Forums

Articles
Create
cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

Removing Orphaned Sprints on free tier

Shahbaz Hafeez
I'm New Here
I'm New Here
Those new to the Atlassian Community have posted less than three times. Give them a warm welcome!
October 8, 2025

Hi, 

 

We have a few old sprints that were orphaned when a project was deleted. There are no tickets in that project but they're listed in current projects in sprint dropdowns in our Jira Cloud site

I’ve verified: - The REST API confirms the existence of current project sprints but calls to the old board ID (returning `rapidViewId` error) confirm that board no longer exists. JQL `Sprint in ("<old sprint name>")` returns “Sprint with name does not exist or you do not have permission to view it.”

So it seems these are orphaned sprint records left behind by a deleted board.

I've followed the workaround captured against https://jira.atlassian.com/browse/JSWCLOUD-11263 plus those comments left by others but to no avail. 

Does anyone have any ideas what else could be done? 

As we're on the Free Jira Cloud plan, I can’t open a support ticket for someone with backend access to do the cleanup because the workaround didn't work. 


1 answer

0 votes
Christos Markoulatos
Community Champion
October 8, 2025

Hi @Shahbaz Hafeez 

You’re correct, when a board is deleted, its sprints can remain in the system as “orphaned.” Since you’re on the Free plan (no Atlassian support), here are the two main workarounds that usually work:

  1. If the orphaned sprint is active (cannot complete it)
  • Create a new board using the same filter as the deleted board (or as close as possible).
  • Open the new board → Complete Sprint.
    (If the sprint had no issues, create a temporary project/board, add a dummy issue to the sprint, then complete it.)
    Ref: JSWCLOUD‑11263
  1. If you just need to delete the orphaned sprint
  • Go to any Company‑managed Scrum project backlog.
  • Pick an issue in the backlog (not in a sprint).
  • Edit its Sprint field → assign it to the orphan sprint.
  • The sprint now appears in the backlog → click … → Delete sprint.
  • Alternatively, use the Sprint REST API to delete it.
    Ref: JRACLOUD‑90816

There’s no direct UI option to bulk-remove orphaned sprints.

Hope this helps!

Shahbaz Hafeez
I'm New Here
I'm New Here
Those new to the Atlassian Community have posted less than three times. Give them a warm welcome!
October 8, 2025

Thanks Christos! I tried the first option but the sprint wasnt listed. I assume they have an interal ID which doesnt match hence why it's not displayed. this would make sense for security reasons should a project be deleted then at some point in the future someone creates a new Project and inadvertently ressurrects old data.

It was a team-based project, we aren't using company-managed scrum projects. 

The REST API method I tried but the orphansed sprint (which was active) isn't being associated with the board of the new project with the same project key. 

Christos Markoulatos
Community Champion
October 8, 2025

Lets dive into it @Shahbaz Hafeez 

The issue here is that team-managed projects complicate things because they don’t have the same backlog/sprint management options as company-managed projects, and orphaned sprints often lack a valid board association.

Why the workaround fails for team-managed projects

  • Team-managed boards are auto-generated and tied to the project. When the project is deleted, the board and its context vanish.
  • Orphaned sprints remain in the global sprint table but without a valid rapidViewId, so they can’t be surfaced in UI or linked to new boards.

What you can still try

  1. REST API Delete Sprint
    • Use DELETE /rest/agile/1.0/sprint/{sprintId}.
    • You can find the sprintId via GET /rest/agile/1.0/sprint?state=active|future|closed.
    • Even if the board is gone, the sprint entity usually responds to DELETE.
    • Requires Admin permissions, but works on Free tier.
  2. Temporary Company-Managed Project
    • Create a company-managed Scrum project (even on Free tier).
    • Add a dummy issue → manually set its Sprint field to the orphan sprint.
    • The sprint should appear in the backlog → delete it from UI.
    • This works because company-managed projects can reference global sprints.

Let me know if it worked!

Suggest an answer

Log in or Sign up to answer
DEPLOYMENT TYPE
CLOUD
PRODUCT PLAN
FREE
TAGS
AUG Leaders

Atlassian Community Events