Could not delete issue type

[Jude Wong]

I followed the steps in the following link to create a new issue type.

https://support.atlassian.com/jira-cloud-administration/docs/add-edit-and-delete-an-issue-type/#Add-a-new-issue-type

However, when I tried to delete the new issue type, I received the following error.

• Issue type cannot be deleted because it is the last issue type on the base level.

Any idea how I could resolve this?

Thanks.

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist- · Accepted solution]

Welcome to the Community!

It's quite a clumsy error message, but what it's telling you is that you have at least one issue-type scheme using the issue type which has no other issue types in it.  You can't delete an issue type that would leave an issue-type-scheme empty.

Go back to Admin -> Issue types and look at your issue type, there will be a list of schemes using it on the right.  You'll need to go into each one and add a different issue type to them so they won't be left empty by your delete.  Or delete the issue type scheme. 

[Jude Wong]

Hi Nic,

The scheme is the Default Issue Type Scheme which is also linked with the Epic issue type, see below.

Interestingly, I created another new issue type and was able to delete it after that.  It's as if the Default Issue Type Scheme does not recognize Epic as the other issue type using the scheme, i.e., the Cat-A Initiative is the only issue type using it.

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

That's correct, Epics are slightly different to other issue types, and the rule "scheme cannot have no issue types" does not count Epics (or sub-tasks, last time I looked), because such a scheme would mean you can't create issues in the project!

[K M]

Hi,

I faced the same problem but I don't understand what I should do. Can you elaborate more on this "Go back to Admin -> Issue types and look at your issue type, there will be a list of schemes using it on the right.  You'll need to go into each one and add a different issue type to them so they won't be left empty by your delete.  Or delete the issue type scheme. "?

I have only one type scheme and when I clicked to edit it I see the following screen. Not sure what I should do next:

Thanks

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

Click an drag the ones you don't want into the other pane, and drag in in the ones you do want to use.

[K M]

Not sure, what is the other pane? There is only one pane.

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

The box you have in your screenshot is just one part of the page you are on.  To one side of it, there is another box that looks the same, but has different issue types list.

[K M]

Trust me, there is only box with 2 types as shown on my screenshot.

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

This means you are not looking at the issue type scheme in admin.  Please go to admin -> issue type scheme and edit the one your project is using.

[K M]

I AM looking at the issue type scheme in admin. But I have only one type scheme and there is no other one. Can you show me how it looks in your case?

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

No, you're not looking at the issue type scheme, you're looking at the list of schemes.  You need to go in to edit the scheme you want to change.

[K M]

This is the list of schemes. As you can see there is only one scheme:

After I click Edit, it opens the type scheme:

You probably mean something else, what exactly?

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

Oh, I see now.

You can't edit the default issue type scheme, Jira needs somewhere to keep all the issue types in a global list.

In the admin menu, go to the line above for just "issue types" - you'll need to delete the issue type you don't want from there.  That will remove it from the default scheme as well.

[K M]

This is exactly the problem. I can't delete this "test" type because of the error that the topic starter described.

[John Funk]

You should never use the Default Issue Type Scheme. Copy that scheme, make your changes and then associate the new scheme with the Project. 

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

"This is exactly the problem. I can't delete this "test" type because of the error that the topic starter described"

Why are you trying to delete the last issue type available?  You can't have a system that works without at least one type.

[K M]

>>You should never use the Default Issue Type Scheme. Copy that scheme, make your changes and then associate the new scheme with the Project. 

I didn't have any idea such a powerful product as Jira may have such stupid restrictions. 

I also had no idea about some "types schemes" - to me they look supe-, over-complicated. What happens after I create another scheme? Will I be able to delete the previous one? I don't want my whole project crashes just because of some fool mistake I accidentally do.

[John Funk]

You never delete the Default Issue Type Scheme, as Nic says - it holds your total list of issue types available in the system. 

As you create new projects, it will create new issue type schemes for you (or will copy any existing one if you create a project based on another project. 

Jira is like any other tool/system - it is unique and you leave how it functions. 

[K M]

OMG this forum drives me nuts. I even can't "Reply" to a comment and can't select the text as a quote. Is Jira buggish to the same level??

For Nic:

"Why are you trying to delete the last issue type available?  You can't have a system that works without at least one type."

Because I created this type thinking I may need another one. It turned out:

1) It's not the right place to create my custom issue types (why??? who knows why)

2) The system is soooo buggish it doesn't allow to delete it.

My project works normally BEFORE I created this "last issue type available" - why of all gods - it doesn't allow me to return to the previous state? It's out of my understanding.

I just don't want it, this is why. I don't care if it's "last" or not, why should I? If there are such restrictions the system should alert me before I create it, if it doesn't it's a bug.

[K M]

John, this is the type I created on MY OWN. And I'm not using it anywhere. I just created it and now I want to delete it, why can't I? If it's not possible to delete it, why the system allows me to create it? Why didn't it warn me I wouldn't be able to delete it? To me, it's a disaster UI and bug. I was creating it for my new project and didn't have any idea which schema I had to use and what are schemes at all.

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

> I didn't have any idea such a powerful product as Jira may have such stupid restrictions. 

A restriction that stops you from making the whole thing unusable?  I do not think that is unreasonable.

>I also had no idea about some "types schemes" - to me they look supe-, over-complicated. What happens after I create another scheme?

All an issue type scheme does is say "the project(s) that are configured to use me have this list of issue types available".  They are very simple, compared with some of the other schemes Jira uses for projects.  But, I completely understand the frustration - while issue type schemes are simple in themselves, the whole concept of schemes as project configuration is not, especially when they're only used for half of the possible project types.

> I just don't want it, this is why

I understand that, it's exactly why you are trying to delete it.  The problem is that Jira can't work if you don't have at least one issue type.

It's not a bug, it is working as intended, and working to stop you completely breaking it.

TLDR: Try adding a new issue type that you do want to use in the future, and then deleting the one you do not.

[John Funk]

Well, I hate to disagree with you - but you did not create the Default Issue Type Scheme on your own. This is a system scheme that gets created with the product. You can argue about that all you want, but the bottom line is that this is the Default Issue Type Scheme and cannot be deleted. You don't have a system if you don't have that default scheme - as Nic mentions above. 

Just because you don't understand it doesn't make it a disaster. Again, not to be argumentative, but the system is the system. You must learn it if you want to use it properly/efficiently - no matter how hard that might be. 

The Community here is just a group of other users trying to help each other navigate how to use the tool. We are not Atlassian and can't speak to how or why they built the UI as they have. 

[K M]

> A restriction that stops you from making the whole thing unusable?  I do not think that is unreasonable.

Why unusable? A second before I created this type I didn't have it and the system worked perfectly. Suddenly, after I created something deleting it makes the system unusable. What am I missing?

[K M]

> Well, I hate to disagree with you - but you did not create the Default Issue Type Scheme on your own. 

Sorry but I stopped following you. I have never said I created a scheme, I said I created this issue type on my own, see the picture, so now why can't now I delete it to return to the state the project was a second ago before I created it?

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

A Jira system with no issue types cannot be used.  It can't be.  With no issue types, there is nowhere to configure how issues work, let alone create an issue. 

As you pointed out yourself, you said you were getting the error the original poster is getting.  The one that tells you that you can't delete the last remaining issue type.

What you seem to be missing is that you can't have a Jira without issue types.  It's a bit like saying "I'm going to cook a meal, but I don't actually have any type of edible material to do it with"

You can't return your project to the state in which you think you created it because you did not create it that way.  It had at least one other issue type, which you (or another admin) must have deleted to get you down to just Epic and Test.

There is one thing that is not obvious here though - Epics do not count as an issue type in the schemes, they are not intended to be used that way.  A project needs to have at least one issue type that is not an Epic or a sub-task.  They can't work without one, and you're trying to delete the only one left in your scheme.

[John Funk]

If you create another Issue Type such as Story or Task, then you can delete the Test one. 

[K M]

To Nic:

>  It had at least one other issue type, which you (or another admin) must have deleted to get you down to just Epic and Test.

I'm the only admin and I didn't delete any other types. Before I created my test issue type I already had the Epic type in the list. So, even if I delete my test type, I will have the Epic type. Why is that a problem?

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

Please re-read the last paragraph of my last comment.

[K M]

Well, okay, the "test" issue type is now the last one in the base scheme. But before I created it, I didn't have any types in this scheme either and my system was functioning well. How come?

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

Because you had the test issue type to use.

[K M]

Nic, I mean before I had the test issue type when I didn't have it yet?

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

You had other issue types available.

[K M]

Nic, I didn't have any "Base" type issues before I created it. Epic belongs to the "Epic" type and I had only this type created by the system. So, I lived fine before. Suddenly, after I created a type of "Base" type it turned out I can't delete it because I didn't have any other issues of this type anymore. Is it how this workflow works?

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

So you had not created any projects or issues before?

[K M]

I had a project and maybe issues but never used the issue type I created after.

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

If you created a project, then it would have created a (default) set of issue types for you.  

These would have been added to the default issue type scheme, as they are global items.

You seem to be saying that you are deleting all the (non Epic) issue types from your system (why?) but you have a problem removing the last one because Jira is telling you that you need it, because you have issues of a type other than Epic.

I thnk I may be very lost on what you're trying to do.  Your original screenshot is very clear in that you're trying to kill any issue type other than Epic in a set of projects, but why?  By all means, have a project full of Epics and nothing else, but why are you inflicting that on all the other projects?

[K M]

I didn't say I deleted all the issue types, never. 

What I did:

1) Created a project

2) Created a new issue type called "test"

3) Tried to delete it - no success. (Why did I want to delete it? Because I decided I didn't need it. This action seemed to be simple. You can create a project and decide you don't need it. You can create an email and decide you don't need it. And so on.) 

That's it.

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

When you created a project, it would have created a set of default issue types for you, if they were missing from your global settings.

The behaviour you are reporting is consistent with you then adding your "test" type, then going and deleting all the issue types the project creation may have done, then it fails when you try to delete "test" because there is nothing left to migrate any tests to.

I wasn't asking why you're trying to delete "test", I was asking why you're trying to delete the last base issue type in your system.

[K M]

"When you created a project, it would have created a set of default issue types for you, if they were missing from your global settings."

It created only one type, Epic. There were not any other types at the moment I created my test type - so I'm really puzzled about what you are talking about.

"I wasn't asking why you're trying to delete "test", I was asking why you're trying to delete the last base issue type in your system."

Because it was the only issue type I created accidentally and I didn't want it. There were not any other types except Epic and it isn't even base type.

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

There are no project templates that create projects with only the Epic type defined, so that's not what happened.

What you appear to be trying to do is delete the last base issue type in Jira.  That's pretty much nonsense for an issue tracker - Epics are not issues that you use for day-to-day issue tracking, they are for representing large pieces of work that are comprised of many issues.  

You need an base issue type to be able to work with a Jira project, and Jira is simply stopping you from mis-configuring your system to be useless.

If you don't want the Test issue type, that's fine, delete it.  But you won't be able to until you've configured a base issue type for the system to use.

[K M]

"

There are no project templates that create projects with only the Epic type defined, so that's not what happened.

"

This is exactly what I had. When I went to the list of issue types the was only Epic type there. It may or may not make sense to you but it's the fact and nobody can ignore it.

I didn't have any other issue types on the list. Why there is nothing else? - this question is not for me either. I didn't delete any issue types before, and I'm the only admin and the project is brand new.

"You need an base issue type to be able to work with a Jira project" but again the fact is - when I started working with Jira and created this project there were no Base issue types in the list from the beginning.

I see there is something missing because you have your vision but what I see doesn't fit it. Maybe there are several issue types and I'm looking at the wrong one or something like that?

[John Funk · Accepted solution]

Hi Jude - Welcome to the Atlassian Community!

Did you create a new Issue Type Scheme also? And does the scheme only have this one issue type? 

[Jude Wong]

Hi John,

No, I didn't create a new issue type scheme.  The new issue type was assigned the Default Issue Type Scheme, which is also used by the Epic issue type.

Thanks.

[John Funk]

So if you create a new Issue Type called Story, for example, you should be able to delete the one you want to delete. But you must have at least one Base or Standard issue type.

[Benjamin Wohnhas]

Hi everyone,

I have the same issue, but a different result. I created (as Jira-Admin within a team-managed project) a global new epic type called "Saga" and it was assigned the type "Base" and the default schema. 

Now it is no longer possible to change issue types when cerating issues in the projects itself. 

How can I fix that?

Thanks a million for your supprt.

I'm also new to the community and happy that it is so supportive :)

I didnt want to create a new question as it seems to be very related. Sorry if that was wrong.

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

What do you mean by "no longer possible to change issue types when creating issues"?  If you're creating an issue, you are not changing the issue type, you're selecting one.

[Benjamin Wohnhas]

Sorry I was not clear about that. I meant "select" here. 

What the issue type selection now looks like is as follows:

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

Have you added the new issue types to the issue type scheme for the project?  And are the new issue types standard or sub-task types?

[Benjamin Wohnhas]

Trying to give you all the details now (hope it helps).

We are using Jira Cloud and having multiple Team Managed Projects.

Each Project has their specific issue types like such:

Before I change something in the global setting for "issue types" (see below) the teams were able to select the team specific issues types for a new item:

and we just had "epics" in here:

and I added "Saga" (Type is "base" and I couldnt decide that and can not change it; default schema was assigned automatically). 

After that change now the teams can no longer select different types when creating new items, but see this:

So my problem now is that my global change seems to interfer with the team managed project specific issue types and I cant reverse this change (as I cant delete the "Saga" type as it is the last one of type "base").

Now I would need your help in how to fix/reverse that. Thanks a million :)

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

Ok, you're looking at two different things here.

The first screenshot is of a team-managed project issue type configuration screen.  These do not use issue type schemes, they use the list you've got in their config screen.

[Benjamin Wohnhas]

Yes I know and thats what is confusing me. All Screenshots are from the same project and as the projects are team-managed, I did not expect my changes would affect the "project-level". But it did. So my problem is that I have to sort this out. so it looks again as in Screenshot two (team-managed project) 

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

The screenshots are not from the same project. 

The first one lists a team-managed project's issue types (Saga, Epic, Story and Sub-task)

The second is showing "what needs to be done" from another project (not enough of the screen to be sure it is company-managed or team-managed, but it certainly could be company-managed)

The third is an admin screen showing two issue types in the global list.  

Team-managed projects have local configuration that is not affected by global changes, and there's a bit of a giveaway in the first and third screenshots. 

Note that in the first shows "Saga" at the top of the list, in the Epic slot, and then Epic and Story below it in the story slot.  That tells me you've renamed Epic to Saga in that project, and then named or created a story-level issue called Epic.

Then in the global list of issue types, you've still got Epic at the Epic level, and Saga'sat the standard (base) issue level.

So, we need to go back to the project where you are having this problem and look at what type of project it is, then look at the issue types available to it.

[Benjamin Wohnhas]

So the projects I am having issues with is team managed and all projects have in their project settings > issues types at least the three types: Epic, Story, Sub-Task (as shown in first screenshot). 

So all should look like screenshot 2 or very similar.

Now the third screenshot shows for the jira instance of all these projects the admin view (NOT a different project). There I added the "Saga" and after that change the views within each (still team-managed project) no longer looks like screenshot 2 but like screenshot 2. 

"Team-managed projects have local configuration that is not affected by global changes, and there's a bit of a giveaway in the first and third screenshots. " --> I was thinking the same but it looks like thats not the case...

BTW: I really appreciate all your efforts and help @Nic Brough -Adaptavist- :)

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

The problem I am seeing is that the first screenshot is of the config of a team-managed project, and the second screenshot is a create screen for a different project.  (Ignore the global issue types for now)

I'm not sure which create screen it is - could you go to the project in the first screenshot to make sure we are working in the same context, then use one of the create methods to see the type list again (I'm particularly interested in the create at the bottom of the backlog)