How to do mass update for Issues in Jira cloud

[Vlad Mo]

Hi,

I'm facing a task to edit around  500 issues to remove old company name which can be in Summary or Description or in one of the Comments.
So far I see that the best scenario would be .
1.  Export     Issues in the list to CSV  ( in batch, not sure how to do this yet)
2.  Process CSV with external tools to remove old names
3.  Delete   issues from Jira  (in batch, using some script ?)
4.  Recreate  issues using Import tool  from updated  CSV.

 I assume that we will lose   original Issue_Key and will get new  Issue_Key/ID, is this correct assumption, or there is a way to preserve original Issue_key ?

Thanks to all

V

[Ash H_]

Hi @Vlad Mo , I'm Ash from Appfire. 

Updating multiple issues at once in Jira Cloud is a common task, and the most direct native way to handle this is through the "Bulk Change" feature. To get started, you can perform a search in the Issue Navigator (Filters > All issues) to find the specific set of issues you need to modify. Once your list is ready, you can click the "..." (three dots) in the top right corner and select "Bulk change all issues." This wizard will guide you through selecting the issues, choosing the "Edit Issues" operation, and then specifying which fields - like Summary, Description, or Priority - you want to update for the entire group. It’s a powerful tool, though it does require navigating through several confirmation screens to ensure everything is mapped correctly.

If you find yourself needing to do these mass updates frequently or prefer a more visual, spreadsheet-style approach, JXL for Jira might be a great fit for your workflow. Based on the public documentation, JXL allows you to view and manage your Jira issues in a highly customizable table that works much like Excel or Google Sheets. This means you can perform mass updates by simply copying a value from one cell and pasting it across multiple other cells, or even dragging to fill values down a column. It supports inline editing for most standard and custom fields, which can significantly speed up the process of cleaning up data or reassigning tasks across many issues without having to leave the list view or go through a multi-step wizard.

Hope it helps, 
Ash

[Arkadiusz Wroblewski]

Hello @Vlad Mo 

Hm Automation and Smart values should be able to do that.

Best,

Arkadiusz 🤠 

[Arkadiusz Wroblewski]

@Vlad Mo 

PS: The approach depends on which of these listed fields should be edited.

Description and summary should be doable with Automation, Comment rather with Rest API. 

[Vlad Mo]

Dz Arkadiusz!  
I might need  to edit all types for fields.
You mentioned that for Comments need API !!?  I  thought if you export an issue everything should be included.

If I delete issue will it be completely erased from the Cloud, ot still will be logged in some History tables?

[Arkadiusz Wroblewski]

@Vlad Mo 

I was just giving you possibilities 

While CSV exports can include comments, I strongly advise against deleting and recreating your issues🤔. Doing so permanently destroys their history, links, attachments, and metadata—and Jira has no native recycle bin to recover them.

If you want to use CSV, use it to update existing issues, not to delete and recreate them. For that, the CSV must contain the existing Work Item Key / Issue Key. If Jira finds an existing issue with that key, it updates that issue instead of creating a new one.

For your 500 issues, the best thing to do is:

Backup first: Take a full export before changing anything.

 Summary & Description:Use Jira Automation with text-replacement smart values to update the text inline.

 Comments: Use the REST API to fetch the comments, check for the old company name, and update them by their specific comment ID.

 Test small: Verify your automation and API scripts on 1 or 2 issues before running it against the entire batch.

Best,

Arkadiusz🤠