Defining Issue Type Field Values

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JIRA ships with a set of default 'issue types' to help you get started. Everyone's needs are different and so JIRA also allows you to add, edit and delete your own custom issue types. The diagram on Configuring Fields and Screens shows how issue types relate to other entities in JIRA.

Note that you can also:

Tip: You can quickly configure the workflow/screen design of an existing issue type for a project via the project administration page. See Defining a Project for details.

On this page:

Creating an issue type

When creating a new issue type in JIRA, you can create either a new standard or sub-task issue type. However, to create a sub-task issue type, you must Enable sub-tasks.

You can also create sub-tasks on the Sub-Tasks page. See Creating a sub-task issue type for details.

To create a new issue type:

  1. Log in as a user with the JIRA Administrators global permission.
  2. Choose > Issues. Select Issue Types to open the Issue Types page, which lists all issue types.
    (tick)  Keyboard shortcut: g + g + start typing issue types
  3. Click the Add Issue Type button to open the Add New Issue Type dialog box.
  4. Complete the Add New Issue Type dialog box:
    • Name — enter a short phrase that best describes your new issue type.
    • Description — enter a sentence or two to describe when this issue type should be used.
    • Type — specify whether the issue type you are creating is a Standard issue type or a Sub-Task issue type. Sub-tasks are associated with individual Standard issues.
      (info) This option will not be available if sub-tasks are disabled.
    • Icon URL — supply the path of a image that has been placed somewhere inside <jira-application-dir>/images/icons of your JIRA Installation Directory or from an accessible URL.
  5. Click the Add button to create your new issue type.
    (info) Your new issue type will be automatically added to the Default Issue Type Scheme. You may want to also add it to other issue type schemes — for more information, see Managing Issue Type Schemes.

Deleting an issue type

(warning) Before you begin:

  • If any issues of the Issue Type you are about to delete exist in your JIRA installation, please ensure this Issue Type has the following requirements (to ensure JIRA prompts you to choose a new Issue Type for those issues):
  • Alternatively, you can simply search for all issues that currently use the Issue Type which you are about to delete and perform a Bulk Move to change those issues to a different Issue Type.

To delete an Issue Type:

  1. Log in as a user with the JIRA Administrators global permission.
  2. Choose > Issues. Select Issue Types to open the Issue Types page, which lists all issue types.
    (tick) Keyboard shortcut: g + g + start typing issue types
  3. Click the Delete link (in the Operations column) for the issue type that you wish to delete.
  4. Complete the fields

Editing an issue type

To change the name, description or icon for an issue type:

  1. Log in as a user with the JIRA Administrators global permission.
  2. Choose > Issues. Select Issue Types to open the Issue Types page, which lists all issue types.
    (tick) Keyboard shortcut: g + g + start typing issue types
  3. Click the Edit link (in the Operations column) for the issue type that you wish to edit.
  4. Edit the Name, Description and/or Icon as described above for Creating an issue type.

(info) Please Note: To reorder an Issue Type, or set it as a default, see Associating Issue Types with Projects. (Reordering issue types changes the order in which they are displayed to the user who is creating an issue; and the default issue type is the one that is displayed in the selection-box — see Creating an Issue.)

Last modified on Feb 25, 2014

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