Reparent work items from the list view

[#1]

I’m Tanya, a Product Manager on Jira Cloud, and I’m excited to share a new update that makes it easier to manage issue hierarchies without losing context.

Restructuring work—especially when priorities change—is a common part of project management. Now it’s faster and more intuitive in the All work tab.

You can now reparent work items from the list view. Select (drag and drop) a task under a new parent from your list. No need to jump to another screen or lose track of what you’re doing.

This improvement means you can tidy up your hierarchy, fix misfiled work, or reflect changes in planning—all without breaking your flow.

These are available in team-managed and company-managed projects. They help you keep your project structure clean and meaningful, while staying focused on the bigger picture.

We’d love your feedback.

Have you tried reparenting from the All work tab? Was it helpful? Are there other ways we can make managing hierarchy easier? Your feedback helps guide what we improve next.

Thanks for being part of the journey to make Jira better,

The Jira Cloud team.

[Stephen Patterson]

Very nice! Will this automatically convert work item types to reflect the new hierarchy (if it's a change)? For example, would dragging a 'Subtask' work item to an Epic automatically convert it to a 'Story' work item type, or a 'Story' work item type dragged to another 'Story' work item automatically convert it to a 'Subtask', or at least prompt me to make that change? Thanks

[Tanya Maddalena]

Hi @Stephen Patterson 

Great question—and thanks for trying out the new feature!

At the moment, reparenting from the list view doesn’t automatically convert work item types when changing hierarchy levels. So if you drag a subtask under an epic, for example, it won’t switch to a story or prompt you to update the type. The system only allows valid parent-child relationships, so you’ll still get a consistent structure.

I’d love to hear more about your use case though—how often do you find yourself needing to convert work item types when reparenting? Understanding that better will help us shape future improvements.

[Stephen Patterson]

Thanks for the follow up @Tanya Maddalena. I don't have data to report on frequency, rather this is more anecdotal. The strict hierarchies with Atlassian's platform differ from others that offer a more fluid relationship between work items. Thus, the reparenting process becomes a point of friction and confusion.

Here are some use cases that have come up: 1. A child work item is added to a task, but then later identified that it should be the child of a different task. A "move" action is required. 2. A task is added, but then later it's determined that this task is a follow up to an existing task. A "move" action is needed to convert it to a child work item of the other task. 3. A story item is added to initiate discovery. After discovery the team wants to make this an Epic, tied to an existing program. A "move" action is needed to convert it to an Epic under the program.