Can Smart Checklist Items be converted into JIRA Issues Automatically?

[Ronnie Nalls]

Our team has been using a JIRA Smart Checklist for the past 4 years. The Smart Checklist is imported automatically when our EPICs are created. However, we have been manually converting each Smart Checklist item into JIRA issues. Is there a way to automatically create JIRA issues after the Smart Checklist is imported?

[Olga Cheban _TitanApps_]

Hi @Ronnie Nalls ! Thanks for sharing the context – it helps a lot to see how Smart Checklist and Jira issues serve two different purposes on your side.

To answer your question directly: Smart Checklist does have a built-in "Convert to Jira Issue / Sub-task" Quick Action, but it works per checklist item, not in bulk. So there's no native way to auto-convert all checklist items into issues when the checklist is imported.

However, there is another approach I want to suggest. For your scenario, it may be worth looking at our other tool, Smart Templates for Jira (like Smart Checklist, it's also developed by TitanApps). Smart Templates allows you to save any work item structure as a reusable issue template: for example, an epic with standard tasks, subtasks, checklists, and pre-filled field values. Then, you can generate the full set of work items from that template with just one click or even automatically. This approach works well for recurring processes (such as writing), where you need a standard / typical set of work items.

For your writing process, you can build a template consisting of an epic with tasks like "Draft content", "Internal review", "SME review", and so on. Each task can include variables, pre-filled fields, and links to the relevant pages of your Confluence guide in task descriptions.

Alternatively, you can keep your Confluence links in the smart checklist format, just include these checklists inside the relevant tasks in your reusable template.

As a result, Smart Templates will provide you with a ready set of Jira issues inside your epics, while Smart Checklist will help you organize step-by-step instructions for individual tasks in those epics.

Here's an example of a similar template for the recurring recruitment process. In this case, it consists of a task with subtasks and checklists, but it can be an epic or any other set of work items, including custom types:

Smart Templates also allow you to create work items from your templates automatically on a schedule (with Smart Templates' native functionality). If needed, this can also work in combination with Jira's built-in automation. 

I hope this helps! Let me know if you have further questions

[Trudy Claspill]

Hello @Ronnie Nalls 

Welcome to the Atlassian Community.

What problem are you trying to solve by having both a checklist and Jira issues for each checklist item? Part of the selling point of the checklist is reducing the overhead of managing issues for those item in the list. What value do you gain/add by having both a checklist and issues that have to both be updated?

[Ronnie Nalls]

Hello Trudy, 

Thanks for your response. We use the Smart Checklist to follow our writing processes within our Confluence writing guide. This keeps us from having to search through multiple pages to find the correct instructions. We also attach the appropriate link from the Confluence writing guide to the Smart Checklist item within each EPIC. We convert each Smart Checklist item into a JIRA issue to track priority, due dates, original estimates, documentation, product types, and more. We also assign JIRA issues to internal SMEs across our organization and track the time it takes to complete each task. This data is then captured in a Confluence dashboard for historical reporting.