How do you check what's using a custom field before you delete it?

Question

I've been doing Jira admin work for a while and I still don't have a good answer for this one.

Someone asks me to clean up old custom fields. Before I delete anything I want to know what actually breaks: filters, boards, dashboards, automation rules, workflow conditions.

Right now I search JQL for the field name and hope. That misses dashboard gadgets and automation entirely, and it doesn't tell me which screens the field is on, just how many.

What's your actual process? Do you delete and wait for someone to complain, or is there something better I'm missing?

Arkadiusz Wroblewski · Answer

Hi @Endri Vavla

Check Settings → System → Site optimizer. It helps identify unused fields and shows their contexts, screens, and last usage.

https://support.atlassian.com/jira-cloud-administration/docs/optimize-your-custom-fields/

Before deleting the field, I also check saved filters, boards, dashboards, automation rules, workflow conditions, validators, and post-functions. Searching for the field ID (customfield_XXXXX) can be helpful, too.

Atlassian also documents a known issue where deleting a field can break workflow transitions:

https://jira.atlassian.com/browse/JRACLOUD-93906

Unfortunately, there still isn’t one native view that covers every dependency. And yes, deleting things and waiting for complaints definitely isn’t my favorite testing strategy. 😅

Cheers,

Arek🤠🧙‍♂️

John Funk · Answer

Hi Endri - Welcome to the Atlassian Community!

Actually, your best bet is use Ask Rovo and see if it provides what you need. Another approach it to create a new filter with: "Field Name" is not empty

Then with the list of the results but them in order by createddate (or created). That will give you an idea of when the last time the field was probably used.

Or you can use an Add on from the Atlassian Marketplace which can give you really specific details. One of those is the Revyz Configuration Manager for Jira.

https://marketplace.atlassian.com/apps/1231935/revyz-configuration-manager-for-jira-deploy-sandbox?hosting=cloud&tab=overview