How to import sub-task in csv to existing parents in jira?

[Sabina Napierala]

Hi, 
How to import new sub-task in CSV to existing parents in jira? I want to match tasks(parents) that already exists in jira with sub-task (childs) which are new.  What fields do I need to fill in in csv to make such a connection?

[John Funk · Accepted solution]

Hi Sabina - Welcome to the Atlassian Community!

Just add a column to your CSV for Parent. Then put the issue key of the existing Parent into that column for the sub-task. For example, ABC-123

Summary           Parent          

Sub-task 1          ABC-123

Sub-task 2          ABC-123

Sub-task 3          ABC-123

[John Funk]

You are welcome

[Collin Willis]

I'm sorry I hope you can help here. When I tried to do what you've mention here the system is saying I have to map a field to the Issue Id. I have a field mapped to the parent, but because these are new subtasks I'm trying to import, they don't have an Issue ID yet. I would expect JIRA to assign IDs to them once they're imported. I assume your solution above used to work, but they keep changing everything!! Any Ideas?

[John Funk]

Hey Colin - please create a new post with a new question so we can help your specific instance better. Thanks!

[Collin Willis]

After fiddling with the fields on the input I managed to get the importer to work assigning the "Issue Type" to the "Work Type", the "Parent" to the "Work Item ID" and the "Parent Key" to the "Parent". But for some unknown reason, the importer only created and linked one sub-task. The log shows it went through the right number of records (9), but for some reason linked the same "Work Item" each time. See the log entries below. As I'm trying to import a bunch of sub-tasks there is no Work Item ID for each of the new subtasks so JIRA must have created the LSS-6048 for the first item imported, and was able to link that, but the rest of them were orphaned even though all the records had the Parent ID set.

2025-11-11 17:39:10,122 INFO - ------------------------------
2025-11-11 17:39:10,122 INFO - Importing: Work Items
2025-11-11 17:39:10,122 INFO - ------------------------------
2025-11-11 17:39:10,122 INFO - Only new items will be imported
2025-11-11 17:39:10,812 INFO - Importing work item: [externalId='129204', summary='Set UFW to Active for systems1.com']
2025-11-11 17:39:12,082 INFO - Importing work item: [externalId='129204', summary='Set UFW to Active for systems2.com']
2025-11-11 17:39:12,850 INFO - Importing work item: [externalId='129204', summary='Set UFW to Active for systems3.com']
2025-11-11 17:39:13,580 INFO - Importing work item: [externalId='129204', summary='Set UFW to Active for systems4.com']
2025-11-11 17:39:14,334 INFO - Importing work item: [externalId='129204', summary='Set UFW to Active for systems5.com]
2025-11-11 17:39:15,129 INFO - Importing work item: [externalId='129204', summary='Set UFW to Active for systems6.com']
2025-11-11 17:39:15,851 INFO - Importing work item: [externalId='129204', summary='Set UFW to Active for systems7.com']
2025-11-11 17:39:16,558 INFO - Importing work item: [externalId='129204', summary='Set UFW to Active for systems8.com']
2025-11-11 17:39:17,257 INFO - Importing work item: [externalId='129204', summary='Set UFW to Active for systems9.com']
2025-11-11 17:39:18,067 INFO - 9 work items successfully created
2025-11-11 17:39:18,067 INFO - 0 out of 9 work items successfully updated
2025-11-11 17:39:18,075 INFO - ------------------------------
2025-11-11 17:39:18,075 INFO - Finished Importing : Work Items
2025-11-11 17:39:18,075 INFO - ------------------------------
2025-11-11 17:39:18,181 INFO - ------------------------------
2025-11-11 17:39:18,181 INFO - Importing: Work item 
2025-11-11 17:39:18,181 INFO - ------------------------------
2025-11-11 17:39:18,181 INFO - Only new items will be imported
2025-11-11 17:39:18,199 INFO - Linking 'LSS-6048' and 'LSS-6012' as sub-task-link
2025-11-11 17:39:18,813 INFO - Created parent-child (sub-task) relationship between LSS-6048 and LSS-6012
2025-11-11 17:39:18,826 INFO - Linking 'LSS-6048' and 'LSS-6012' as sub-task-link
2025-11-11 17:39:19,126 INFO - Created parent-child (sub-task) relationship between LSS-6048 and LSS-6012
2025-11-11 17:39:19,140 INFO - Linking 'LSS-6048' and 'LSS-6012' as sub-task-link
2025-11-11 17:39:19,422 INFO - Created parent-child (sub-task) relationship between LSS-6048 and LSS-6012
2025-11-11 17:39:19,434 INFO - Linking 'LSS-6048' and 'LSS-6012' as sub-task-link
2025-11-11 17:39:19,759 INFO - Created parent-child (sub-task) relationship between LSS-6048 and LSS-6012
2025-11-11 17:39:19,772 INFO - Linking 'LSS-6048' and 'LSS-6012' as sub-task-link
2025-11-11 17:39:20,054 INFO - Created parent-child (sub-task) relationship between LSS-6048 and LSS-6012
2025-11-11 17:39:20,068 INFO - Linking 'LSS-6048' and 'LSS-6012' as sub-task-link
2025-11-11 17:39:20,408 INFO - Created parent-child (sub-task) relationship between LSS-6048 and LSS-6012
2025-11-11 17:39:20,422 INFO - Linking 'LSS-6048' and 'LSS-6012' as sub-task-link
2025-11-11 17:39:20,708 INFO - Created parent-child (sub-task) relationship between LSS-6048 and LSS-6012
2025-11-11 17:39:20,723 INFO - Linking 'LSS-6048' and 'LSS-6012' as sub-task-link
2025-11-11 17:39:21,073 INFO - Created parent-child (sub-task) relationship between LSS-6048 and LSS-6012
2025-11-11 17:39:21,088 INFO - Linking 'LSS-6048' and 'LSS-6012' as sub-task-link
2025-11-11 17:39:21,370 INFO - Created parent-child (sub-task) relationship between LSS-6048 and LSS-6012
2025-11-11 17:39:21,380 INFO - ------------------------------
2025-11-11 17:39:21,380 INFO - Finished Importing : Work item 
2025-11-11 17:39:21,380 INFO - ------------------------------

[Collin Willis]

Sorry, I missed you comment. I'll ask a fresh quesion. Apologies.

[Sabina Napierala]

Hi,
Thanks for the answer.