Bulk copying one field to another field without script runner

Question

Hi,

I'm running JIRA Cloud. I am changing the field type for a custom field. I've created the new field and want to copy all the old field values over to the new one.

However, I can't figure out a way to do this using the bulk edit UI. Is this not possible without the script runner plug-in (unavailable for JIRA Cloud).

I did have the idea to export to Excel, copy the values there, and then reimport to update the issues but I'm not sure how that will work out. Let me know if there's a better way to go.

Thanks!

radhika.suresh · Answer

Nic, thanks very much for the help. I was mapping the JIRA Key to "Issue ID" - should have mapped to "Issue Key". Amongst the hundreds of fields available, I didn't realize the two were different identifiers. Having an intelligent mapper (based on keyword) would have been nice...
The import worked once I had the mapping right (I feel rather foolish about it now).

Nic Brough -Adaptavist- · Answer

Ok, I'm a bit stuck - I used CSV to update a dozen-ish issues from a spreadsheet yesterday afternoon - I was able to map "Key" to, well "Key" and it updated the fields on the existing issues.

It looks to me like you've not mapped Key on to the issue key in Jira - note that the log says [externallId=...

radhika.suresh · Answer

I just ran using the system import as well. There was one difference: the 'Next' button on the field mapping screen does not get enabled unless I map the Summary field. However, there was no difference in outcome once the import was done. It created a new Issue, did not update the existing one. It also complained that it couldn't find the custom field; not sure if this is causing the problem. 1. .CSV file has just this one entry: Key,Summary,SPR#_Old CDM-246,Create Deployment plan for the Patient Coverage release,9999 2. Log file says this: 2015-10-23 09:32:21,896 INFO - Importing issue: [externalId='CDM-246', summary='Create Deployment plan for the Patient Coverage release'] 2015-10-23 09:32:21,924 INFO - Custom field not found. Creating a new custom field for com.atlassian.jira.plugins.importer.external.beans.ExternalCustomField@19b57f[id=External issue ID,name=External issue ID,typeKey=com.atlassian.jira.plugin.system.customfieldtypes:textfield,searcherKey=com.atlassian.jira.plugin.system.customfieldtypes:textsearcher,valueMappingDefinition=,valueSet=]