Jira Cloud - Export Issues & Backup a Site

[#1]

Backing up your Jira Cloud instance or Atlassian Site is important and should be done regularly. You never know when you may need to revert to an earlier version or 'role-back' a change that was made. If you are taking regular backups, this becomes much easier.

In this article, I will review the steps an administrator will need to follow in order to perform a successful backup. A video of these steps with a demonstration has been included for those that enjoy the show-me experience. There are also links to Atlassian's official documentation for those admin that want to go straight to the source.

 The below process does not back up Automation Rules or 3rd party data. These should be backed up separately.

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Export Issue & Backup & Site

1. Navigate to your Atlassian Cloud Site and login with Admin level credentials.
2. Navigate to your Jira application.
3. Click on Settings (the gear in the upper right-hand corner) and then select System from the menu that opens.
4. Select Backup Manager located under the the Import & Export Heading located in the left most column.
5. Create the backup by clicking Create Backup for Cloud.
   • If Attachments, Avatars, & Logos need to be included in the the backup, make sure to put a check in the checkbox.
   • It's important to note that Attachment's, Avatars, & Logos can only be included in the backup every 48 hours. A warning will be displayed if you attempt to include them in a backup before the 48 hours has passed.
6. When the backup has been completed, download the backup file by clicking Download Cloud Backup and store it in a safe place.

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See how it's done

Jira Cloud - Export Issues & Backup a Site 

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Read It For Yourself

How to create a backup for Jira Cloud 

[Mykenna Cepek]

I'd add a couple more things to consider when performing periodic Jira Cloud backups:

• Back up your Automation Rules at the same time: "Jira > Settings > System > Automation rules > 3-dots menu > Export rules".
• Backup any app-specific data.

You may need to do some one-time discovery into each of the Jira Apps you are using. Two examples from our situation:

• We use Tempo Timesheets, and so I also export our Tempo Accounts as part of our weekly backup process.
• We also use draw.io, but those diagrams are saved as attachments to issues in Jira.

While most Jira data is stored in Jira, not everything is. Don't be caught needing to restore Jira from a backup, only to find that other data "in Jira" did not get backed up!

P.S. Be sure to check the "Include attachments..." box when initiating the Jira backup.

[David Benson _draw_io_]

@Mykenna CepekJust on the draw.io comment, we don't store any data on our servers. All diagrams are stored in Jira issues only.

[Mykenna Cepek]

@David Benson _draw_io_ Thanks for the clarification, David. Bad assumption on my part. So then can you confirm that a normal Jira Cloud backup includes all draw.io diagrams? If so, I'll revise my comment for accuracy.

[Peter DeWitt]

@Mykenna Cepek Awesome Addition with the tips on the add-one. Maybe there is a part two to this article! 

[Mykenna Cepek]

One other thought: Backups are only useful if you can actually Restore from them.

Some months ago I happened to discover that our Jira Cloud backups had a problem which would abort a Restore (we had a User Group name that ended in a space -- oh, the horror of it all!!).

Now that Jira Cloud Sandbox instances are a real thing, I have on my list to attempt a Restore to our Sandbox. @Peter DeWitt: perhaps a part three?!

[David Benson _draw_io_]

@Mykenna CepekCorrect, backups include draw.io data (as issue attachments).