Jira custom field description can't exceed 255 characters
Platform Notice: Cloud - This article applies to Atlassian products on the cloud platform.
Summary
You are trying to add or use a custom field on any screen, and see the error message:
"Description can't exceed 255 characters"
Edit field description to fewer than 255 characters
Jira has a hard character limit for custom field descriptions. This limit cannot be adjusted in Jira Cloud.
If you're seeing this error, you will need to edit the field's description to a value smaller than 255 characters.
- Navigate to
Settings > Issues > Custom fields
- Or, visit the link https://<your_instance_here>.atlassian.net/secure/admin/ViewCustomFields.jspa
- Search for the custom field by name
- Select ... (more options) > Edit details
- Adjust the field's description
- Save changes
Alternative: Use a different field type
If necessary, you can use a multi-line Text field, which supports ~32000 characters.