Custom text field to suggest input based on existing values

Question

I am searching for a way/custom field that will allow free text typing, but will suggest options based on existing values in other tickets (once the user starts typing) - like the label field does.

Use case:

Group issues (stories, sub-tasks, bugs) from across multiple epics to an existing 'category'/theme/key result.

NB: It seems the 'theme' field is only available for portfolio users(?) and only at the epic level? Assuming this is correct, I am essentially trying to recreate this functionality for all issue types.

An example of what the category names could look like is:
'Category 1: Everything relating to widget 1',
'Category 2: Everything relating to widget 2',
etc

There will be ~ 15 fixed categories at any given time, that will change every quarter.

Problem

I had tried to use a custom free text field, but it did not display existing options when a user started typing (like the label field does). Is there a way to configure it to do this, or another field I could use to achieve the above?

A label would normally be fine, but as these fields will be shown in reports (and have quite long input values) I'd ideally like them to be a little more human readable.

I would also prefer not to use the 'single select drop down' as new options will be added semi regularly/not necessarily by admin users.

Any help or suggestions appreciated!

Bonus points if there is a way to link these categories to a release. So you get notified /warned (or stopped) when trying to link an issue to a category from a closed release.

Andy Heinzer · Accepted Answer

Hi Michael,

I see that you are wanting to be able to have a set list of options in a custom field that users can select from when they start to type out some string of the input, but that labels are not a desirable alternative.

For Jira Cloud, I do not have a perfect solution for this as of today.  There is an existing feature request that if implemented would help here in JRACLOUD-23013 - Allow multi-select and multi-checkboxes custom field types to use auto-complete renderer.  What I was thinking could happen is that you create a select or multi-select type custom field and then apply a different renderer for that custom field in Jira.

Other users have been able to do this in the past for Jira Server such as in https://community.atlassian.com/t5/Jira-questions/Re-how-to-add-auto-complete-rendere-to-any-custom-field/qaq-p/126056/comment-id/52980#M52980 I recall setting this up at least once in the past and it did would pretty well as I recall.  However the javascript listed there will not work with any Jira Cloud site today, because Cloud has disabled the use of html/scripts inside of field descriptions.

I know that you stated that labels is not an ideal solution, but given that end users would be expected to contribute values to this semi-regularly, it still feels like the best alternative available right now.  Perhaps rather than using the default labels field, you could create a new global custom field of type labels and use that for the purposes you have described above.  This way only values added to that specific field would appear as existing options in that field when users are typing, but users can still add their own values as options in that field.

Alternatively, perhaps there exists an add-on to Jira Cloud in Marketplace that might be able to provide the kind of functionality you are looking for.  However right now, I do not know of one that does exactly what you are looking for here.

I hope this helps.

Andy