Changing Custom Field Type from Text to Select List

Question

We currently have a Text field that we want to change over to a Select List. I think the only way to do that is create a new Select List field and copy over all the existing entries and then delete the old Text field. Is there a better way?

We're currently on JIRA Enterprise 4.3.4.

Nic Brough -Adaptavist- · Accepted Answer

That is the best way, because it's the most safe, and it's supported.

You could do it in the database, but this is risky and quite a lot of work (especially if going from Test to Select - you have to homogenise and validate all the text, and map it on to new select values)