Issue Linking enabled globally but Link Issue action missing and links not persisted

[Hannah Liao]

Hello Atlassian Support Team,

We are encountering a blocking issue with Issue Linking in Jira Software Cloud and would like your assistance to investigate.

Environment

• Product: Jira Software Cloud

• Project type: Company-managed Software Project

• User role: Project Admin / Site Admin

Current Status (confirmed)

• Global Issue Linking is enabled
  (Jira settings → Issues → Issue linking)

• Project permissions are correctly configured
  (Browse Projects / Link Issues granted via Project Roles)

• No Issue Security Scheme applied

• No Automation rules configured

• Issue linking types (Blocks, Relates, Duplicate, etc.) are present

Problem Description

Despite the above:

• There is no “Link issue” action available in the issue UI

  • Not in modal view

  • Not in full page view (/browse/KEY-XX)

  • Not under the “More (⋯)” menu

  • No “+ Add linked issue” option in any section

• When attempting to create links (where temporarily possible), the link disappears after page refresh

• This occurs even when linking two issues within the same project

• JQL queries such as linkedIssues() confirm that links are not persisted

• This behavior affects all users in the project

Expected Behavior

• “Link issue” action should be available in the issue view

• Issue links should persist after creation

Impact

This is blocking our ability to manage dependencies and traceability between issues.
Additionally, the UI provides no indication that Issue Linking is unavailable, which caused significant troubleshooting time for administrators.

Request

Could you please:

• Check if there is any site-level or backend configuration / feature flag affecting Issue Linking UI

• Verify indexing or internal state related to issue links

• Restore normal Issue Linking functionality for this project/site

Please let us know if any additional logs or information are required.

Thank you for your assistance.

Best regards,
Hannah Liao

[Swathi Acharya]

Hello @Hannah Liao

Welcome to Atlassian Community!

Thanks for sharing the details!

Could you please verify if the Linked Issues field is added to the Space settings > Work items > Screens and the Field configuration?

If the the field is not added to the Field configuration, it is expected that the Linked work item will not be visible after a page refresh.

Thank you!

[Hannah Liao]

We have verified the dashboard's field configuration.

The "Associate Issues" field is already present in the current field configuration, set to "Visible," and associated with the corresponding screen.

Therefore, the issue is not caused by a hidden field.

Given that:

- Issue association is enabled across the entire domain

- The project is managed by the company

- Permissions are set correctly

- No issue security or automation has been applied

- The "Associate Issues" field is visible

However, the "Associate Issues" action is still missing, and the link is not retained after refreshing.

Please assist in confirming this further. Thank you.

[Swathi Acharya]

Hey @Hannah Liao

Thanks for the update.

Could you please attach a screenshot from the Issue view of one of the work items here?

[Hannah Liao]

Here are the steps I took:

1. I could search for issues on board B on the cards in board A.

2. After clicking the link, I could access the issues on board B.

3. However, after refreshing, the previously linked issues on board B were no longer visible. But by looking back at the issues on board B, I could see the issues on board A.