How can I edit labels on closed JIRA issues without re-opening them?

Jacob Boyko September 15, 2013

As a JIRA administrator, I've noticed that labels can get "messy". In particular, there is often variations of the same thing. I would like to be able to consolidate labels that are synonymous and bulk rename the variants, but I don't want the "Last Updated" information to change.

For example, let's say there's a bunch of issues dealing with the "trunk area" of a car. Fortunately, your team is culturally diverse, so you've got blokes who label that part of the car a "Boot". Other folks label it "Trunk" and yet another makes the perfect label: "automobile-luggage-compartment" So I'd like to rename all of these to "trunk".

I could reopen, re-label, re-close each issue, but this would be time consuming and would distort activity timestamps. Is there a plugin for this? A great name would be "Label Manager" or something even more clever. I've searched without success.

I have access to the SQL database, but I don't really want to hack around in there!

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Jacob Boyko October 1, 2013

I'm accepting Andrew Culver's Label bot [https://marketplace.atlassian.com/plugins/ca.uwo.jira.plugins.labelbot] as a workaround for now, and in the meantime I have voted for the feature request https://jira.atlassian.com/browse/JRA-26128

5 votes
Kurtulus Oksuztepe June 5, 2015
In my solution, I've created a transition:  Closed > Edit Label > Closed.
  1. Create a Screen with name: "Edit Label Screen". Add "Label" field into this screen.
  2. Create Screen Scheme (copy from default) and assign "Edit Label Screen"
  3. Copy default JIRA workflow ("Custom Jira")
  4. Add transition Closed > Closed. Name it "Edit Label". Associate it with "Edit Label Screen"
  5. Assign Custom JIRA workflow to your project.
  6. Voila!
Alexander Schwantes June 11, 2019

This is the best option available today. Thank you so much for this, its super easy to use too!

1 vote
Kim Poulsen
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September 25, 2013

I see three ways:

  1. Reopen, filter, bulk change, close
    This has the disadvantage of modifying the activity stream, sending mail notifications, changing the history etc.
  2. Change or migrate all issues into a different workflow where the "closed" state is editable.
    Then filter, bulk change.
    Still updates activity stream, history, sends emails.
    See [https://confluence.atlassian.com/display/JIRA/Allow+editing+of+Closed+Issues] or
    [https://answers.atlassian.com/questions/13937/how-can-i-label-a-closed-issue]
  3. SQL hacks which change the database directly. Possibly through a plugin.
    This is possibly a hazardous thing to do.
    An older plugin provides source code you may be able to coerce into what you need:
    [https://marketplace.atlassian.com/archive/com.atlassian.jira.plugin.labels]

I would recommend one of the ideas in 2.

Jacob Boyko September 25, 2013

Hi Kim, thanks for your input :)

I would have to go with an option that doesn't update the activity stream or send emails, since the changes are not really "current"; it is purely for ease of classification and doesn't have anything to do with the status of the issues.

I have downloaded Andrew Culver's Label bot [https://marketplace.atlassian.com/plugins/ca.uwo.jira.plugins.labelbot] but I haven't used it yet. I would need to be able to add labels as well, so a UI to see the issue is important.

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Deleted user September 25, 2013

I sympathise. I actually do most of the labeling myself for all my projects as I like things to be named the same. Trunk vs Boot vs Rear-compartment would also drive me to drink. I have also tried to implement naming conventions to keep the labeling neat and tidy. The developers use it most of the time.

I have at least three labels for my issues on certain projects. The problem with bulk changing them is that if you have other labels on the issues they will be replaced by what you put in the bulk editor.

You are also able to uncheck the box that sends mails to user in the bulk edit confirm screen.

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