Summary

The archiving functionality allows users to move whole Jira projects or single issues into an "Archived" status. This removes the issues from the Jira index without wiping them from the database. This functionality is available in Jira Data Center but not in Jira Server. The purpose of this knowledge article is to provide alternative solutions, in case you are using Jira Server.

Environment

Jira Server

Workarounds

In Jira Server, you will need to use a custom solution in order to accomplish this, which will demand some manual tasks. Below are some workarounds to accomplish this, with some advantages and disadvantages:

1. Plugins

Use a plugin Issue Archiver for Jira - That would be the easiest way to go. This 3rd party App might accomplish all the work for archiving the issues as needed. You would need to install the plugin and contact the vendor in case you have any issues or concerns on how to use it.

2. Store issues in a Document Management System

You can export Jira issues into a static, human readable format like HTML or PDF. Depending on the output format, you can keep issue metadata like issue attachments, issue links, comments, change history and export issues without risking data loss.

An exporter app like Better PDF Exporter can export Jira issues to PDF documents with custom layout and scope of custom fields. To create a self-containing issue archive, opt to include comments, embedded attachments, change history, issue links, formatted text, and any other issue attributes. Then use a Document Management System to store, categorize and index your archived issues. This approach offers data retention, easy searching and browsing capabilities.

It proved successful for a government organization before, and would work in many use cases for Jira issue archiving.

Advantages

• By exporting you can archive even a single issue or any group of issues. For example, you can use the Jira Issue Navigator and archive all "Done" issues and "Won't do" issues. You can even set up an automation rule to run a certain JQL periodically and archive the resulted issues. It allows for a more dynamic archiving workflow.
• All issue information stays on the PDF, including issue summary, description, comments, attachment file names, etc, so it makes a perfectly searchable database of archived issues.
• Documents stored in a Document Management System are read-only and tamper-proof, but external users can still access them for audit or other inspection purposes.
• Exporting issues and moving them improves Jira performance as those are removed from Jira indexing and search while also frees up valuable resources on the server.
• Archiving Jira issues improves user experience.

Disadvantages

• Restoring issues from PDF won’t be possible, at least not for a lot of issues in bulk. You can still "restore" issues manually or write some program that parses issue data from the document and re-creates the issue via the Jira REST API.
• Issue links, pointing to the archived issues, will be broken.
• It involves managing a separate Document Management System (if you are not already running one).

3. Using restrictive permissions schemes

This option works on Jira Data Center as well, but it's mostly useful for Jira Server as it lacks native archiving features. The most commonly used workaround for achieving something like an archived Jira project is setting up a dedicated permission scheme. This permission configuration would only allow read-only access or not even that for users, practically making projects invisible.

How to do it?

1. Filter for all the issues that you want to archive then bulk move them into a separate project as outlined in: Editing multiple issues at the same time
2. Archived the Project as outlined in Archiving a project in Jira Server

Advantages

• This technique hides the project (and its issues) from users, so declutters the Jira interface.
• Reactivating hidden Jira projects is easy.

Disadvantages

• Issues hidden with a permission will still be indexed, therefore Jira performance will not improve.
• Hidden issues and attachments will continue consuming resources like disk space on the server.
• Managing and applying the proper schemes every time a project needs to be archived means an administrative burden.

4. Moving issues to another Jira instance

Setting up another Jira instance and making that the "Archive Jira" is another frequently used workaround. There are also a few Jira apps that help you sync, move or share your projects and configurations between the Production and the Archive Jira.

Advantages

• Moving old issues elsewhere offloads the traffic from the production instance, improving its performance.
• Issues and attachments are cleaned from the production instance, freeing up resources.
• Issues stay easily accessible and searchable, with the on-demand option for restoring.

Disadvantages

• If you move projects by creating backups, those can only be restored to the same Jira version.
• Setting up and administering an additional Jira instance just adds to the admin tasks already piled up.