Using Contexts to Filter and Highlight Issues

Note that this page only applies if you are using the Classic Boards (which are no longer being actively developed; read more).

If you are using the new boards, please see Configuring a Board instead.

GreenHopper contexts help streamline the view of your project by filtering and highlighting issues based on preset criteria. You can hide and/or highlight certain issues via a JIRA issue filter or custom criteria.

Contexts are available in the Planning Board, Task Board, Chart Board and Released Board. A different context can be used on each board.

On this page:

Selecting a Context

To select a context,

Log into JIRA.
Click the Agile menu in the top navigation bar.
Select the Planning Board or other board to which this context applies.
- If you have chosen the Planning Board, select the mode to which this context applies.
Select your desired context from the Context dropdown (next to the Project dropdown). The Board will refresh and the cards displayed will be filtered according to the selected context.

You can select a context for each of the following:

Planning Board — 'Project Overview' mode
Planning Board — 'Version' mode
Planning Board — 'Component' mode
Planning Board — 'Assignee' mode
Chart Board
Released Board
Task Board
Your choices for each of these will be remembered.

GreenHopper comes with 2 built-in contexts:

'On the fly' context — A non-deletable context that will allow all logged-in users to build new contexts (See the 'Creating a New Context' section below). Any changes that a user makes to this context will only persist for the current session and will not be saved.
'Default' context — A non-deletable context that only people with the 'Administer Projects' permission can edit and that is shared with all users and anonymous users (if your project is public). It is very important to note that editing this context will affect all users that use that context.

Modifying a Context

You can change the sorting and the filters and highlighting of the selected context via the context dropdown. If you have the 'Administer Projects' permission you can share your context with other users, as well as remove contexts.

To modify a context,

Log into JIRA.
Click the Agile menu in the top navigation bar.
Select the Planning Board or other board to which this context applies.
- If you have chosen the Planning Board, select the mode to which this context applies.
Select Manage from the Context dropdown (next to the project dropdown). The Edit Context window will display:
- General tab:
  - Context name — Edit the name of your context.
  - Share — Check this checkbox to share the context with other users. User will then be able to select this context from their context dropdowns. Please note, you must have the 'Administer Projects' permission before you can share a context.
- Sorting tab — Select a different field by which to sort your context.
- Filter tab — Edit the filter criteria as described below.
- Highlight tab — Edit the highlight criteria as described below.
- Delete — Click this button to delete the context. You must be the creator of the context to delete it. Please note that once you have deleted a context there is no way to restore it. You will need to recreate it manually.

Creating a New Context

To create a new context,

Log into JIRA.
Click the Agile menu in the top navigation bar.
Select the Planning Board or other board to which this context applies.
- If you have chosen the Planning Board, select the mode to which this context applies.
Select New from the Context dropdown (next to the project dropdown). The New Context window will display, with four tabs as shown below.
- General tab:
  - Context name — Enter a name for your new context.
  - Share — Check this checkbox to share the context with other users. User will then be able to select this context from their context dropdowns. Please note, you must be have the the 'Administer Projects' permission before you can share a context.
- Sorting tab — Select a field by which to sort the issues in your new context, and whether to sort the field in ascending or descending order.
- Filter tab — Select one or more existing JIRA issue filters to use to filter your issues. Select None if you only want to use the custom filter settings specified on this page.
  Note: If you select a JIRA filter, and intend to share this context with other users, make sure that those users have access to the JIRA filter — otherwise this context will show them an empty board.
  In the Specific Criteria filter section, select the fields to filter on. If an existing JIRA filter has been selected, these fields will be filtered on in addition to the selected JIRA filter:
  - Statuses — multi selection
  - Issue Type(s) — multi selection
  - Issue Priorities — multi selection
  - Assignee(s) — single selection
  - Component(s) — multi selection
- Highlight tab ---The 'Highlight' section emphasises issues in the context that match the specified search query. The highlight search query works identically to the filter(s) described in the previous step.
Click Save and apply to save your changes.