Can’t Delete Work Type in Team-Managed Project – System Says Issues Exist, But None Can Be Found

[Caressa]

Hi all,

I’m running into a problem deleting a work type in a JWM team-managed project.

When I try to delete the work type, Jira blocks me with the message: “You can’t delete this work type because issues exist. Please change them before deleting.”

Here’s what I’ve tried so far:

• Filtering by issue type → No results appear for that work type.

• Using JQL → Tried both isolating the work type directly and using issuetype NOT IN (...) to exclude everything I want to keep. Neither approach surfaces any hidden issues.

It seems like Jira believes there are work items tied to this work type, but I cannot find them through search or filters.

Has anyone run into this before? Are there hidden archived items or another area I need to check before Jira will allow me to delete the work type?

Thanks in advance for any guidance!

[Trudy Claspill · Accepted solution]

Hello @Caressa 

It is possible that two such issues exist that you don't have access to see, either due to Restrictions being added to the individual issues or the individual issues being Archived. If either of those is the case the issues would not be retrieved by a JQL filter.

Do you see an Archived Work Items tab when viewing your project? Check if there are any issues of that type listed there.

[Caressa]

found them in this exact spot, ty!