Does importing a backup into Jira Software erase everything in Jira Core?

Question

I have two organizations I'm trying to merge into one. I'll refer to them as OLD and NEW.

OLD has only ever used Jira Software and has a considerable amount of history.

NEW has only so far used Jira Core for business. It doesn't have a lot of history, but enough custom config that I want to keep it. It does not yet have any content for Jira Software -- the import from OLD will be its first.

This article says

Import overwrites existing data

This import process overwrites all existing data and configuration (including cross-application settings) in your Jira Cloud site. This impacts existing issues and attachments, look and feel configuration, along with users and group memberships.

The exception is portal-only customer accounts in Jira Service Desk. If the portal-only customer data is different in the import and the destination site, then we use the destination version.

Which I understand to mean that importing into NEW from OLD will first erase everything in NEW.

If that is correct, is it limited to erasing just "Jira Software content" in NEW, or all Jira content (including the Core stuff I'd like to keep) in NEW?

If it erases everything (across both Core and Software), is there a best practice for how to import the OLD Jira Software project into a Jira Software project in NEW without disrupting what's already there?

Alexey Matveev · Accepted Answer

Hello,

If you restore Jira from a backup, it will erase all data (Jira Core, Software and Service Desk). You can not only import Jira Software data by using the backup/restore functionality.

If you want to move only certain projects from one instance to another, then you should use plugins like Project Configurator or Configuration Manager.

Kristian Walker _Adaptavist_ · Accepted Answer

Hi Michael,

Thank you for your question.

I can confirm that Project Configurator is only compatible with migrating configuration or complete projects between Jira Server instances.

This means that if you wish to migrate configuration or complete projects from a cloud instance then you would need to a copy of the cloud instance and restore it on a server version before you can use Project Configurator to migrate the data.

You may also find the guide which Atlassian produce on merging Jira Cloud instances which is located here as a useful reference guide for the process that should be followed.

If this response has answered your question can you please mark it as accepted so that other users can see it is correct when searching for similar answers.

Regards,

Kristian