How to edit issue linktype in bulk

[Anuradha Yadav]

Hi,

We have around 2.1k issues in a project- FISOL. How to edit the issue link types.

Belongs in Epic--> should be changed to- "Capability linked to SAFe Epic"

Is Capability of--> should be changed to- "Capability linked to feature"

[Max Foerster - K15t · Accepted solution]

Hey @Anuradha Yadav ,

do you want to edit the existing link type in Jira in general (means globally from the administration) or did you introduce a new link type and want to remove the existing link and create a new link with the new link type?

Best, Max

[Anuradha Yadav]

Hi Max,

Thanks for your quick response. I would like to edit the existing link type and Keep which is already there. 

In below snip: just change to highlighted ones and rest types keep as it is. 

[Max Foerster - K15t]

Hey @Anuradha Yadav,

sorry but I need further clarification to understand what you're trying to do as I don't get the "edit the existing link type and Keep which is already there".

Either you want to edit the name of the existing link type, which would require you to head to the administration.

The result would be, that you change:

• "Belongs in Epic" to "Capability linked to SAFe Epic"
• "Is Capability of" to "Capability linked to feature"

But this is a global change and would affect all issues using that specific link.

Do I understand your screenshot correctly that you added a new link type already with the correct names?

If you want to replace the old link with the new link type, you will have to delete the old link (as it cannot be edited, vote for that feature here: JRASERVER-20094 Cannot change link type after creating ) and link issues again. I guess the smartest solution would be using a script or automation solution to achieve that. I can imagine solutions like Scriptrunner (Groovy) or Jira Workflow Toolbox (Automation rules) to be capable of gathering all issues with the link and then being able to create new issue links while deleting the old ones.

Best, Max

[Anuradha Yadav]

Hi Max,

Yes new link type is already there .. how can we replace it?

[Max Foerster - K15t]

What tools do you have at your disposal, and how good are, for example, your groovy scripting skills. I can imagine the following:

You have to first get all issues and start going through them one by one.

• Get the issue key of the existing issue link with the name "Belongs in Epic"
• Create a new issue link to that very issue
• then delete the old issue link

There's also a script library  by Adaptavist you can use for inspiration for a script

Or another solution could be to try Jira Workflow Toolbox and their automation rules to create a manual rule to trigger by yourself. Look for the issues and use the available Create issue link action and Delete Issue link action. Using their expression parser you should be able to get the issue key of the linked issue and use it in the newly created issue link. Maybe reach out to their support for some advice. 

There are a few ways of solving this, just give it a try. :) Unfortunately, I can't write you a script for that. ;)