sub-tasks using a simple text syntax
• Sub Task Manager for Jira Cloud: Create multiple sub-tasks, linked issue or epic issues easily