How can I update existing Jira Stories in bulk?

Question

I have exported a list of Jira Stories to make a common change to the Summary of each task.  I then left the column for Issue Key, Issue ID, & Summary.  I can map to Issue ID & Summary, but I do not have a choice to map Issue Key.  I think this is why when I try to import, it continues to create new tasks instead of updating existing tasks.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Craig Nodwell_7eve9b · Accepted Answer

Hi @Dawn Davis check out this thread in the link below, it has complete steps for both server and cloud versions on how to update via importing a csv file.

Whether-Jira-supports-updating-existing-issues-using-CSV-import

Hannes Obweger - JXL for Jira · Accepted Answer

fHi @Dawn Davis

welcome to the community!

As an alternative to the import process, I believe this would be very elegantly solvable via JXL for Jira.

JXL for Jira is a full-fledged spreadsheet/table view for your issues that allows viewing and inline-editing all your issue fields. You can also copy/paste issue field values, either within JXL, or between JXL and Excel, Google Sheets, etc. So depending on your exact use case, you may be able to simply paste your values into JXL, or even make your changes directly in JXL.

This is how this looks in action:

You can do this for any issue field, and for any number of issues in one operation.

(It's worth noting that JXL can do much more than that - from inline issue creation, to quick sorting and filtering, to support for issue hierarchies, groupings, and sum ups. More info at https://jxl.app. Disclaimer: I work on JXL :) )

Hope this helps,

Best,

Hannes