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Why can't I make changes on my DRAFT workflow?

Marci Boecking

JIRA, you're killing me!

While trying to add transitions to workflows, I keep getting error messages like:

"You cannot perform this operation on a draft workflow." (while trying to add a new transition)

"You are editing a draft workflow. The step "[stepname]" has no outgoing transitions in the Active workflow, so you cannot add any outgoing transitions in the Draft workflow." (while trying to publish a draft workflow - and adding an outgoing transition is PRECISELY what I was trying to do!)

This makes no sense. It's like it's asking me to change an ACTIVE workflow, which I can only do while in DRAFT, then it fails. I can't see any way around this. Is this a bug? If so, when can a fix be expected??

Accepted answers

Nic Brough -Adaptavist-

There's a long-standing howling bug in the workflow editor in that it can only add a transition to steps that already have outgoing transitions.

We've been waiting for a fix since the workflow editor got "draft" mode, and I'm afraid it seems to be a very low priority for Atlassian. So there's no fix forthcoming any time soon, and we can't plan on one being released ever.

I'm afraid you will need to work on a copy and migrate.

Pankaj Verma_ajbjow

Hello Friends,

You cannot edit the workflow because it is "Active", means it is already assigned to a Project.
(even if workflow is Active you can make little changes, like renaming Status/Transition)

Here is the Solution (it worked for me every time)

- Go to Edit the workflow
- Try to publish (without change) and Create a backup copy there

- Go to JIRA Settings -> Issues -> Workflows
- Go to Inactive Workflow section and try to Edit the workflow that you just created as a backup
- Make the changes and keep the window as it is (you may not find the option to save anything there)

- In a separate window, go to Project Settings -> Workflows
- Go to Add Workflow and select the same Workflow that you just edited in separate window
- Click few Next buttons, if there is no new Status it will probably not ask to match the status between Old and new workflows
- Publish it and your are Done (Close the other window where you still opened that Workflow in Edit mode)

Hopefully it will work for you.

All comments

Nic Brough -Adaptavist-

There's a long-standing howling bug in the workflow editor in that it can only add a transition to steps that already have outgoing transitions.

I'm afraid you will need to work on a copy and migrate.

Katerina Stasik

My heart is breaking

Katerina Stasik

There is a workaround. Create a copy of your workflow in global ISSUE menu

Make necessary changes

Switch workflow in your project to the new one

remove the old one to not create a mess of workflows in Jira)

Ian Barnett

This is seriously flawed - this issue makes it stupidly difficult to add a transition.

Atlasssian seriously, c'mon!!!!

Vish Me

I also facing same issue in JIRA really its Kill my Mind

RINO Groep

This popped up for me when a user placed an Issue in our new specified "Done" status. So I thought to be smart and edit the workflow with a Transition to the start of the workflow, but this of course didn't work and gave the aformentioned error. This bug is very annoying and unfriendly towards new users, especially when I have to browse forum after forum to find out other people have the same issue as I have.

Pieter Kuppens

Not an answer but a comment:

I'm in the evaluation process for Atlassian products and encountered this issue.

This is definitely a big -, not only as a serious flaw but also the response that a workaround is available is too lazy. The feedback on the error is also terrible:

It took me way too long before even considering that something so trivial could be a bug that needs a workaround.

Overall I'm still impressed with Jira, and competing products have their own bugs, so this won't be the dealbreaker, just a considerable negative point.

Jason Lobo_2o7zis

This is awesome suggestion, Katerina!!

unknown

Come on, just replacing an old test tool that were not covering our needs and fell over this shitty problem. Dont have time to bother with work arounds, all resolved issues will have done resolution set automatically by use of post function until you fix this.

Except from that this tool seems awesome!

Pankaj Verma_ajbjow

Hello Friends,

You cannot edit the workflow because it is "Active", means it is already assigned to a Project.
(even if workflow is Active you can make little changes, like renaming Status/Transition)

Hopefully it will work for you.

Nic Brough -Adaptavist-

Yes, that's the long version of what we've already said.

paula.werth

Thanks for this thorough explanation - it did the trick!

Franz Maruna

This is annoying.
What I've done is start to use Workflow Schemes at project levels, even if they're all just joining to one "Standard Workflow" scheme that points to a single "Standard Workflow" workflow.

That way if i need to make a new copy of "standard workflow(3)" so i can tinker with transitions, I can change it at the scheme level and update all projects simultaneously.

manabu

To Atlassian: If you are not going to fix this right away, at least, please make that message clear, admit that this is currently a bug and point to a clearly written step to get around it - like editing it in disabled mode. The lengthy information on the page that you point to really isn't very helpful either. We need good user experience, we all know things will have bugs especially this is a coding tool anyway, so no coverups, be transparent and be helpful.

Steven Whittington_5zbvu1

Thanks this saved my day!

Marcin Kwiecien

This is just silly. And everyone saying "this is awesome!" for a solution to clone a workflow in order to achieve this basic functionality should rethink what they wrote. "This" is not awesome, any "workaround" sucks. We should just be able to edit it right inside the draft and that's it.

Nic Brough -Adaptavist-

<sigh> No one is saying "this is awesome", everyone agrees this could be better. Maybe you should try reading the conversation properly?

Marcin Kwiecien

I read it properly enough. People are not happy, I get it. But they are not unhappy enough for me, sorry, it's just me. "Awesome" and "workaround" shouldn't even be in the same sentence when it comes to this poor functionality.

Nic Brough -Adaptavist-

The word "awesome" was used to say "thank you for suggesting a workaround", by one person, not "everyone".

Fay Strickland

Due to this issue I am considering stacking shelves in the local supermarket!

Mohamed Saied_0alyry

Brilliant !

Katie Ghaemi_nlnh74

Can someone please help me on how to work around the error message: "You cannot perform this operation on a draft workflow."

1) I created a copy of a screen scheme

2) I created a copy of the workflow

3) I edited the workflow copy to add a "backlog" transition from to-do status to itself.

Result: I am still seeing the error message.

Aim: I ultimately want the ability to move issues to the backlog when I create them.

Thanks

Artem Glazkov

Please make sure the workflow you are editing is INACTIVE.

This saved me from making any workflow copies:

Go to Settings > Issues > Workflow schemes
Remove the workflow from the scheme to make it INACTIVE
Edit INACTIVE workflow
Go back to the workflow scheme and bind the workflow with Add Workflow

Andrew Mitchell_3riyfw

If you are lazy and can't be bothered duplicating the scheme/workflow. You can instead tick "Allow all statuses to transition to this one" on a status that has outgoing transitions. Not quite the same, but if you are simply creating a way to get out of a cancelled or completed status it works well.

Samuel Araiza

Hello, 2021. Still an issue. Trying to add a transition from one status to another and I can't.

Nic Brough -Adaptavist-

Please see the conversation above about how to work around it, and about why it's not been fixed.

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