Change field type from Select to multi-select

[Gareth Blake-Coggins]

We have a field we originally published as a select field in our Jira Product Discovery instance, but we now have a requirement to change this to a multi-select field. 

Can we simply change the field type? 

If not is there a way to create a new field and carry over the field contents ?

Many Thanks 

[Sreenivasaraju P · Accepted solution]

Hi @Gareth Blake-Coggins ,

Jira product discovery is is a Cloud-only product.

As per my knowledge, out of the box you can't modify the custom field type in the cloud version. On cloud version, you don't database also.  

Suggestion is already raised with Atlassian @

https://jira.atlassian.com/browse/JRACLOUD-68930 

[Christopher Maxwell]

Great info Sreenivasaraju P, thanks for sharing.

@Gareth Blake-Coggins , I voted for the suggestion.

[Rohan Swami]

@Sreenivasaraju P is exactly right! thanks

[Christopher Maxwell]

Removing my answer as Sreenivasaraju P. has better info here!

[Hannes Obweger - JXL for Jira]

Hi @Gareth Blake-Coggins

unfortunately you cannot change the type of a custom field; you'll have to create a new custom field, transfer over the values from the old custom field, and then delete the old custom field.

For copying the values over, I've seen people use Automation rules for this, or do a CSV export, make changes to the CSV file, and re-import it.

Alternatively, if you're open to solutions from the Atlassian Marketplace, you'll have more options. I'll provide more information below.

Hope this helps,

Best,

Hannes

[Hannes Obweger - JXL for Jira]

... and to expand on my last point: If you're open to solutions from the Atlassian Marketplace, this would be easy to do with the app that my team and I are working on, JXL for Jira.

JXL is a full-fledged spreadsheet/table view for your issues that allows viewing, inline-editing, sorting, and filtering by all your issue fields, much like you'd do in e.g. Google Sheets or Excel. You can also bulk edit your fields, using copy/paste. This makes it very easy to copy values from one column (i.e., field) to another column/field.

This is how it looks in action:

You only need to make sure that the values fit the new field. If that's not already the case, you can e.g. copy your values to Excel, manipulate them there, and then copy them back to JXL. 

I should also add that JXL can do much more than the above: From support for configurable issue hierarchies, to issue grouping by any issue field(s), sum-ups, or conditional formatting.

Any questions just let me know!