Bulk Edits from Search

[GlenellRosburg]

I don't have the option to Bulk Edit Work Items from search results. Has this option been moved?





I have checked and I do have admin rights.

Does anyone have recommendations?

[John Funk · Accepted solution]

Hi Glenell,

You are probably lacking the Global Make bulk changes permission. That must be granted by a Jira Admin. Navigation is Settings > System > Global Permissions > Make bulk changes. 

[GlenellRosburg]

Thank you! I'll ask for permissions as they must have been revoked.

[John Funk]

You are welcome and best of luck!

[Ajay _view26_]

Hi @GlenellRosburg 

As @John Funk mentioned , you need the global "Make Bulk Changes" permission in addition to project-level permissions. 

In the new Jira experience

1. Go to Filters → Search work items (or use the "List" view in your project).
2. In List view, check the checkboxes next to the issues you want to edit — a toolbar will appear at the bottom with bulk action options including Edit.
3. Alternatively, click the three-dot menu (•••) at the top right of search results and select "Bulk change work items."

[GlenellRosburg]

Thank you!

[M Chandra Shekar]

@GlenellRosburg  Make sure you have Make Bulk Changes permission enabled under Global Permissions. If you don’t have access, please check with your Jira Admin and request them to grant it

[Paul Glantschnig _Appfire_]

Hi @GlenellRosburg,

The other replies already cover the most likely fix (the Make Bulk Changes global permission), so I won't rehash that. But one thing worth clarifying since it catches a lot of people off-guard: Jira now has two different bulk edit experiences, and where you're looking matters.

1. The new inline bulk edit (inside a project's List view, Backlog, or Board): Select items via checkboxes, and a toolbar appears at the bottom with Edit, Change Status, etc. This only works inside a project view.

2. The classic Bulk Change wizard (from Work item search): Click the ⋯ (three-dot menu) in the top-right area of your search results and choose Bulk change work items. This launches the multi-step wizard you're probably used to.

If you're specifically trying to bulk edit from search results, it's option 2 you want. If that "..." menu is missing or the option is greyed out, that circles back to the global permission the others mentioned.

One nuance: if you're in the newer All Work tab within a project (rather than the global Work item search), bulk actions use option 1 instead, via checkbox selection and the bottom toolbar.

Hope that clears up the confusion!

Best, Paul

[Paul Glantschnig _Appfire_]

@GlenellRosburg One more thing that might help, especially if bulk editing is something you do regularly: you might find a spreadsheet-style approach more intuitive than the built-in wizard.

If you're open to solutions from the Atlassian Marketplace, JXL lets you edit issues inline in a table view, similar to how you'd work in Excel or Google Sheets. Double-click a cell to change a value, or select a range and paste from a spreadsheet. No wizard, no confirmation screens.

It works with any JQL filter, so you can scope it to whatever set of issues you need.

Disclosure: I work for the team that builds JXL.

Cheers, Paul

[GlenellRosburg]

Thanks for the JXL tip. I'm not sure this is what I need at this time.

[Isaiah Lee]

It's my understanding that Atlassian is releasing a new bulk change experience, try selecting the the checkboxes for the items you want to change, it'll then show you a pop up bar at the bottom of the Filter with options like "Edit" , "Change Status" etc.

[GlenellRosburg]

Hmmm... This isn't working for me yet. I'll watch out for this functionality.