How do you match the two categorization possibilities "themes" in Portfolio and "label" in Jira?

[C. K.]

I'm looking for a good reference in how to finde the link between our generic Jira project and the possibilities in Portfolio when it comes to categorizing issues.

By now the "best" way is categorizing by label in Jira and then add the fitting theme in the Portfolio view. I think that's a lot of manual work and I also don't really see that as a task for a single person. 

A good scenario would be a direct link between what I have as a theme in Portfolio and the labels I use in the projects.

[Jason Golden]

I think Atlassian sensed this tension when designing the new experience. Themes have seemingly been retired in the new experience in favor of "group by" and "color by" and using the planning view as your report, although they are working on additional reporting options (thus the tab is gone).

For now, you can color by label, so it seems label is the way to go now (for better or worse). I suspect they will also add structured data options for custom fields in the future, as their documentation on color by priority suggests. https://confluence.atlassian.com/jiraportfolioserver/customizing-view-settings-962968240.html#Customizingviewsettings-labels

[Jason Golden]

Update! This was improved in 2.24 to allow for color by single select list and multi select list. https://confluence.atlassian.com/jiraportfolio/portfolio-for-jira-2-24-release-notes-966036854.html#PortfolioforJira2.24releasenotes-colorby