Clone without attachments is still adding the attachments

[mkurdi]

Hello,

I would like to clone a Jira that has attachments but do not want to keep the attachments. So I clone without the attachments. However the new jira is created with the attachments.

The attachments show as non-editable and I cannot remove. How can I resolve this issue?

Note: The original jira had the attachments added as part of the comments.

Thanks!

[Dan Breyen]

Hi @mkurdi welcome to the community.  I found JRACLOUD-84939 and JRACLOUD-85201  on Atlassian's Jira Site. Either of which could be your issue.  If you would agree, I would suggest voting for and watching it for updates. I voted for both of them.  Looks like they both could use some help.

Hope that helps.

[mkurdi]

Thanks! Will do

[HEMANT SAINI]

Hi @mkurdi 

Thanks for the extra detail. If you did not check Attachments, Links, or Comments, but the files still showed up, there are two common reasons:

1. The files are embedded in the Description or another text field
Jira Clone treats inline images in the Description the same way it treats comment images. Even with all checkboxes off, the Description gets copied. If someone pasted a screenshot directly into the Description, that image comes with it. It will show under Attachments on the new issue but you cannot delete it because it is referenced in the field content.

Check this: Open the cloned issue, click Edit on the Description, and see if there is an exclamation mark image syntax like !image-2024-06-01.png|thumbnail! or a pasted image. If yes, that is the source. You would need to remove it from the Description to get rid of the attachment.

2. Known bug with Clone dialog defaults
There was a bug where the Clone screen showed all boxes unchecked, but the backend still included attachments if the original issue was created from an email or had certain system fields. Atlassian fixed most of this in late 2023, but it can still happen if your site has old feature flags. The workaround is to check the box, then uncheck it again before cloning. That forces the setting to actually apply.

How to clean the current cloned issue
Since you cannot delete the attachment directly, do this:
Step 1: Edit the Description and remove any inline image syntax or pasted images.
Step 2: Save. The unneeded attachment should disappear from the Attachments section after a minute.
If the image was in a custom text field, do the same for that field.

How to avoid it next time
Option 1: Use the Move action instead of Clone if you just need a copy in another project. Move does not bring over inline images unless you tell it to.
Option 2: Use Automation for Jira with a Clone issue action and explicitly set Description to a smart value that strips images. Example: {{issue.description.replace(!.*!,\s)}}
Option 3: Before cloning, edit the original and move any critical inline images to the real Attachments section. Then clone with Attachments unchecked.

If none of this matches your case, it might be worth raising a support ticket. Include the issue keys for both the original and the clone. Support can check the audit log to see exactly what the clone operation included.

Sorry you ran into this. The clone behavior with inline media is one of those Jira gotchas. Hope this helps you isolate it.

[HEMANT SAINI]

Hi @mkurdi 

This is expected behavior in Jira. When you use Clone and uncheck Include attachments, Jira only excludes attachments that are in the Attachments section of the issue.

If the files were added inside comments, Jira treats them as part of the comment content, not as attachments. So when you clone with Include comments checked, the comments get copied and the files inside them come along too. They show as non-editable because they are embedded in the comment history.

To clone without those files you have two options:

1. Clone with both Include attachments and Include comments unchecked
This creates a clean issue with only fields and description. You then manually copy any comments you still need, but without the embedded files.

2. Use Automation for Jira
Set up a manual rule with the Clone issue action. In the rule you can choose which fields to copy and explicitly skip Comments. That prevents any comment-embedded files from coming over. Then add back only the data you want.

Why you cannot remove them now:
Comment content is historical. Even as a Jira admin you cannot edit the attachment out of a cloned comment. You would have to delete the whole comment, which sometimes is not allowed by permissions.

For future tickets, ask users to add files to the Attachments section instead of dropping them into comments if you need to exclude them during cloning.

There is a suggestion ticket for this at jira.atlassian.com search for JRACLOUD-72695. Worth voting on it.

Hope that helps you clean up the process.

[mkurdi]

Thanks for feedback. Note that when I cloned I did not check any checkbox: Attachments, Links or Comments. But still ran into the issue

[mkurdi]

I applied the workaround on "How to clean the current cloned issue" and this resolved the concern. Thanks!