Jira Data Center: How to find and restore deleted tasks

[#1]

Yes, it can happen to anyone. You delete some information or task accidentally, and then you need it back. Almost every month, there are several requests in the Atlassian Community where someone is looking to track deleted issues in Jira. And, no, there is no recycle bin; however, there are alternative ways to check. 

This topic is already covered for Cloud users, and you can learn more in Jira Cloud: How to restore deleted issue?

Here, we focus on finding deleted tasks in the Jira Data Center (DC) since it works differently there.

Where can you search for deleted issues in Jira DC?

Unlike it is in the Cloud, Data Center offers its users the ability to track who deleted issues and when. It’s available only for Jira admins, and you can find it when checking the audit log.

So, if you have admin access, you also need to ensure that all settings are configured correctly to start recording deleted tasks. Change End-user activity from “Base” to “Advanced”. Go for Settings → System → Audit log → Settings → Coverage → End-user activity → Advanced.

After advanced settings are switched, you'll see which issue was deleted every time someone deletes an issue, when, and by which user. Just go for Settings → System → Audit log.  

 

Is it possible to restore deleted tasks in Jira Data Center?

The audit log only provides some basic details of the task that could help recreate it manually.  However, this won’t allow you to recover the issue. Jira does not have a built-in option for recovering deleted tasks. Still, there are a couple of possible ways to get the data back:

• Database backup. If you have a regular database backup for your Jira instance, you can roll back the database to a time before the task was deleted in order to restore the deleted task. The erased data will be restored, but recent changes can be overwritten.

• Additional tools. Certain third-party applications or personalized scripts have the potential to retrieve tasks by extracting information from backups or logs; however, these require prior configuration.

If you're using an add-on like Issue History for Jira, which logs issue activities over time and restores deleted issues, you can recover any task with a few clicks.

*Please note that any options that help restore deleted issues work only if it’s activated beforehand. It’s impossible to delete the task, then install some add-on and recover it. You should consider it as a preventative measure and choose the best solution for you.

Restoring with Issue History for Jira

Issue History for Jira add-on stores any changes made to issues, and it also tracks and recovers deleted tasks. You can read the documentation to understand how the app works. Any user can check deleted issues if they have permission, which is configurable with the app.

If you don’t have the app installed, you can try it free for 30 days. Storing deleted issues is started only after activating the option. You can’t get record for the issues deleted before the app was installed.

Once the application has been installed, you must initiate the storing process:

1. Enable the toggle for "Keep deleted issues." Every issue that is deleted after that will be stored. 

2. Select the “Deleted issues” list and project.

3. Find the issue you need to restore and press the “Restore” button. It appears after you hover the cursor over the issue.

Wrapping up

It is essential to track and restore deleted tasks in Jira to ensure that teams have access to the data they require to be successful, to prevent data loss, and to keep an accurate and comprehensive record of project work.

You can use the audit log to track deleted issues in Jira Data Center.

To recover a deleted issue or ticket in Jira, there are two methods available:

• From the backup

• With the help of a plugin

Try to restore deleted issues with Issue History for Jira

[Dave Mathijs]

Or you just restrict the Delete Issues permission and don't grant it to users, only to admins.

[Yuliia_Borivets__SaaSJet_]

@Dave Mathijs, it's good advice. Thanks!

For anyone interested, go for Settings → Issues → Permission Schemes

[Gregory Kneller]

If you’re lucky enough to have an Oracle database for your Data Center and just deleted some issues, you can try this to find them using SQL:

SELECT * FROM JIRAISSUE AS OF TIMESTAMP (SYSTIMESTAMP - INTERVAL '15' MINUTE)
MINUS
SELECT * FROM JIRAISSUE;

However, this works best for recent deletions. For deletions from yesterday or earlier, it might not work as Oracle’s undo data retention may no longer have the necessary information.

If you want to restore the deleted issues, you can:
- Re-insert the deleted rows into the JIRAISSUE table.
- Don’t forget to restore related data in tables like CUSTOMFIELDVALUE, LABEL, WORKLOG, ISSUELINK, JIRAACTION, OS_WORKFLOWENTRY, and some more maybe