Import Data to Jira Cloud using CSV - the new Jira import experience

[Fuyuko Gratton]

Since the new Jira import experience is rolled out, I am unable to import issue links (in the old UI experience, this was possible - https://support.atlassian.com/jira/kb/how-to-import-issue-links-from-a-csv-file-in-jira/ ).

I do not see any issue link choices in the drop-down menu during the data match, and there is no relevant documentation for the new import experience mentioning importing issue links.

Without this, the tasks imported are incomplete as we cannot import the relationship among the tasks.

Is there a way to either import the issue links with the new import experiences or a workaround to use the old version of the import, so we can import them?

[Ivan Manolov - JXL]

Hi @Fuyuko Gratton,

Welcome to the Community. As @John Funk mentioned, the simplest fix today is to fall back to the old import experience.

To get there: Settings (cog icon) > System > External system import, then click Switch to the old experience in the top right of that screen. The old wizard still supports the link-type column mapping described in the KB you linked, so you can:

• Add columns named after your link types (e.g., Blocks, Relates to, Clones) in the CSV.
• Put the target issue key (or the in-CSV Issue ID of another row) in those columns.
• During the Map fields step, map each of those columns to Issue Link and pick the link type from the dropdown that appears.

Two things to be aware of:

• The link description you provide in the CSV is treated as the Outward link description. The Inward direction is created automatically. If you need it the other way around, you'll have to swap source and target rows in the CSV — there's an old issue tracking this at JRASERVER-61571.
• If you're creating new issues and linking them in the same import, the safest pattern is a two-pass import: first CSV creates the issues and notes their Issue ID; second CSV uses the resulting Jira keys to create the links. That avoids any guessing about what key each new issue will end up with.

For the new experience, issue links aren't exposed in the field-mapping dropdown yet. There's a feature request open at JRACLOUD-84385 tracking the gap, worth a vote and watch.

Hope this helps,

Ivan

[Ivan Manolov - JXL]

@Fuyuko GrattonOne more thing worth mentioning, in case the import wizard keeps fighting you on this.

If you're open to solutions from the Atlassian Marketplace, JXL is a spreadsheet-style view for Jira where you can paste data directly from Excel or Google Sheets, including issue links. So if you have your Blocks, Relates to, or any other link columns in a spreadsheet next to the issue keys, you can paste them straight into the corresponding link columns in JXL and the relationships are created in place — no field-mapping wizard, no Outward/Inward direction guessing, and works the same for new and existing issues. Useful when you're hitting gaps in the import experience or doing one-off bulk updates.

Disclosure: I work for the team that builds JXL.

Cheers,

Ivan

[John Funk]

Hi Fuyuko - Welcome to the Atlassian Community!

You should still be able to use the old version of the import. 

Go to Settings > System > External system import > Switch to the old experience