Restrict link type of prevent/delete not allowedones

[Jochen Betz]

The objective sound simple to me, but it seems in Jira it is not:

Objective:
Allow only specific types of links between elements.

Why:
The list of possible link types is way way to big for a regular user to oversee and choose the correct one. In order to have consistency it is therefor mandatory to limit the possible choices.

As far as I have found out so far, it is NOT possible to limit the selection with Jira on board tools. Not for the whole instance nor for a single project. Correct me if I'm wrong

Thus I tried to make a step further to at least clean up and inform the user if he has done something "wrong".

But there comes the next few quirk/inconsistency (IMHO):

I tried to create a automation which is triggered when a new link is created. As for the user, the list of possibilities is endless. So I tried to grab ALL of the types which should not be used: (why not c&p from clipboard in this editor here? -> inconsistency)

Now comes the first quirk: It's seems NOT possible to refer to the just created link itself, the one which triggered the rule - which is the one I want to simply delete. Am I wrong?

It seems only possible to delete ALL links of a specific type - In my case that could be accepted, but what would you do if you want to just delete this specific created one?

Ok, so let's delete all of a specific type. But there comes the next quirk: The selection list looks very different.

And, only for now, comes the last quirk: While in the trigger you can select "Requirement" there is no such possibility to select "is required" or "required by" or similar. What am I missing?

Question:

1. Can I somehow limit the link types without an additional app/add on
2. Why is the selection different? 
3. Is there a way to really delete only the link triggering the rule?
4. If 3) is not, how to achieve consistency between "when" and "then" 
5. What/how to select for "requirement"

[Staffan Redelius]

Hi @Jochen Betz 

If you go to Jira settings (cogwheel )-> Work Items -> Work item linking you can remove the Link type you don't want the users to use and replace it with the correct one. That way you will clean up and reduce the number of options.

Just remember this is a global setting so it will affect all spaces and issue types.

It seems a bit backwards to create an automation to fix this afterwards instead of reducing the number of available link types but in theory you probably could be create a IF/Else statement going through all the link types and replace them with the one you want.

I hope this helps,
Best regards,
/Staffan

[Jochen Betz]

Thank you @Staffan Redelius , that is indeed a place I did not discover yet. Unfortunately I can not use that, because as you said: It's global And it should only apply to specific work item types or projects.

I also agree with you that trying to fix it with automation is quite a bit backward "solution" but the only way I found so far. I would love to have a clean way at the "head of the horse", but as so often Jira as is does not provide such a thing. Thus the huge amount of 3rd party apps/addons to fix all this issues.

Using if/else is not a solution neither, because I don't know the intention of the user.

So yes, your answer helps a little for understanding but unfortunately not to solve the problem. On the pro side: it shows a point which is not clear from the automation side: "when" refers to the "Name" of the link "type" while the "in/outward description" are used in the "then part"

[Daryl Marsh]

On that same link that Staffan provided, you can re-order the way links are displayed. Move the links used most to the top of the list for easier access.