Basic Searching

The instructions on this page describe how to define and execute a search using the basic search. You can also define and execute a search using the quick search or using JQL (advanced searching).

Screenshot: Basic search (click to view full size image)

On this page:

Related topics:

Performing a basic search

New search

Screenshot: Example criteria for a basic search

To perform a new basic search in JIRA:

Choose Issues > Search for Issues. The issue navigator will be displayed.
- If there are existing search criteria, click the New filter button to reset the search criteria.
- If the Switch to Basic link is showing, click it to switch to basic searching.
Enter the criteria for the search. You can search against specific fields and/or search for specific text, as described below:
- Searching against specified fields — To search against specified fields, you need to select the fields then specify the fields values that you want to find.
  1. Select fields as criteria — The Project, Issue Type, Status and Assignee fields are always available as criteria. If you want to search using additional fields as criteria, click More Criteria and tick the desired fields.
    Can't find the field you want? Field is displaying greyed out text? See the Troubleshooting section below.
  2. Specify the value for each field — Click the field criterion and tick/enter the desired value in the dropdown. If the desired value is not shown in the list, start typing the name of value the to filter the list.
    
    About the suggested users/groups for the Assignee and Reporter fields — A user/group will be suggested if you have recently selected them in an Assignee/Reporter field for an issue, or viewed the user's profile page.
- Searching against specified text — Enter the desired text in the 'Contains text' text box and press Enter/Return on your keyboard. The Summary, Description, Comments, Environment fields and all text-based custom fields will be searched. You can use modifiers in your search text, such as wildcards and logical operators, see Performing Text Searches.
The search results will automatically update, as you enter search criteria, unless your administrator has disabled automatic updates of search results. If so, you will need to click the Update button on the field dropdown after every change.

Saved search

Search results are saved as 'issue filters'. For details, see Saving Searches ('Issue Filters').

To perform a saved search in the issue navigator:

Choose Issues > Search for Issues.
Choose a filter from the filters listed on the left of the issue navigator. You will be able to choose a filter, as follows:
- Choose a system filter — My Open Issues, Reported by Me, Recently Viewed, All Issues
- Choose a favourite filter — Your favourite filters (listed alphabetically)
- Search — Click the Find Filters link to search for a filter. You can search for any filter that has been shared with you, then subscribe to it as a favourite. Once you have subscribed to a filter, it will be listed in under Favourite Filters.
Once you have chosen an issue filter, the search results for the filter will be displayed. The search criteria for the filter will also be displayed.
If you choose the 'Recently Viewed' system filter, the issue navigator will switch to the advanced search . This is because basic search cannot represent the ORDER BY clause that is used in the 'Recently Viewed' system filter.
Update the search criteria as desired, then run the search again by clicking the magnifying glass button.

Screenshot: List of filters on issue navigator

Troubleshooting

Why can't I find the field I want to choose as a criterion? Some fields are only valid for a particular project/issue type context(see Configuring Fields and Screensfor details). For these fields, you must select the project/issue type that the field is applicable to. Otherwise, the field will not be available for selection (even if you set the Project and Issue Type set to 'All'). In the example below, the 'Customer account' field is only available in the 'Angry Nerds' project.
Available field:

Unavailable field:

Why are the field criteria displaying in grey text? Some fields are only valid for a particular project/issue type context (see Configuring Fields and Screensfor details). If you choose a field in your search, then remove all projects/issue types that reference the field, then the field will be invalid. The invalid field will not apply to your search and will display in grey text. In the example below, the 'Customer account' field has been selected and then the project changed from 'Angry Nerds' to 'JIRA development'.
Valid field:

Invalid field:

Why is there a red exclamation mark next to my field criteria? Some field values are only valid for a particular project/issue type context. For example, you may have configured a project to use a status 'In QA Review' in its workflow. If you select this project and status in your search, then change the search to filter for a project that doesn't use 'In QA Review', the status will be invalid and ignored in the search.
Why don't my search results automatically update? Your search results will always update automatically whenever any fields are changed, provided that your administrator has not disabled automatic updates of search results. Ask your administrator whether they have disabled automatic updates of search results.

Next steps

Read Using the Issue Navigator to find out how to sort with the issues displayed in the search results, or view individual issues.
Skip to Working with Search Results to find out how to save your search results as an issue filter, export your search results and share your search results.

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