Jira Image of the Day: Changing Field Selections with a Custom Field Context

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Concept Relates To

Application Type	Jira (Jira Work Management and Jira Software), Jira Service Management, Jira Core
Deployment Type	Jira Cloud, Jira Data Center

What is shown?

A custom field with a context to enable different selection values for different uses.

Visit: Admin > Work types > Fields (Cloud)
Visit: Admin > Issues > Custom fields (Data Center)

What can we learn?

A custom field context determines field use and visibility between different work types and different Jira projects. This allows you to use the same custom field in multiple ways without the need for multiple fields.

When you create a new custom field, the default is for the field to b e available to all work types and Jira projects. If the field isn’t going to be used Jira-wide, you can set a smaller scope, which is good for application indexing and performance.

To set or edit a field’s scope in Cloud, go to the Fields admin page, click the ellipses next to a field, and select “Contexts and default value”. In Data Center, the option is labeled “Configure contexts”. On the next page, click the “Edit context” button. Then choose the work types and projects to limit the field’s scope to. Hold down the shift key to select multiple values in the menus. And don’t forget to click the form submission button at the bottom of the page.

In the screenshot:

• On the left, the “Strategy” custom field has four selection values when used in the “Acquisition” Jira project.

• On the right, the “Strategy” custom field has a subset of selection values when used in any other Jira project.

The context allows a different set of options for different work types or Jira projects. You can also use this strategy to have multiple descriptions for custom fields too. Using a custom field context is a great way to avoid creating duplicate or similar custom fields. You can’t use it to change a field’s display name in a business or software project, however.

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