Restrictions on changing the issue types of the issues already created

Question

Hi there, my jira board has several issue types, bug and request included.

A user should create a request but he actually creates a bug.

I tried to click the issue icon in the ticket to change the type but it shows "You cannot edit the issue type in this project."

It is found that task and epic can be changed to other issue types while bug or request cannot be changed due to the field configuration and workflow associated.

So which issue types can be changed after created? which cannot be edited? What is the rationale behind?

Is there any means i can change bug / request to another issue type?

Thanks!

Tom Hudgins · Answer

The thing that was causing problems/confusion for me was that the field "Issue Type" was not on the Edit screen for the issue type of the issue I was viewing. When I hovered over the issue type icon I got the message "You can't change the type".

Once I added the Issue Type field to the Edit screen, hovering over the icon got me a dropdown of all the issue types in the project and I could pick one and go through the "move" process.

Nic Brough -Adaptavist- · Answer

The issue type is not a simple field, it's a fundamental part of what an issue is, and it determines all the configuration of the issue.

Because of that, you can't "edit" the issue type directly, you have to use "move" to change the issue type, as the move functionality can compare the current configuration of the issue with the new configuration and check if anything needs to change.

The exception is when two issue types are configured to have the same settings - that is, they follow the same workflow, and have the same fields set up for them.  Then, you can change the issue type without having to do the checks.

TLDR: you can only "edit" the issue type when the current and target issue types are using the same settings.

Igor Dugalic · Answer

Never mind my previous answer, you can also "Edit" the Issue Type of custom Issue Types but you need to have "Issue Type" on the Edit screen mapped.