Determine usage of Duplicate Custom fields

[Karthiga Sethuraj]

Hello Team,

I have two copies of a custom fields (name - Aha! Reference) of type URL.

I need to figure out which one of the below two custom fields is obsolete and which one is actively used.

 I am unable to search if this field is empty or not as it is of type URL. Also the last used say "no info" for one of the fields. Does that mean it is not actively used ? Could someone help me to determine the usage of these fields ?

Thank you!

[Jack Brickey · Accepted solution]

Looking at your screenshot the first field is used on two screens and the second on 10. Is there overlap here? Are the first 2 screens referenced in the 10 or separate. I assume separate. What you may be able to do is simply add the 2 screens to the second field here then delete the first. Or maybe the projects associated with the 2 screens don’t even need this field in which case you can remove the screens and eventually delete the field.

one other thing that might prove useful here is to search for the issues associated with each field. For this you are going to want to use the custom field ID for the JQL search. In case you are not aware of how to retrieve this ID…

• in the administration view choose Issues > Custom fields
• find your two equally named fields and click on the ellipses and choose edit details
• in the URL at the very end you will find the id. Example - https://xxxx.atlassian.net/secure/admin/EditCustomField!default.jspa?id=12957
• jot both IDs down

the JQL would be…

Cf[12957] is not empty

replacing 12957 with the appropriate ID

[Karthiga Sethuraj]

Hey Jack,

Appreciate your solutions and quick response. I can definitely do the first solution that you suggested to associate the 2 screens to the other field. I tried to search by the custom field ID, it works for one of the id but throws an error for the second one.

Would it be safe to assume that this field hasn't been populated yet or has no data ?

Thanks for the search tip by id. Learnt something new today ! :) 

[Karthiga Sethuraj]

One follow up question: Do you know how to check which projects use a particular screen/ screen scheme?

The below screen schemes are not associated with any of the projects. Does that mean it is not used at all anywhere ?

[Jack Brickey]

It likely is not used. What I might suggest as a first step is to simply rename the field. This will allow you to search for it independent of the other duplicate name. Also if anyone is using the field they will get confused by the renaming and contact you or another ad man I would assume.

[Karthiga Sethuraj]

Good idea, thank you Jack!