External system import error

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Hello everyone-, 

I'm having an issue with External System Import when uploading CSV files for subtask bulk creation.

Issue:
Subtasks are being created under the wrong parent ticket. After the upload, the system also shows:

"~ work items have been skipped because they already exist in destination projects."

Suspected Cause:
The Issue ID values in my CSV may be conflicting with existing Work Item IDs in the system, causing the importer to skip entries or link subtasks to the wrong parent.

Additional Context:

• I'm following the same process and format that worked before.

• This happens consistently on every upload attempt now.

Below is what I tie to each fields.

Assignee	Assignee
Issue ID	Work item ID
Issue Key	Work item Key
Issue Type	Work Type
Parent ID	Parent
Reporter	Reporter
Requirement	Requirement
Status	Status
Summary	Summary

Could you please look into this issue and help me fix this? 

Thank you!

[Anastasiia Dimnych]

Hi @-,

Apologies for delay on our end!

I have created a ticket for the support team on your behalf. Please look for the email notifications with the ticket key CES-160937.

Best,

Anastasiia 

[Ivan Manolov - JXL]

Hi @-,

As @Tomislav Tobijas mentioned, the Issue ID column is likely the root cause here. When the importer sees ID values that match existing work items, it tries to update those instead of creating new ones, which explains both the wrong-parent linking and the "already exist" skips.

A few things to try:

• Use fresh, unique Issue IDs. The IDs in your CSV need to be unique values that don't collide with any existing work item IDs in your Jira instance. Try a completely new sequence (e.g., starting from 90001) that you're certain doesn't overlap with anything already in the system.
• Order parents before children. Make sure all parent work items appear above their subtasks in the CSV. The importer processes rows top-to-bottom, so a subtask row referencing a parent that hasn't been created yet can cause mismatches.
• Skip the Issue Key mapping if you don't strictly need it. Mapping both Issue ID and Issue Key can cause conflicts when the importer tries to reconcile them against existing data.
• Double-check your Parent ID column. Each subtask's Parent value should match the Issue ID of its intended parent row in the same CSV, not the Jira key of an existing issue.

If the problem persists after trying these steps, I'd second @Philipp Sendek _catworkx_'s suggestion to raise a support ticket at https://getsupport.atlassian.com so Atlassian can look at your specific instance.

Hope this helps,

Ivan

[Ivan Manolov - JXL]

@-On a different note, if you find yourself regularly creating subtasks in bulk, here's another option that sidesteps the CSV importer entirely.

If you're open to solutions from the Atlassian Marketplace, JXL is a spreadsheet-style view for Jira where you can create, edit, and organize work items directly in a table. You can copy-paste data from Excel or Google Sheets straight into Jira fields, including parent relationships, without going through External System Import at all.

Disclosure: I work for the team that builds JXL.

Cheers,

Ivan

[Tomislav Tobijas]

Hey @- ,

I'm guessing you're uploading this through "Jira administration" > "External system import"?

I mean, there's this limitation JRACLOUD-81999: Values mapped to "Issue ID" field upon import will be saved to "External Issue ID" custom field, but it's not exactly related to your experience.

Guessing you've also followed import instructions here: Keep work parent-child relationships during CSV import to Jira Cloud 
You could try using a completely new set of sequential numbers for your next upload. 👀

As for the file order and hierarchy, I'd suggest this:

• Top of file: Parent work items (e.g., Stories, Tasks)

• Bottom of file: Sub-tasks

Also, I'd maybe skip mapping issue keys (if this is not a critical requirement).

You could also check the following discussion - might give you some insights: https://community.atlassian.com/forums/Jira-questions/Struggling-to-upload-Sub-tasks-using-External-System-Import-CSV/qaq-p/2996992 

Cheers,
Tobi

[Philipp Sendek _catworkx_]

Hi @-

as you seem to be on an Enterprise plan and you state that it used to work but doesn't work anymore, I would recommend that you create a support ticket with Atlassian, so that they can look into this specifically on your site.
You can do so under https://getsupport.atlassian.com/.

I've also marked your ticket for an Atlassian Support Engineer to look into this for you.

Greetings
Philipp