Clone multiple issues at once?

Hi @King_ Lee

As others mentioned, Jira does not currently provide bulk cloning as a standard bulk operation.

I recommend the Marketplace app Clone Expert for Jira, which includes a Bulk Clone feature. Before creating the clones, you can preview the selected work items, adjust their fields individually or in bulk, choose the destination project, and decide what should be copied.

In addition to cloning any selected set of work items, you can also clone complete parent-child hierarchies, for example Epic → Task → Subtask or Workstream → Task → Subtask, while preserving the structure.

If you'd like to discuss how to organize and manage work in Jira, feel free to book a meeting with me.

Best Regards,

Dorota

@King_ Lee Hi and welcome! 

Out of the box, Jira clones issues one at a time. There's no native button to clone several issues in a single step. You can bulk-edit existing issues, but bulk cloning isn't really a built-in feature.

 If you often recreate the same set of issues, our solution might be a better fit than cloning: Smart Templates for Jira allows you to save any work item with its child work items, subtasks, and checklists as a reusable template. Then, you can create the whole set of work items, parent and children included, from that template in a few clicks. This can also be done automatically on a custom schedule - Smart Templates provides a built-in scheduler for that.

Here's an example of such a set of work items in one template:

This works for any work item hierarchies, regardless of how complex they are - so it doesn't matter how many tasks, subtasks, and checklists your epic or another work item includes. Custom hierarchies are supported as well.

Smart Templates also support variables for changing parameters such as {{feature}} or {{name}}. When the work item / Jira issue is being created, you will be prompted to provide values for these variables. 

For example, you can specify that the {{name}} is Mary Smith, and the solution will paste "Mary Smith" to all places where the {{name}} placeholder was used in your template. This allows you to quickly adjust one template to multiple uses. It's much more convenient than editing out such details from cloned work items.

All in all, it's handy when the same tasks come up again and again. I hope this helps! Let me know if you have any questions

Hi @King_ Lee

As others already mentioned, Jira doesn't support bulk cloning natively.
As an alternative I can suggest trying our app Elements Copy & Sync. The app supports bulk cloning of Jira issues: you run a recipe against a JQL search result and it clones every matching issue in one go, rather than cloning one at a time.

The main thing that sets it apart from a simple cloning app, though, is that it's not limited to a one-time copy: you can configure the recipe to keep fields, status, or comments synchronized between the original issues and their clones afterwards. So if something changes on one side, it reflects on the other, which is handy if the clones aren't meant to live independently once created.

Let me know if you have any question!

Hi @King_ Lee,

There actually is a way to clone multiple issues at once without using an app. If you clone a parent item that has sub-tasks, you have the option to include all children (sub-tasks) in your clone. However, that function is quite limited.

Automation flows is another option that comes out of the box. For more advanced options like cloning entire item hierarchies with links and relationships, cloning to a different project or cloning all results of a JQL search, apps like Epic Clone are a good choice.

I am the developer of Epic Clone and can provide more information if necessary.

Hi @King_ Lee

As others have noted, Jira doesn’t currently offer a native way to clone multiple issues at once via its standard bulk operations.

If a Marketplace app is an option, Excel-like Bulk Issue Editor for Jira Cloud provides a floating bulk operation bar where you can select multiple issues and clone them in a single operation. It also supports other bulk actions, such as bulk change and bulk delete.

You can select the issues you need directly from the spreadsheet-like interface and use the Clone action from the floating operation bar.

Here is a short demo:

For reference, the functionality is explained here:
https://docs.ricksoft-inc.com/excel-like-issue-editor-for-jira-cloud/floating-bulk-operation-bar

Disclosure: I work for Ricksoft, the team that maintains and develops the app

Thank you.