Reopening a sprint

JIRA Software lets you reopen sprints that have been previously closed. This is a handy feature when:

You've mistakenly completed the wrong sprint.
You completed the correct sprint, but you completed it too early.

Moreover, sprints that are mistakenly closed, or closed too early will affect your team's velocity, as the data in these sprints will still be included in your board. Your Velocity Chart will then be reflecting inaccurate data.

On this page:

Before you begin

Sprints only apply to Scrum boards.
To reopen a sprint, you must be a JIRA Administrator or a user with the Manage Sprints permission.

General points when reopening sprints

In general, it's worthy to keep these points in mind when you're trying to reopen a sprint:

When the Parallel Sprints feature is not enabled and there is a currently active sprint, you cannot reopen the sprint you previously completed.
When issues in the completed sprint have already been moved to other active sprints, you can still reopen the sprint, but it will not contain the issues that are already in the active sprints.
For issues that are completed outside of a sprint, but are then pulled back into a sprint you just reopened, the Sprint Report for the opened sprint will show these issues as 'completed outside of this sprint'.

An in-depth look at reopening sprints

The diagram below shows you the possible flows when you're reopening sprints, depending on certain scenarios.

Scenarios where you can reopen sprints

In the following sample scenarios listed below, let's assume the following details:

You've created a sprint and named it 'Sprint 1'.
You added some issues to Sprint 1, and then started it.
Your team is currently working on the issue in Sprint 1.
You have a future planned sprint named 'Sprint 2'.

Simple scenarios

Below are some examples of simple scenarios where you may want to reopen a sprint, and the results you can expect.

Scenario details	Expected results
You closed Sprint 1, and there were some completed issues in it. All incomplete issues were moved back to the Backlog. All these incomplete issues are still in the Backlog when you try to reopen Sprint 1.	Sprint 1 is reopened successfully. Sprint 1 contains all the completed and incomplete issues that were in Sprint 1 when it was closed.
You closed Sprint 1, and there were no completed issues in it. All incomplete issues were moved back to the Backlog. During sprint planning, you moved all of these issues to the future sprint, Sprint 2. You started Sprint 2, and Sprint 2 is a currently active sprint when you try to reopen Sprint 1. The Parallel Sprints feature is enabled.	Sprint 1 cannot be reopened because all incomplete issues in Sprint 1 when it was closed are now in the currently active Sprint 2.

Complex scenarios

In some cases, you may be able to reopen a sprint, but the results may not be as what you expect them to be. Or you may not be able to reopen a sprint altogether. Below are some examples of complex scenarios where you may want to reopen a sprint, and the results you can expect.

Scenario details

Expected results

You closed Sprint 1, and there were some completed issues in it.
All incomplete issues were moved back to the Backlog.
During sprint planning, you moved some of these issues to the future sprint, Sprint 2.
You started Sprint 2, and Sprint 2 is a currently active sprint when you try to reopen Sprint 1.
The Parallel Sprints feature is enabled.

Sprint 1 is reopened successfully.
Sprint 1 contains all the completed and incomplete issues that were in the Sprint 1 when it was closed.
The incomplete issues that were in Sprint 1 when it was closed, but are currently in the active Sprint 2 will remain in Sprint 2. This is because issues in an active sprint are not moved during the reopen sprint process.

You closed Sprint 1, and there were some completed issues in it.
All incomplete issues were moved back to the Backlog.
During sprint planning, you moved some of these issues to the future sprint, Sprint 2.
You started Sprint 2, and Sprint 2 is a currently active sprint when you try to reopen Sprint 1.
The Parallel Sprints feature is not enabled.

Sprint 1 cannot be reopened for the following reasons:

There is a currently active sprint, Sprint 2.
The Parallel Sprints feature is not enabled.

You closed Sprint 1, and there were no completed issues in it.
All incomplete issues were moved back to the Backlog.
During sprint planning, you moved all of these issues to the future sprint, Sprint 2.
You started Sprint 2, and Sprint 2 is a currently active sprint when you try to reopen Sprint 1.
The Parallel Sprints feature is enabled.

Sprint 1 cannot be reopened because all of its issues are now in the currently active sprint, Sprint 2.