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Has the Kanban backlog logic changed for new Jira Cloud sites when the backlog is used without a Bac

Hatice Kübra Demirbaş

We are using a Jira Cloud Kanban board.
In an older domain, the Kanban backlog works as expected without a Backlog column (backlog = issues not yet added to the board).

However, in a newly created domain, the behavior is different:

Issues in Backlog status do not appear in the backlog
Issues already added to the To Do column appear in the backlog list

The board filter configuration is identical.
This suggests a possible change in the default Kanban backlog behavior for new Jira Cloud sites.

Is this an intended or known change?

Accepted answers

Trudy P Claspill

Hello @Hatice Kübra Demirbaş

Can you confirm that both of these boards are in Jira Cloud environments?

What is the Space type for each of the Spaces shown in these images?

To find the Space type, click on the three-dots button next to the Space name in the navigation panel on the left. In the pop-up that displays the Space type is specified in the last two lines. Both lines are necessary to understand the Space type.

Screenshot 2026-01-16 at 12.55.39 PM.png

I am assuming that this relates to Software spaces.

The behaviour of the column mapping and Backlog will differ between Company-managed and Team-managed projects.

With Company-managed projects an issue will be in the Backlog list on the Backlog screen based on its status, and you designate those by adding the Status to the Kanban Backlog column in the Columns and Statuses page:

Screenshot 2026-01-16 at 12.59.48 PM.png

In a Team-managed project the issue Status is NOT used to designate if the issue should be in the Backlog list or on the Board. Issues in any status can be in either the Backlog list or on the board.

In both cases if you move a status to the Unassigned Statuses column you are telling Jira that you do not want to display issues assigned to that status anywhere; neither in the board nor in the Backlog.

I suspect that you are working with a Team-managed board in your new environment, if the black-background image is for the board where

Issues in Backlog status do not appear in the backlog

Issues already added to the To Do column appear in the backlog list

All comments

Philipp Sendek _catworkx_

Hi @Hatice Kübra Demirbaş ,

I'm not sure about a change in the default setting, but have you checked whether you can achieve that you're looking for in the Layout -> Columns section of the board configuration itself?

There you're able to decide which columns exist and which status is included by the Kanban backlog. This hopefully enables you to achieve the desired behaviour you're looking for.

If not, feel free to explain a little more on what you're trying to achieve and we see that we work on this together.

Greetings
Philipp

Hatice Kübra Demirbaş

I’m using a Kanban board and intentionally rely on the backlog to show issues not yet added to the board, without using a Backlog column.

In an older Jira Cloud domain, this setup worked as expected:

Issues in Backlog status appeared in the backlog
Issues added to the To Do column did not appear in the backlog

However, in a newly created domain, the behavior is different:

Issues in Backlog status do not appear in the backlog
Issues already added to the To Do column appear in the backlog list

I’ve checked Columns / Status mapping: there is no Backlog column, and other statuses are correctly mapped to their columns.

Has the default Kanban backlog behavior changed in new Jira Cloud domains, or am I missing a setting?

Thanks!

Duc Thang TRAN

Hello @Hatice Kübra Demirbaş

From my experience, and based on your description :
on your old instance, is a a Scrum board, while the new instance uses a Kanban board.

Normally, on a Kanban board, you can activate a backlog by adding statuses to the Kanban backlog column (Board setting -> layout -> coloumns) . Then the Backlog menu will appear, showing only tickets with the mapped statuses.

Can you provide few screenshot (board setting columns and backlog board ) ?

On a Scrum board, the backlog contains all tickets regardless of their status, and the active sprint shows tickets by column based on the mapped statuses

Br
Duc Thang

Marc -Devoteam-

Hi @Hatice Kübra Demirbaş

Can you share the configuration of both boards please.

What status is mapped to the backlog column on the boards?

New kanban board have a specific backlog column where you can map workflow statuses to.

Hatice Kübra Demirbaş

Hi @Duc Thang TRAN ,
Thank you for the clarification.
Both boards are indeed Kanban boards (not Scrum), and their filters and column mappings are identical.

What caused the confusion is that, in the older Jira Cloud site, the Kanban backlog behaves as “issues not yet on the board,” regardless of status, without requiring any statuses to be mapped to the backlog column.

In the newly created site, the backlog behaves strictly according to Kanban status-to-column mapping, as you described.

This is why we were wondering whether the older board’s behavior was legacy, non-standard, or the result of a configuration or historical change in Jira Cloud Kanban backlog behavior.

If there is a way to confirm whether the older behavior is expected, deprecated, or configuration-driven, we would appreciate the guidance.

Hatice Kübra Demirbaş

Hi @Marc -Devoteam-

Thanks for the explanation.

We intentionally do not want to create a dedicated Backlog column on the Kanban board.
All statuses are expected to remain under Unassigned statuses.

Our expectation is:

Issues with Backlog status should appear in the Backlog page, under the Backlog section.
Only issues in Backlog status should be listed there.
Issues in To Do category (or any other category) should not appear in the Backlog list.

This is how the backlog behaves on our older Jira Cloud site with the same Kanban setup.

Could you please confirm whether this behavior is still supported for Kanban boards on newer Jira Cloud sites, or if mapping statuses to a Backlog column is now mandatory?

Marc -Devoteam-

Hi @Hatice Kübra Demirbaş

The problem is, the first image is of a board based on a scrum board and the second on a kanban board option.

When you create a board, you have an option to choose Scrum or Kanban.

So both boards are based on a different template.

If you want a board to be as the first picture, create the new board based on Scrum

Duc Thang TRAN

@Hatice Kübra Demirbaş
Can you provide few screenshot (old backlog board and the new one ) ?

This is for Kanban
2026-01-16 16_37_09-AJT KANBAN - Kanban Board - Jira — Mozilla Firefox.png

This is for Scrum board

2026-01-16 16_36_57-AJT Sprint 6 - AJT Scrum Board 1 - Scrum Board - Jira — Mozilla Firefox.png

Trudy P Claspill

Hello @Hatice Kübra Demirbaş

Can you confirm that both of these boards are in Jira Cloud environments?

What is the Space type for each of the Spaces shown in these images?

Screenshot 2026-01-16 at 12.55.39 PM.png

I am assuming that this relates to Software spaces.

The behaviour of the column mapping and Backlog will differ between Company-managed and Team-managed projects.

Screenshot 2026-01-16 at 12.59.48 PM.png

In a Team-managed project the issue Status is NOT used to designate if the issue should be in the Backlog list or on the Board. Issues in any status can be in either the Backlog list or on the board.

I suspect that you are working with a Team-managed board in your new environment, if the black-background image is for the board where

Issues in Backlog status do not appear in the backlog

Issues already added to the To Do column appear in the backlog list

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