I have a status that I need to add a transition but it will not allow me to add it

Question

Hello, I am new to Jira and have inherited a project that uses a customized workflow.  In the workflow there is a status of On Hold that does not have any transitions it can be moved to.  When I made a copy of the workflow and it was in draft I was able to add a transition to move to Open.  How can I add the Move to Open transition in the active workflow?

Jeremy Gaudet · Answer

Changing workflows for a project will involve a wizard that lets you map any missing statuses to new statuses, etc.  If all you did was add a transition, that should not apply; however, all tickets will log a history entry for the workflow change.

I was not aware that you couldn't add an outgoing transition to a status that had no outgoing transitions, that seems pretty weird.  So this status, which was present on the original workflow, had no way out of it?

Sonia Ferenczi · Answer

When I attempt to add a transition to the draft of an active workflow I get the following message.  You cannot perform this operation on a draft workflow. More Information.

When I view the more information I found the following:

An active workflow is a workflow that is currently being used by one or more projects.

When you edit an active workflow, JIRA first creates a draft of it, that you can then modify as you see fit. When you've finished, you can publish your draft and, optionally, save your original workflow as an inactive backup.

The following limitations apply when editing the draft for an active workflow:

* It is not possible to edit the workflow name (only the description) if a workflow is active.
* Workflow statuses cannot be deleted.
* If a status has no outgoing transitions (Global transitions are not considered), it cannot have any new outgoing transitions added, regular or global. 
* The step ID cannot be changed. See Cannot Add Transitions or Delete Steps in Draft Workflows.

To make any of the modifications listed above, you need to copy the workflow (see Creating a workflow), modify the copy and then activate it.

I made a copy of the workflow, added the Move to open transition.  If I add the workflow to my project, wouldn't it mess up the current workflow and all the issue types that are currently entered?

Jeremy Gaudet · Answer

When you edit a workflow, it creates a draft; from there, you have to publish the draft to make any changes go live.