How can I refer to an issue on a different Jira Cloud Instance ?

[Roberto Ialino]

Hi all, on our company we have 2 jira could instances (due to an acquisition).

How I can refer from an issue in the instance A another issue on the instance B ?

I need to link the two issues in some way.

Has anyone ever faced this problem?
Can I get this result with Application Link?

I would like a cost-free solution and I don't need to move issues from one side to the other with add-ons that can make ticket exchanges.

Thank you very much in advance.

[Petter Gonçalves · Accepted solution]

Hello @Roberto Ialino

Thank you for reaching out.

Indeed, you can create remote links between issues from different instances without needing any add-ons. To do it, the Jira administrator will first need to configure fully reciprocal application links between your two Jira sites.

You can follow the steps below to create a link to another Jira site: 

1. Open the issue that you want to link to. 
2. Click more (•••) > Link > Jira Issue.
3. Choose the relevant Jira site and the type of issue link.
4. Enter the issue key or search for the issues you want to link. Note that you can link to any issue that you have access to on the other Jira site. 
5. Check the Create reciprocal link option to create a link back to the original issue from the issues you just selected. issue. For example, if you create a "blocks" link type to issue ABC-123, the reciprocal link generated on ABC-123 will be an "is blocked by" link type back to your original issue.
6. Add a comment to describe why you are linking these issues and click Link.

You can check the documentation below for more details about remote links:

Link an issue to an issue in another site 

Let us know if you have any questions.

[Roberto Ialino]

Hi @Petter Gonçalves , thank you very much for your answer and confirmation.

Just a couple of questions if you can and when you can:

1) this "link" works also when I clone a ticket ? When the application link is active between two instances can I clone a ticket on the instance A in the instance B ?

2) what about Confluence ? When the application link is active between two instances can I refer pages on different instaces as if it were a single instance ? For example from a Jira Service Desk project on instance A can I refer to a KB, to an article on the instance B ?

Thank you so much for your time.

[Petter Gonçalves]

Hello Roberto,

You are welcome!

Answering your questions:

1) I believe it is not possible to clone issues to a different site automatically with the clone action, however, you can use CSV export/import functionality to do that and then link both using remote links.

2) You can link any Confluence sites to Jira with Application links, not mattering if you have issues with remote links or not.

That being said, you can easily link your Confluence application from Instance B to a Jira application in instance B to achieve your need. You can check more details about it in the documentation below:

Use Jira and Confluence together 

Let us know if you face any questions while configuring the links. 

[Roberto Ialino]

Thank you very much @Petter Gonçalves 

For the first point we use the clone in order to activate/escalate to product teams on the same issue that are working on different instances so the csv export is not useful.

Anyway thank you very much. I will try and in case i will let you know

Best regards