Missing user references in Card Colors keep reappearing after deletion

Hi @David Shahbazyan ,

It might be that Jira automatically keeps color entries for users who are, or have been, assignees of issues on the board. Because of that, simply removing the user from Board settings → Card Colors may not be permanent if Jira still finds references to that user in issues covered by the board filter.

As for missing users, I'm guessing you mean deleted ones?

I haven't played with DC databases in a while, but there should be something like AO_60DB71_CARDCOLOR table where those references would be stored.

I also did find this (note: it's AI-generated ⚠️):

1. Identify the Orphaned User Keys

Run a diagnostic SQL query to find users who exist in the application mapping but are missing from the synchronized directory:

SELECT au.user_key, au.lower_user_name
FROM app_user au
LEFT JOIN cwd_user cu ON cu.lower_user_name = au.lower_user_name
WHERE cu.lower_user_name IS NULL;

This will give you the exact user_key causing the integrity check errors .

2. Recreate and Clean Up (Recommended UI Method)

The most stable way to clear these references without direct database manipulation is to make the users "visible" to Jira again temporarily:

• Recreate the User: Create a local user in Jira using the exact same lower_user_name identified in the query above .

• Update Board Settings: Once the user is recreated, navigate to your Board Settings > Card Colors. The user will now be searchable and selectable. You can then successfully remove the rule or reassign the color to a valid user .

• Bulk Reassign: Use JQL (assignee = "username") to find any issues still assigned to this user and bulk-edit them to be Unassigned .

• Delete the Temporary User: After all references are cleared, you can safely delete the local user account.

3. Advanced Database Cleanup

If you have a large number of orphaned users, you can perform a database update to set the assignee/reporter to NULL for the affected user keys in the jiraissue table .

• Warning: This requires Jira to be offline, and you must perform a full "Lock Jira and rebuild index" immediately after restarting to ensure the changes persist and the integrity check passes .

But before running or deleting anything in the DB, I'd still confirm this with Atlassian Support to see what they say. 👀

Cheers,
Tobi