Help needed importing database Issue Link relationships via CSV file

Question

I'm trying to use a csv file to import TRAC database data into JIRA.  There is nothing yet in the Jira project I'm importing into and the only record IDs I have are for the TRAC records.

The problem I'm facing is that there are 5 columns of link data that also must be imported.  For example: is blocked by OR is cloned by.

I do not see how I can properly import the links without manually 1st importing the data, obtaining Issue Keys, and then doing a 2nd import of the link data using the Issue Keys.

Currently, I can only map to the Link name. If I want to map to "is cloned by", all I can select is cloner.  I've never had to import this type of information before and am either missing something fundamental or I'm incorrectly going about the import and mapping.

I believe I've read most of Atlassian's documentation on links and have also read this document https://www.praecipio.com/blog/guide-import-linked-issues-into-jira-from-csv

Any help will be very appreciated.

Jim

Earl McCutcheon · Accepted Answer

Hi @James Malgieri ,

Whit CSV imports for issue links, I'm sure you have already seen this as you noted going heavy thought the docs but for a referance point details on the formatting and noted on link directions can be seen in:

* How to Import Issue Links from a CSV File
* Configuring issue linking

One of the biggest points that is probably causing you the most trouble and that is easily missed as its not really explicitly mentioned in the docs above but left open for interpretation based on the formatting example(Side Note I'll make sure to update the documentation to reflect this better, as noted above its not clearly noted in the docs currently.) But the focal point is that in the CSV import, a link from the source issue to the destination issue is always  going to be represented in the import file as an outward link and noted in the import option as the Link Name.

So using your example of:

If I want to map to "is cloned by", all I can select is cloner.

In the default naming of cloned issue links that is the expected naming convention where "Cloners" is the Link name "is cloned by" is the outward link description and "clones" is the inward link description but default, so when the CSV file is formatted you will have the issue A with the expected link From A to B being "is cloned by" it will set the link type as your expecting when selecting "Cloners" during the import, but if you want to create an inward link "clones", you need to import the issue first then swap the source and destination updating the existing issue with the details of the new issues that was just created in a two step process, as the issue must exist before you can create the link in the other direction.

I recomend trying to only focus on the Outward links as much as possible because if you take the approach or retroactively setting the link via an update in the other direction a common pitfall in updating an existing issue via CSV is that fields with default value presets will overwrite the existing data if left out of the CSV but have a value different from the default.  So, for existing issues if you create a row for link to the new issue, you'll also need to have columns for all of the issues fields that have data in addition to the new field value, otherwise they will be reset to default values, and takes a bit more time to validate all the settings are correct.

Regards,
Earl