Problem

Custom field description is not updated after changing the description in custom field and still showing previous description.

• Editing description of a custom field in the custom fields settings.
• After changes were made, the previous description is still shown.

Original Description

Editing New Description

Description Still Showing Previous Description

Diagnosis

• Created a custom field with a description and tested in an issue screen.
• Edited the custom field description field in Custom Fields page.
• Issue Screen still showing previous description.
• Checked that both description in Custom Field and Field configuration is different after the new description update.
• Edited the custom field located in the affected configuration in Field Configuration page.
• Issue screen now showing updated description.

Cause

The Custom Field Description in the Field Configuration is overwriting the Custom Field Description from the Custom Fields configuration page.

Below is a feature request raised to make this more intuitive within JIRA. You can watch or vote on the request to be taken up for improvement.

• for server and data center: JRA-40782 - Getting issue details... STATUS  
• for cloud  JRACLOUD-40782 - Getting issue details... STATUS

Resolution

Below are the steps to remove or update the previous description.

1. Go to Field Configuration and locate the configuration that is used by the affected issue type.

2. In this configuration, click configure and locate the affected custom field.

   
   

3. Once you have located the custom field, you should notice that it is still having the previous description. 
   

4. Click Edit, and change or remove the description. 
   
   

5. The previous description should now be removed and replaced with the new description.