Epics disappear from backlog

[Axel von Arnim]

Hi,

Using Jira cloud, I created epics and added imported and created issues to it by dragging them over to the epic in the epics column in the kanban backlog view.

Every now and then, an epic disappears f or no reason. The epic name in the issues is still there but epic is gone. Also if I search for lost epics in the issues view I can't find them anymore.

[Andreas Pohl · Accepted solution]

Hi,

The options of the field Epic Status might change when importing a project from another Jira instance via CSV - at least on non-English setups.

Usually the values "To Do", "In Progress" and "Done" are available for the field Epic Status.

After an external system import (1 Jira project via CSV) on Jira Server, the options "Aufgaben" and "Fertig" were available AND used in the imported issues instead of the original English values "To Do" and "Done".

The Epic Panel in the Backlog seems to filter only for the English version of the Epic Status options.

The Epic Panel showed all epics correctly after bulk changing the Epic Status from the German options to the English options.

Afterwards, we also unlocked the Epic Status custom field temporarily and removed the German options to avoid accidental usage. 

Hope this helps...

Cheers,
Andy

[Dennis T]

Yep it was the Epic Status field for me.

[João Nunes]

Hi Axel, how are you today?

So the Epics are disappearing from the Epic tab at the left side of the backlog view, is that it? If so, the display rule for Epics on that tab is based on the Epic Status field, so when that status is marked as DONE, the Epic will no longer be displayed on that section. That might be the reason for that behavior.

That being said, could you follow the step-by-step procedure below to check if that is the case:

1. Access one of the Epics you used to see on that section.
2. Click on the History at the bottom of the page.
3. You should see something like this:

In case you see that message, we'll need to change the Epic Status field to TO DO so it will be displayed once again in that tab section. That field might not be placed on your current screen so you might need to add it in order to be able to update the field. For that, please follow the steps below:

1. Navigate to the project where that Epic belongs to. 
2. At the left menu, click on Settings (Cog icon).
3. Click on Screens > click on the Screen name to expand the option then click on the Edit issue screen option. 
4. At the 'Select field ...' search for Epic Status then click on Add. 

After that, you should be able to change the Epic Status value by accessing the issue and clicking on Edit.

Please check this documentation for more information about screens.

Let me know if that helped you.

Kind regards,
JOÃO NUNES
Jira Support Team

[Jamie Farley]

Hi Joao, 

I'm having the same issue as you described, epics disappeared from the epic tab on the backlog.

However, all of my epics are at the "To Do" status and still not appearing.  Is there anything else that could be causing this behaviour?

Cheers

Jamie

[Axel von Arnim]

Hi Jamie,

In my original post, the epics concerned had actually been imported from another Jira instance (exported as XML). I re created them manually and it did not happen again.

For information.

Axel