Did Atlassian change the process for reusing a Project Key in Cloud?

[Benjamin Lovelace]

There seems to be updated or conflicting information on reusing a project key in Jira Cloud.

Some posts and documentation give me the impression that a Jira Cloud admin would have to contact Atlassian to request project information be deleted from "the database" before a project key could be reused.

How do I delete or reuse the project key?

"...it [Jira] will still prevent you from using a key that existed before, even if you change the project key or even delete the original project.  It needs a record of removed projects for the history search, so it stops you creating projects with keys that have existed before."

"The only workaround is to go into the database and remove the old project key from the table it is stored in..."

 - Nic Brough [Adaptavist] COMMUNITY CHAMPION Aug 25, 2016

However, a current Atlassian Cloud support document (Last modified on May 31, 2018), seems to indicate that an old project key will "be available" if the original project is deleted.

Editing a project's details

"The old project key will only be available if you delete the project it was previously associated with.

- Atlassian

The statement from the Atlassian Cloud support document would lead me to believe that I could reuse a project key by simply deleting the project . . . unless:

• the statement "if you delete the project" includes more than the Jira admin deleting the project from the Admin Projects page.
• the statement "be available" doesn't mean readily usable; it just means it's possible to reuse it, but additional actions are required.

Any clarification on this issue would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance for your help!

[Belto · Accepted solution]

The current process in Cloud to reuse a Project key would be to delete the Project it was previously associated with.

By deleting the Project I mean on the front end in the Project Settings > Delete project as an Admin user.

No additional actions are required. When you change the Project key it starts a background re-index of the Project automatically.

[Benjamin Lovelace]

Thank You. It worked perfectly.

[S Fong]

I have the same issue where I cannot reuse the project key after I delete the project as an admin user.  What do I need to do in order for the background re-index happened in JIRA cloud?

[Arby Leon]

Any updates on this?

[Ryan Wells]

I'm seeing this all over Google. Why is this still an issue? Our organization is deciding between Asana and Jira right now. This doesn't inspire confidence. 

[Benjamin Lovelace]

The answer provided by @Belto was correct until Atlassian recently added "Trash" for projects. Now, projects must first be moved to the trash before they can be permanently deleted.

The following information is for "Jira Software and Jira Core projects", but the "Next-Gen" project information is similar.

• Trash for Jira Software and Jira Core projects - https://confluence.atlassian.com/adminjiracloud/trash-for-jira-software-and-jira-core-projects-1001820064.html 

Move project to trash and then delete project.

1. Move a project to trash - https://confluence.atlassian.com/adminjiracloud/move-a-project-to-trash-1001820067.html 
2. Delete a project - https://confluence.atlassian.com/adminjiracloud/delete-a-project-1001820073.html