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How do I select multiple issues to bulk edit?

stucampbell

I'm using a Classic Software project and I want to be able to select multiple issues in a long list so that I can do some operation on them, e.g. link them to an epic for example. But the issue lists don't seem to support multi-select, which I find bizarre coming from YouTrack.

The bulk edit feature seems to assume that you can define a search that neatly selects the issues you want to edit but this isn't always the case. For example, the issues I want to associate with the epic don't have any common naming.

Another use case is bulk assigning a lot of issues to the OKR they contribute to (using a custom field). I can't define a search for this.

Please tell me there's a way to select multiple issues at a time...

Accepted answers

Sharon Helms

Hi @stucampbell ,

I believe the "Advanced issue search" is the place you must go to do Bulk Edits. (Here's the docs on editing multiple issues at once.) It sounds like you're doing that, but maybe you filtering more than you need?

You said:

The bulk edit feature seems to assume that you can define a search that neatly selects the issues you want to edit but this isn't always the case.

For example, when I'm looking to do a bulk edit in a specific Classic Software project, I create a search by project (for example, "project = CC order by created DESC" )-- while it doesn't "neatly select" the issues I want to edit, it narrows it down enough so that my list isn't impossibly long. Then maybe I'll get a bit more specific, -- for example, I only want to see issues within the past 3 months, and so on.

When your filter results are a manageable size, you can click more (•••) and choose Bulk Change all <n> issues to select multiple issues you want to change at one time.

I have successfully used this technique to bulk edit Custom fields.

Hope this helps! Best wishes, Sharon

All comments

Sharon Helms

Hi @stucampbell ,

You said:

The bulk edit feature seems to assume that you can define a search that neatly selects the issues you want to edit but this isn't always the case.

When your filter results are a manageable size, you can click more (•••) and choose Bulk Change all <n> issues to select multiple issues you want to change at one time.

I have successfully used this technique to bulk edit Custom fields.

Hope this helps! Best wishes, Sharon

stucampbell

Hi Sharon,

Yes, you're right. I was mistaken because I thought the bulk edit had to happen on all of them. I stupidly didn't see that at that stage you can use checkboxes to refine the selection. So I can use this approach, which is good to know.

I do think that the usability could be improved though. e.g. when I'm in the bulk edit screen I have no way of sorting or filtering. It feels very inflexible. I have a view where I can sort and filter but I can't select. Or I can go to a view where I can select but I can't sort and filter. Quite frustrating.

Thanks for your answer.

Nic Brough -Adaptavist-

There are open requests for sorting and "quick filter" like functions on the bulk-edit selection screen. I think those would help us a lot, and last time I remember seeing them, Atlassian had them in a "we'd like to do this" status

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