Can I move tasks between projects, and retain the custom field value?

McKenna Hogan
Contributor
October 17, 2024

Hello, 

I have two team-managed software-development style projects. The issues have some custom fields that I have created.  I have configured these custom fields the same way between these two projects, but when I move an issue from one project to another, the values in the custom fields aren't being retained, only the values in the fields created by jira.

Are fields created by jira the only fields that can be carried from one project to another when moving an issue? Is there a way to get these custom fields to also carry over without manually inputting them in the moving process?

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Sarp Egemen
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October 17, 2024

Hi @McKenna Hogan 

In team-managed projects, custom fields exist at the project level. Even if you configure two identical custom fields with the same names, they will have different IDs in the background.

When you move an issue from one team-managed project to another, the system recognizes that the custom field does not exist in the new project. It prompts you to decide what you want to do (you might miss this screen if you click "Next" multiple times quickly), and you can choose new values there.

If you don't select a value (none), the values will not be transferred, and what appears empty is actually a different custom field with a different ID. This can lead to confusion, as you might think they are the same since you configured them with the same name and type.

To avoid this, you can create global custom fields by going to Issues > Custom fields, and then add them to the project by navigating to Project settings > Issue Types.

McKenna Hogan
Contributor
October 17, 2024

Thanks for answering!

I think I would go the route of creating the global custom fields.

Is there a way to change my current custom field settings to be a global custom field? Or is this not possible since my current custom fields only live within their team-managed project?

Sarp Egemen
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October 17, 2024

I'm afraid you'll need to create them again. :/

McKenna Hogan
Contributor
October 17, 2024

Do you know how moving issues between company managed projects would look? Will I still want to utilize these global custom  fields when I move issues between projects?

Sarp Egemen
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October 17, 2024

In company-managed projects, fields belong to screens, and screens belong to issue types. So it's a bit of a different story.

When moving issues from one project to another, if the issue types use the same screen or if the screens they use have the same fields, then the values will be retained.

McKenna Hogan
Contributor
October 17, 2024

Thanks!!

Like Sarp Egemen likes this

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