Modifying Multiple (Bulk) Issues

Bulk Operations enable operations to be performed on multiple issues at once. These operations are performed on the result set of a search. The following list details the available bulk operations:

  • Workflow Transition
    Lets you transition multiple issues through a workflow at once — e.g. resolve a collection of issues.
  • Delete
    Lets you delete multiple issues at once.
  • Move
    Lets you move multiple issues between projects and/or issue types. Please see the Bulk Move section for further details.
  • Edit
    Lets you edit multiple fields in multiple issues at once. Please see the Bulk Edit section for further details.
  • Watch / Stop Watching
    Lets you start or stop watching multiple issues.

On this page:

About the 'Bulk Change' Global Permission

In order to execute a bulk operation, you will need to be granted the appropriate project-specific permission and the global Bulk Change permission by your JIRA administrator. For example, you would need to be granted both the Move Issue and Bulk Change permissions in order to execute the Bulk Move operation.

The project-specific permissions are still respected for the collection of issues selected for the bulk operation.

Disabling Mail Notification for Bulk Operations

To disable mail notification for a particular bulk operation, deselect the Send Notification checkbox in the bulk operation wizard. In order for this option to be available, you must be an administrator or project administrator of all the associated projects on whose issues the bulk operation is being performed.

Performing a Bulk Operation

  1. Perform a search with the required filters to produce an issue result set.
  2. Select Tools > Bulk Change.
  3. The next screen allows the selection of the issues on which to perform the bulk operation.

  4. The next screen allows the bulk operation to be selected, see the table below for the operation you are performing.

    OperationAction
    DeleteThe final step is confirmation of the delete operation on the selected issues.
    Edit

    The next screen provides a list of the available edit operations that can be performed on the issues selected. After selecting the required Edit operation(s), the final step is confirmation of the edit operation(s) on the selected issues.

    MoveThe next screens allow a target project and issue type to be selected, with the ability to migrate workflow statuses and update required fields as necessary. Further details can be found in the Bulk Move section.
    Workflow TransitionThe next screen shows the available workflow transitions that can be performed on the issues. The transitions are grouped by workflow — along with a list of the affected issues for each workflow transition. Once an operation is selected, the appropriate field screen for that operation is displayed — allowing any necessary field edits that are required to complete the transition. It should be noted that only those issues associated with the selected transition will be updated. It is only possible to select one transition per bulk workflow transition operation.
    WatchThe final step is a confirmation of the watch operation on the selected issues.
    Stop WatchingThe final step is a confirmation of the unwatch operation on the selected issues.

Bulk Operation Screens

See the images below for examples of the Bulk Operation workflow.

Step OneStep Two
Step ThreeStep Four

 

Bulk Move

The Bulk Move operation allows multiple issues to be moved at once. It is possible to move a selection of issues to a new project, with the ability to select a new issue type in certain cases. 

The operation is completed as follows:

  1. Select Projects and/or Issue Types
  2. Select Projects and/or Issue Types for Sub-Tasks
  3. Select status migration mappings for invalid statuses
  4. Select values for required fields and fields with invalid values
  5. Confirm changes to be made and complete the operation
    Note that steps 3 and 4 will occur once for each different target project and issue type combination.

Select Issues

The bulk move operation can be performed on both standard issues and sub-task issues. Standard issues can be moved to another project and issue type, whereas a sub-task can only have its issue type changed. (Note that it is possible to convert a sub-task to an issue, and vice versa.)

It is not possible to select both a sub-task and its parent to bulk move. This is so as to adhere to the parent/sub-task relationship (i.e. the sub-task is always located in the same project as the parent issue). Any sub-tasks of selected parent issues which were also selected will be automatically discarded from the move.

For example, you have issue B being a sub-task of issue A and you try to bulk move both A and B simultaneously. You will see a warning message (see below) and will be prompted to select a target project and issue type for issue A. If you select a new project for A, you will be prompted to move the sub-task to a new issue type based on issue A's new project. If you don't change the project for issue A, the sub-task will not be required to be moved.

Select Projects and Issue Types

The first step of the Bulk Move wizard is to choose which projects and issue types you will move your issues to. The target project and issue type will determine whether extra steps will be required to migrate statuses and fields.

Selected issues are grouped by their current project and issue type. You can either select a new project and issue type for each one or choose to move all standard issues to a single project and issue type.

(info) Note: This does not apply to sub-tasks since they cannot be moved to a standard issue type.

Select Projects and Issue Types for Sub-Tasks

If you are moving issues with sub-tasks to another project, you will also need to move the sub-tasks to the new project. You can also elect to change the issue types of the sub-tasks being moved if you need to.

Workflow Status Mapping

As multiple workflows can be active simultaneously, some statuses associated with the collection of selected issues may not be valid in the target workflow. In this case, JIRA allows you to specify a mapping from invalid statuses to those available in the target workflow.

Field Updates

In order to adhere to the field configuration scheme associated with the target project and issue type, it may be necessary to update/populate required fields (e.g. fields that are required in the target project, but may not have been in the original project).

For each field that needs to be populated, you will be prompted to supply a value. This value will be applied to all issues that are being Bulk Moved together.

For the following fields, JIRA provides a list of possible values for you to select from:

  • Component
  • Affects Version
  • Fix Version
  • Custom fields of type 'Version-Picker'

Note that versions which have been archived in the target project cannot be selected as the target when performing a bulk move. If you need to move issues into an archived version, you will need to first unarchive the version in the target project.

Retain Original Values

It is possible to retain original field values that are valid in the target destination by checking the Retain checkbox associated with the field. For example, some issues may already include a valid custom field value — these values can be retained, while issues that require an update will adopt the value specified on the Field Update screen.

  • Checked: the original value is retained where possible¹. The field will not be updated with the specified new value.
  • Unchecked: all fields will be updated with the specified new value.

Note that the 'Retain' checkbox is not available for the following fields, since an explicit mapping is required:

  • Component
  • Affects Version
  • Fix Version
  • Custom fields of type 'Version-Picker'

Bulk Move Confirmation

When all move parameters — e.g. target project, status mappings and field updates — have been specified for all issues, you will be presented with a confirmation screen displaying all changes that will be made to the issues being moved. The following details are displayed as applicable:

  • Issue Targets: the target project and issue type
  • Workflow: the target workflow and invalid status mappings
  • Updated Fields: new values for fields that require updating
  • Removed Fields: values to be removed in fields that are not valid in the target

The issues will only be moved once the Confirm button is clicked from the confirmation page. If the operation is exited anytime before this step, no changes will be made to the issues.

Bulk Edit

The Bulk Edit operations available depend on the issues selected and the nature of the field it changes.

Available Operations

The following table lists out the possible operations. Please note that all the conditions must be true for the corresponding operation to be available.

Available Operations

Conditions

Change Affects Version/s

  • Selected issues belong to one project, and that project has version/s
  • This field is not hidden in any field configurations the selected issues belong to
  • Current user has 'edit issue' permission for all the selected issues

Change Assign To

  • This field is not hidden in any field configurations the selected issues belong to
  • Current user has 'assign issue' permission for all the selected issues

Change Comment

  • This field is not hidden in any field configurations the selected issues belong to
  • Current user has 'comment issue' permission for all the selected issues

Change Component/s

  • Selected issues belong to one project, and that project has component/s
  • This field is not hidden in any field configurations the selected issues belong to
  • Current user has 'edit issue' permission for all the selected issues

Change Due Date

  • This field is not hidden in any field configurations the selected issues belong to
  • Current user has 'edit issue' permission for all the selected issues
  • Current user has 'schedule issue' permission for all the selected issues

Change Fix For Version/s

  • Selected issues belong to one project, and that project has version/s
  • This field is not hidden in any field configurations the selected issues belong to
  • Current user has 'edit issue' permission for all the selected issues

Change Issue Type

  • Current user has 'edit issue' permission for all the selected issues

Change Priority

  • This field is not hidden in any field configurations the selected issues belong to
  • Current user has 'edit issue' permission for all the selected issues

Change Reporter

  • This field is not hidden in any field configurations the selected issues belong to
  • Current user has 'edit issue' permission for all the selected issues
  • Current user has 'modify reporter' permission for all the selected issues

Change Security Level

  • This field is not hidden in any field configurations the selected issues belong to
  • All the selected projects are assigned the same issue level security scheme
  • Current user has 'edit issue' permission for all the selected issues
  • Current user has 'set issue security' permission for all the selected issues

Change Custom Fields

The 'Change Custom Fields' operation is available only if:

  • a global custom field exists OR
  • an issue type custom field exists and the issues are all of this specific issue type OR
  • a project custom field exists and the issues are all of the same project

Edit a Closed Issue

Change Sprint

You need to specify the sprint ID, even if you are using JIRA Agile 6.3.9 (which has the new Sprint field) or later with JIRA.

  • This operation only affects active and future sprints, i.e. closed/completed sprints are not included when bulk editing the Sprint field.

Unavailable Operations

The fields listed in this section have no operations for bulk editing. This is because there is an alternative method or it is not logical to perform bulk edit on them.

The following system fields are unavailable for bulk editing:

  • Attachments
  • Summary
  • Description
  • Environment
  • Project — Please use 'Bulk Move' to move issues between projects
  • Resolution — Please use 'Bulk Workflow Transitions' to modify the resolution of issues
  • Time Tracking fields — Original Estimate, Remaining Estimate, Time Spent

The following custom field types are unavailable for bulk editing:

  • Import Id
  • Read Only Text

Troubleshooting

Last modified on Apr 4, 2014

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