Jira Image of the Day: Changing a Project Key

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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 Server, Jira Data Center

What is shown?

A misspelled project name and key on the details settings page for a Jira project.

Visit: Project > Project settings > Details

What can we learn?

A project name and project key are critical attributes to help users identify projects. A best practice is to make the project’s name similar to its key. Users should be able to communicate using either. Also, the project name should be descriptive so the user knows what kinds of issues should be reported in that location.

In the example, both the project name and project key are misspelled. While it’s possible to change both, there are some things to know.

Project Key Change Caveats

• As the error message shows “changing the project key will re-index your project, and may break some external integrations”.

• You won’t be able to create a different project with a previously used project key. An old project key can only be reused if its former Jira project is deleted. Atlassian is working on new functionality to help admins delete previous project keys.

• Links to Jira issues in Confluence pages will still work after a key change, but the information may be cached. You’ll need to allow some time for the cache to refresh.

• Links that contain the old project key will redirect to the new key, but the link copy the user clicks on won’t automatically be updated.

• Finally, any user objects like filters in boards, dashboards, reports, automation rules, and apps will need updates.

Read more about project keys at: https://support.atlassian.com/jira-cloud-administration/docs/edit-a-projects-details/

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