Importing data from CSV causes overwrites in the issues of the imported project.

Question

Hello team,

I have some problems regarding Importing data from CSV.

In order to explain that, I'm Quoting one of the Tips for importing CSV data into Jira fields(Explained in this article.)

" Issue Key : You can set the issue key for an imported issue. If an issue with a given key already exists in Jira, it will be updated instead. "

Our problem : we required to export JIRA issues from one project to another on a weekly basis. The exported issues should have the same work logs in both projects.

suppose, we need to transfer JIRA issues from one project to another using the CSV import feature.
say the issues with IDs : ABC-156, ABC-157, ABC-204 etc.

The second project(in which i wanted to move our issues) having the last created issue key : XYZ-1200, (even we are trying to create new issue, then it will have the key : 1201),
That means, JIRA will increment issue keys each time when a new issue creates.

the problem is... if the second project is already having keys such as XYZ-156, XYZ-157, XYZ-204 etc. so... when we try to import the issues with key starting ABC-156 will update the issue XYZ-156 instead of creating new issue with key: XYZ-1201.

Kindly provide a solution for our problem.

Jinson Joseph Elayidom · Answer

Hello Petterson,

Thanks for the quick reply.

We required to keep the issues and it's efforts,status,other vital infos, etc. in both projects, that's why we opt CSV import.

We used to log efforts to the respective issues in first project and export the same to the other project on a weekly basis.

In some cases, we may log multiple effort entries in few issues,

say one issue with key ABC-156 has been logged for 8hrs in previous week and Imported the same issue without mapping its issue key creates a new key XYZ-1201 in another project.

what would happen when we try to export the same issue ABC-156 (which has been logged for 12 more hours) in this week?

It will not add 12hrs to the task XYZ-1201, but it creates a new issue(with the same attributes) greater than key 1201(based on the no of tasks created after 1201 in the second project). And in the end in the second project, we gonna get the tasks XYZ-1201 with 8hrs log and  XYZ 1215(guessed) with 12+8 = 20hrs of log.

If we try to import the issue with mapping it's issue key(ABC-156), will update the issue XYZ-156 with the exact efforts, status etc. in the second project.

This is what actually we wished to get.

"Sometimes the second project may already have the same issue key(XYZ-156) with different Summary,Description, Assignee/Reporter, Effort estimations, Log entries etc.
But, when we try to import, it gets overwritten with the info in the issue ABC-156."

In brief, we required to export the issues from one project to another without modifying the pre-existed issues in other project. Even though, the later imports(after the first import) in the second project should update the matching issues precisely.

Petter Gonçalves · Answer

Hello Jinson,

Welcome to Atlassian community.

I understand that you are trying to import issues from one project to another with a new issue-key, however, if the new project already has an issue with the same issue key mapped in the CSV, the import will replace it with the new imported issue. Is that correct?

If I have properly understood your problem, I believe your problem will be solved if you import the issues without mapping its issue keys.

Basically, If you remove the issue keys column of your CSV import, it should add the issues with the next issue key available so the order of the issues will be the same as they are organized in your CSV (XYZ-1201, XYZ-1202, etc). Just remember to specify the project you are importing the file during the import process.

Additionally, you don't need to necessary export/import your issues with CSV if you are trying to move issues between projects of the same site. You can simply use the Bulk operation feature to move all issues to another project.

For more information  the Bulk operations, you can check the documentation below:

- Editing multiple Issues at the same time

Let me know if this information helps.