Best way to link multiple issues all to each other, many to many linking

[mike]

Using 3 issues as the simplest example:

On ISSUE-1 I can link to ISSUE-2 & ISSUE-3, but 2 & 3 are not yet linked together. I have to go to one of them and then link to the other. Only now after a minimum of two steps have all 3 issues been linked together.

If there were 4 issues I would need at least 3 steps, 5 issues needs 4, etc. Linking N issues requires N-1 steps.  Is there an easier way to do this?

[Brant Schroeder · Accepted solution]

@mike there is not a great way to do this.  I know some individuals who export large lists of issues and then script that into a CSV that they reimport into Jira to create the links.  There is enhancement requests for bulk update features to help with this but none of those have been delivered.  I know individuals who create automations that they manually run to link issues together based on a label or component.  You should choose one of these and get good at it as nothing is currently delivered from Atlassian to easily do what you are asking for.

[Bill Sheboy]

Hi @mike 

There is no easy, built-in way to do this, and...

Issue links typically have a direction, such as with ABC-123 --> "blocks" --> ABC-456, while the opposite direction is "is blocked by".  Thus, when cross-linking as you describe for the three issue scenario, the link types could quickly become complicated, or worse still, meaningless for any reporting or analysis needs.

What problem are you trying to solve using the issue cross-linking?  Knowing that may help the community to offer alternative suggestions.  Thanks!

Kind regards,
Bill

[mike]

The use case is multiple issues all co-related. "related by" is directionless (sort of) and so I'd link all issues to each other as "related by".