In the new JIRA version, how to change EPIC color?

[Rhita Chatila]

On my backlog, I used to see different EPICs in different colors (easy way to group user stories). I don't have anymore this possibility.

Thanks.

[Walter Buggenhout · Accepted solution]

Hi @Rhita Chatila,

I assume with "the new JIRA version" you mean the new UI Experience on Cloud? If not, what version are you on?

In Cloud, go to the Backlog view of the board that has you Epics. On the left hand side, expand the Epic panel. Next to each Epic in the list you will see a small coloured triangle. When you click that, you will be able to change Epic colour:

[Rhita Chatila]

Thanks @Walter Buggenhout

[Steve A Farrand]

@Walter Buggenhout [ACA IT]

I can not see this down arrow.

How do I expose it?

[Walter Buggenhout]

Hi @Steve A Farrand,

Can you share a screenshot of what you do see?

[Judith Hermus]

@Steve A Farrand I found that these arrows are only there if you are in the EPIC colums in a SCRUM board, perhaps that helps.

[Cosmin Lehene]

> go to the Backlog view of the board that has you Epics.  

can you explain what this means / how to get there? 

[Joris Vleminckx]

It means: "go to the backlog of a Scrum project (which have epics)."

[Cosmin Lehene]

@Joris Vleminckx I wonder if there's a single view for that (/secure/RapidBoard.jspa?rapidView=1&view=planning.nodetail) I'm unable to see any color options there 

I guess the "Scrum" part is key. It doesn't seem to show up on Kanban boards. 

[Joris Vleminckx]

Yes, Scrum is key. For some reasons Atlassian doesn't want to mix Scrum "features" (Epics, Story Points, etc.) into Kanban boards, even though it's imho very real-life to have projects that don't advance in a Scrum matter, but still have features (->epics) or duration estimates (->Story Points).

[Cosmin Lehene]

That’s weird given that there are epics, they have colors, just no way to change the colors. Looks more like a bad design / bug issue.

[stefan.moeller]

Use "bulk update" for the epic(s) concerned and find the field "epic color" there.

[Eddy Krijnen]

Is it also possible to put your own colors for example: D5E8D4"?

[Andrea]

Look for the horizontal text beside the sprints.

Next to "versions" there should be "epics" (see screenshot)

If the text does not show, it may be a permission on the board itself or your account level. 

[Elizabeth Martinez Mantilla]

I have a question, what happens if I have a Kanban Dashboard, Can I change the color the same way? because I don't find the way to change it. Helpppp pleaseee 

[Joris Vleminckx]

@Elizabeth Martinez Mantilla Just to go the Epic ticket, and click in the color box.

[Elizabeth Martinez Mantilla]

Hi @Joris Vleminckx that is an option or configuration in JIRA? because I don't see the color box. Can you show me an image? Thanks 

[Joris Vleminckx]

[Tanja Kantola]

Is this feature also available for kanban boards? I have seen it on a scrum board but could not find it for a kanban board. It's annoying that we have several epics with an identical label colour on a kanban board.

[Joris Vleminckx]

Idem, have been looking for it for over 15mins now :-(

[stefan.moeller]

Use "bulk update" for the epics and find the field "epic color" there.

[balint_dejczo]

There is another workaround:
- create a Scrum board
- change the colors as mentioned above
- delete the Scrum board

[Joris Vleminckx]

New way, directly in the Epic ticket:

[Lasse H]

Joris, this doesn't work as of 20.01.2023. When I click on an issue, a modal opens and there's no way to do it (this is a Kanban Board).

Whoops, I was wrong. Sorry.

[Tiffanie P]

If you chose to do this via Bulk Edit, this post is also helpful: https://community.atlassian.com/t5/Jira-Software-questions/Definition-of-colors-used-for-Epics/qaq-p/1640862

[Jessica Chappell]

I couldn't be more happy that you added this feature!!! Add more color options please! :D <3 

[Alvaro]

Hi there, just found the way to do it, 

If you go to your Roadmap, and you click in one of your Epics, it opens on the right hand side. Next to our epic's name, you will have a small box with the colour (mine purple by default) if you click this box, the colour selection comes up. 

I hope this helps

[Clif Smith]

That worked, thanks!

[andrew.rannard]

Is that manual per epic though? Can it automatically change colour based on status?

[jennifer.careil]

Fantastic, this works thanks. 

[Jim Hawksworth]

Excellent, thank you.

[Heather Regehr]

Perfect, thank you!

[Trevor Duong]

For Next Gen projects, you need navigate to the issue view of the Epic and you will get the option to change the colour there

[andrew.rannard]

Thanks Trevor, saw that but don't want to update manually - was looking for it to update automatically based on a status or even better based on percentage completed. Do you know if that is possible?

[Trevor Duong]

Hi Andrew. Most likely not currently for next-gen projects as the features are pretty limited at this point in time. Hopefully they are working on this though!

[andrew.rannard]

Ah, no worries. 

Thanks though. 

[kathryn_perdue]

There is a setting you need to change for the board in order to see the epics in the side view on the kanban board. If you (may need to be an admin?) go to Board Settings > Columns > Epics panel, there is a toggle to display epics next to the backlog instead of as tickets within the backlog. This works on Kanban boards too!

 

If you flip that setting to true, you'll see the list of epics on the left as mentioned by several people in this thread, and from there you can change the color with the drop down arrow. 

[nickdani]

Kanban board. None of the above solutions helped me, however, I found an alternative solution which actually works.

1. You need to go to Project Settings, bottom left corner.
2. Go to Issue Types and select Epic. Add field Epic Colour (yes, not the Epic Color, looks like Jira has British roots). 
3. Then go to your Epic and from Configure Fields add field Epic Colour. Refresh the 
   page.
   
   Use this link to lookup epic colors - https://community.atlassian.com/t5/Jira-questions/What-values-are-used-to-query-Epic-Color/qaq-p/17405

[Jordi Dosne]

We cannot change the EPIC colors because no EPIC is shown in the list.

See the screenshot below.

If I recreate a new board, the EPICs are here, but we loose all settings.

[Naira Kazarian]

I really hope to see a color wheel with unlimited color options, or at least more color options available to choose from. 14 epic colors is NOT enough. 

[Kevin Hoekman]

Better than 0! You'll learn, one step at a time with change.

[Bill Sheboy]

Hi,

Here are the old suggestions (2015 and 2016) to support more colors for epics, which you may review and vote for:

https://jira.atlassian.com/browse/JSWCLOUD-20184

https://jira.atlassian.com/browse/JRACLOUD-59765

Perhaps our vendor is trying to disencentivize high, work in progress (WIP) by limiting the available colors.  ;^)

Best regards,

Bill

[Joshua Mendoza]

As @Tanja Kantolamentioned, it's very annoying to organize stories with only one color in Epic labels.

Has somebody managed to change colors for Epics in Kanban boards?

[Judith Hermus]

Setting the colors can - to my knowledge - only be done via a scrum board, create a scrumboard for all the projects combined (if you have overarching Epics, that is the easiest) and set the epic colors per epic in the scrum board - backlog view. From that moment on the epic colors are reflected in the related kanban boards as well.

So a small work around, but it worked well (and efficiently) for me.

[Joshua Mendoza]

@Judith Hermus

Hi! Thank you for your advice. I tried as you mentioned, created a new Scrum project but I had no success changing epic's colors.

I started with a next-gen Kanban project and my team and I put some work on with stories and epics. Those epics are the ones we want to change color for better visual feedback.

I tried you strategy to create a new (next-gen) Scrum project but the interface is very similar, only almost all features turned on. I created example epics in the Roadmap section and then moved back to backlog. I couldn't see the Epics sidebar so I'm still stuck with the same problem.

I think you're strategy only works on classic Jira projects.

[Judith Hermus]

Hi Joshua, you can create an additional Scrum board in Kanban projects as well. Just create a board not a new project. I just redid my above instruction for a project in which my epics didn't have colors yet, and it worked.

Please use the pics to see if we are talking about the same thing. 

I hope it helps.

[Jean-Michel Lavarenne]

I also have no Epic sideboard in my scrum project backlog.

[Judith Hermus]

Regardless of the project type, what type of board are you looking at?

[Jean-Michel Lavarenne]

In the list of all boards the type is "next-gen board".

[Judith Hermus]

I have no experience with that board in respect to changing the epic colors, Perhaps  for a reason :) Using above instruction (on scrum board) does the trick, Good luck & success!

[Jean-Michel Lavarenne]

Ok, thanks! Maybe it is not possible yet to change epic colors in the new interface.

[Jon Sorenson]

I'm having the same issue with the next-gen board interface.  Is there a way to change the epic colors for that type of project?

[Hsiang]

Up! Would like to know as well.

[Joris Vleminckx]

Another option is temporarily adding the field "Epic Color" to your "Edit Issue" screen and modifying the colours in the different "Epic" tickets. 

[Dominic Rogers]

This is the one I found most useful - I couldn't get the other options working with my kanban bords

[Joris Vleminckx]

Update: I've managed to do it through a Bulk Update of only the Epic ticket whose colour I wanted to update. Basically, create a filter (project= AND type=Epic), select the Epic you want to update and then BulkUpdate->Epic Colours

[Steena P]

Colours for Epics are being organised automatically.  How can we define Epic colours by groups/teams/components etc?  Is there a way or does it need to be updated manually?

[Richa Sharma]

I was able to change the color in backlog view. However, it did not change in Active Sprint view for me.

[SusanLambe]

Yes, I have this issue too!

[Zani]

How can you do this, in the new Jira Software experience? I don't have this view anymore with the dropdown....

[Judith Hermus]

I made above views in the new experience. Are you sure you are using the backlog of a scrumboard?

[Mat Schaffer]

Really nice move to provide the color via the Epic page. Though (on Jira Cloud) after changing it my "Kanban board" view was still showing the old colors.

Moving a single card on the board seemed to update whatever cache was holding the old colors.

Mentioning it incase anyone else hits that and is wondering what's up.

[Joris Vleminckx]

New way 2022:  directly in the Epic ticket there is a colour box you can click to change the colour.

[Michael Aglas]

what Jira version is that? we use 8.20.6 but not available here

[Michael Aglas]

or is it just available on DC again?

[Magdalena Zhisheva]

Hi all, 

For those, who want to change the label colour for the epic in Jira Cloud:

The colour selection is just before the name and on the view right part you will not see it coloured, but you will see it with this colour when you open an issue related to this topic or in the board. 

Cheers, Magdalena Zhisheva

[jessica seal]

I didn't really care about the colour. I'd like to know how to set up a new EPIC. and subsequently, since it's impossible to set up epics in Tempo/JIRA - i had training in my first week, have since been inundated with work. Now feel disgusted to ask my company how to do it. Also, don't have the time!

I've been using JIRA for nearly a decade now. never had the privileges to edit this. I've started setting up Tempo but am blocked because - see below:

PLEASE, can someone help me?

[Joris Vleminckx]

You create Epics just like normal tickets, but as ticket Type you pick “Epic”. :)

[Scion]

In the announcement banner you can add your own CSS.
Since the ghx-labels are assigned as a CSS class, just make your own label and add it to the announcement banner.

<style type="text/css">
.ghx-label-16 { background-color: #8777D9; }
</style>

This doesn't affect the style of the font when the epic appears on cards. To make a style similar to the default in Jira cloud, add the following:

<style type="text/css">
.ghx-label-16 { background-color: #8777D9; }
.aui-label.ghx-label-16 { background-color:#EAE6FF; color: #403294; font-weight: 600;  border: none; line-height: 16px; white-space: nowrap;}</style>

[Prabhu Krishnamurthy]

Hello,

How do I get JIRA to show the actual color in a dashboard?

I have created a filter for listing down all the epics for a particular release. Now when I display the filter results on a dashboard, the epic colour field is actually displaying ghx-label-XX instead of the actual color. Any suggestions on how to handle this?

[Ryan_Rebo]

This is very frustrating. No clear way to make them different colors in a Kanban board? 

[Joris Vleminckx]

I've done it through a Bulk Update of only the Epic ticket whose colour I wanted to update. Basically, create a filter (project= AND type=Epic), select the Epic you want to update and then BulkUpdate->Epic Colours

[Ricardo Bolivar]

Joris Thanks for you comment this process sucess for me.

[P SRINIVASA RAO]

Hello Ms. Judith Tacq

Thanks for your information. We've faced the same issue but not in Cloud. Will it applicable for the Data center also? if Yes please let me know how to do that?

Thanks in advance.

Cheers!!!

Best Regards,

Srinivasa:)

[P SRINIVASA RAO]

Hello All,

 It is working in Kanban Project in Back lock section as well in Server version. 

Steps to edit the Epic Color:

1. Go to the project and open the Respective board.

2. Click on Backlog at left side.

3. Click EPICS on the left side of the board (aligned vertically) to open it.

4.Click the arrow next to the epic's name, then choose the color from the menu.

Please find the Screen shots for your kind reference.

Cheers!

Srinivasa :)

[P SRINIVASA RAO]

Hello Kevin,

I'm very glad to hear that , it got help you to fix the your problem.I'm looking forward to hear more queries from you that will help me to improve my self as well.

Thank you very much.

Cheers!!!

Best Regards,

Srinivasa:)