How to link "Affects Version" with Jira project's release version?

Question

I'm new to Service Desk and I'm setting up the fields for the Report a Bug screen. One of the most important things I need to ask my customers when they find a bug is "in what version of the software".

Obviously I can just add a blank text field that accepts anything, but I thought "Affects Version" field was exactly designed for that.

So I went ahead and added the Affects Version field to my screen, but the drop down list is empty.

I have another "Classic software" Jira project (it is in the same Category in the Jira Projects screen) that has several releases. I was expecting that list of versions to populate the dropdown list in the bug report, but that's not happening.

Am I misunderstanding the use of Affects Version field? If so, what's the intended use of that field? What's the best practice to let customers specify which version gets affected by the bug they are reporting?

Mike Bowen · Answer

Hi @Paulo Merlotti

I've also been looking and my guess is NO because Jira Service Desk is a project in its own right likewise Jira Software could have a classic or Next-Gen project tracking Version numbers.

Our DEVs have versions for their projects, and no where in the set up can I see how I could link Jira Service Desk to it or vice versa.

Would be nice if it was easy (we have a lot of versions, and I don't want to be typing out 3.3.40.x 86 times ;-)

I found an article on this - see: https://community.atlassian.com/t5/Marketplace-Apps-Integrations/Link-Versions-between-JIRA-Service-Desk-amp-JIRA-Software/qaq-p/635204

-Mike

Paulo Merlotti · Answer

I think this answers half of my question.

So I'm assuming there's no way to link releases from a software team using Jira classic software to a service desk affected version right?

Mike Bowen · Answer

Hi @Paulo Merlotti

To populate the Affects Version field in Jira Service Desk do the following:

* Go to Project Settings in Jira Service Desk. 
* Versions.
* Add your versions along with (optional Start Date and Release Date and Description). 
* Save. 
* Go back to a ticket and if you click on the Affects Version the pull down should list the versions.

-Mike