Linking Issues

Creating a link to another issue

To create a link to another issue:

1. View the issue from which you want to create a link. Alternatively, move to the this issue on the issue navigator.
2. On the 'view issue' page, select Link from the More Actions menu or click the Link (plus) icon at the right of the Issue Links section. Otherwise, using the issue navigator, click the Actions (cog) icon to the right of this issue. The Link dialog box will be displayed.
   Keyboard Shortcut: '.' + start typing link
   internal-link-initial-dialog-box.png
3. Ensure that the JIRA Issue item is selected at the left of the dialog box and then choose the type of link to be created from the This issue dropdown list.
4. In the Issues  field, specify the issue(s) to be linked to your currently viewed/selected issue. There are two ways to do this:
   
   • Type the full issue key (e.g. ABC-123) — or to link to multiple issues, press the 'Enter' key between each typed issue key.
     If you have previously browsed an issue, you can quickly find the issue by typing the first few letters of the issue key (or part of the Summary), which will appear in an 'autocomplete' drop-down list for selection:
     internal-link-link-issue-dialog-box-issue-dropdown.png
     OR:
   • Click the Select Issue (plus) icon to use the Issue Selector popup, which allows you to select either from issues recently viewed, or from issues returned from your chosen saved search filter  (click the Please select a value drop-down to choose a saved search filter).
     
     • To select a single issue, click the issue key or summary.
       internal-link-issue-selector.png
     • To select multiple issues:
       
       1. Click the Select multiple issues button. Check boxes will appear next to each issue.
       2. Select the check boxes of the issues you want to link to.
       3. Click the Select issues button to close the popup and return to the Link Issue form.
5. Type an optional Comment - for example, to describe more information about why you are creating these links.
6. Click the Link button.

Creating a link to an issue on another JIRA site

To create this type of link, your JIRA system administrator ideally needs to have configured fully reciprocal application links between your JIRA site and the other JIRA site containing the issue(s) you want to link to.

To create a link to an issue on another JIRA site:

1. View the issue from which you want to create a link. Alternatively, move to the this issue on the issue navigator.
2. On the 'view issue' page, select Link from the More Actions menu or click the Link (plus) icon at the right of the Issue Links section. Otherwise, using the issue navigator, click the Actions (cog) icon to the right of this issue. The Link dialog box will be displayed.
   Keyboard Shortcut: '.' + start typing link
3. Click the Remote JIRA Issue option at the left of the dialog box and then choose the type of link to be created.
   Note:
   
   • This option will not be available if your JIRA system administrator has not configured an application link between your JIRA site and the remote JIRA site.
   • If, after selecting this option, you are prompted for authorisation, you may be required to log in to the remote JIRA site, which will allow your JIRA site to access the remote JIRA site on behalf of your account on the remote JIRA site.
     This behaviour means the application links configured between your JIRA site and the remote JIRA site use OAuth authentication.
4. If your JIRA site is connected to multiple remote JIRA sites, choose the relevant JIRA site from the Server dropdown list.
5. Choose the type of link to be created from the This issue dropdown list.
6. Type the Issue key of the issue on the remote JIRA site that you want to link to.
   Note:
   
   • You can link to any issue on the remote JIRA site to which you have access on that site.
   • This field does not use 'autocompletion'. Hence, you need to know the issue's issue key beforehand to create this link.
7. Select the Create reciprocal link check box to create the complementary link on the remote issue you are linking to, back to your issue. For example, if you create a blocks link type to a remote issue, the reciprocal link generated on the remote issue will be a is blocked by link type back to your local issue.
8. (Optional) Type a Comment, for example, to describe more information about why you are creating this link.
9. Click the Link button.

Troubleshooting

Problem: If you selected the Create reciprocal link check box but after clicking the Link button, discover that a reciprocal link from the remote JIRA issue back to your JIRA issue has not been created, then your JIRA system administrator has most likely created only a one-way link from your JIRA site to the remote JIRA site.

Solution: Ask your JIRA system administrator to configure fully reciprocal application links between your JIRA site and the remote JIRA site.

Problem: If you attempted to create a reciprocal link but received the following message:

'A reciprocal link from issue 'XYZ-123' back to this issue was not created as the remote JIRA server returned the following error: No Link Issue Permission for issue 'XYZ-123'.' (where 'XYZ-123' is the issue key on the remote JIRA site),

then a reciprocal link on the remote JIRA site will not have been created, because the user account through which you authenticated on the remote JIRA site (at step 3 above) does not have the Link Issues project permission.

Solution:

• Ask the JIRA project administrator(s) on the remote JIRA site to grant your user account the Link Issues project permission for the relevant project(s) to which you need to create issue links.
• Alternatively, if the application link between your JIRA site and the remote JIRA site use OAuth authentication and you suspect you may have authenticated on the remote site with another user account that does not have the Link Issues project permission, repeat the procedure above but during the authorisation step (at step 3), authenticate on the remote site with a user account which has this permission.
  If you are not prompted for authentication during authorisation, try clearing your browser's cookies first and repeat the procedure again.

Creating a link to a Confluence page

To create this type of link, your JIRA system administrator needs to have configured an application link between your JIRA site and the Confluence site containing the pages you want to link to. Only Confluence versions 4.0 or later support this JIRA feature.

To create a link to a Confluence page:

1. View the issue from which you want to create a link. Alternatively, move to the this issue on the issue navigator.
2. On the 'view issue' page, select Link from the More Actions menu or click the Link (plus) icon at the right of the Issue Links section. Otherwise, using the issue navigator, click the Actions (cog) icon to the right of this issue. The Link dialog box will be displayed.
   Keyboard Shortcut: '.' + start typing link
3. Click the Confluence Page option at the left of the dialog box.
   This option will not be available if your JIRA system administrator has not configured an application link between your JIRA site and the Confluence site.
4. If more than one application link has been configured between your JIRA site and other Confluence sites, then choose the appropriate Confluence site from the Server dropdown list.
5. Specify the Confluence page to be linked to your currently viewed issue. There are two ways to do this:

   • In the Page URL field, enter the URL of a page on the Confluence site you want to link to. For example:

     http://<confluence-server>/display/ds/Welcome+to+the+Confluence+Demonstration+Space

   • Click the search for a page link. The Link dialog box is replaced by the Find a Confluence page dialog box.
     If you are prompted for authorisation, you may be required to log in to the Confluence site, which will allow your JIRA site to access the Confluence site on behalf of your account on the Confluence site.
     This behaviour means the application links configured between your JIRA site and the remote Confluence site use OAuth authentication.
     
     1. In the first Search field, specify one or more search terms that appear in the page you want to link to. This field is mandatory.
     2. (Optional) In the second Search field, select the Confluence space to further narrow down the search.
     3. Click the Search button and then the title of the page you want to link to.
6. (Optional) Type a Comment, for example, to describe more information about why you are creating this link.
7. Click the Link button.

Troubleshooting

Problem: If Confluence page links you create show Failed to load on the JIRA issue or if you attempted to search for a Confluence page but received the following message:

'Content on the Confluence site could not be accessed because the Confluence server's 'Remote API' feature is disabled. The Confluence system administrator must enable this 'Remote API' feature for JIRA to successfully access this content.'

then JIRA was unable to communicate with the Confluence server to either:

• retrieve information about the link or
• conduct a Confluence page search in the 'Find a Confluence page' dialog box.

Solution:

Ask the Confluence system administrator to enable the Remote API (XML-RPC & SOAP) feature, since this Confluence feature is disabled by default. See Enabling the Remote API in the Confluence documentation for details.

Creating a link to any web page URL

To create a link to any web page URL:

1. View the issue from which you want to create a link. Alternatively, move to the this issue on the issue navigator.
2. On the 'view issue' page, select Link from the More Actions menu or click the Link (plus) icon at the right of the Issue Links section. Otherwise, using the issue navigator, click the Actions (cog) icon to the right of this issue. The Link dialog box will be displayed.
   Keyboard Shortcut: '.' + start typing link
3. Click the Web Link option at the left of the dialog box.
4. Specify the URL of the web page you want to link to.
5. Specify the Link Text that will appear in the Issue Links section of the 'view issue' page and will be hyperlinked to your URL.
6. (Optional) Type a Comment, for example, to describe more information about why you are creating this link.
7. Click the Link button.

Deleting a link

To delete a link:

1. Go to an issue that contains links, and locate the Issue Links section (see screenshot above).
2. Hover your mouse over the link you wish to delete, and click the Delete (trashcan) icon that appears.

Searching for linked issues

You can search for issues that are linked to a particular issue. For details, please see the documentation on Advanced Searching.

Be aware that this functionality does not extend to issues on a remote JIRA server.