How do I rename a jira workflow?

[Gareth Hughes]

Hi,

I would like to rename my workflows but I don't seem to have this option anywhere?

I'm guessing I have to copy them blah blah.

Isn't there an easier way?

This is OnDemand - Jira 5

[Gareth Hughes · Accepted solution]

The answer is, as I suspected, that you have to copy the entire workflow.

Don't forget to vote and comment on the issue tracking this problem

https://jira.atlassian.com/browse/JRA-19813

[Nikolay Trifonov]

You can rename a workflow only while it is not assigned to a workflow scheme (i.e. inactive).

[Martin Gregory]

How do you rename workflow, having made it inactive?

[Nick]

As Nikolay said first you have to make your workflow inactive.

Once you done that you can then go to the administration page for workflows. At the bottom there is a link "Inactive". Click that and it displays inactive workflows. You can then find your workflow there and click "Edit". Once it appears click on the pencil next to the name to edit it and the name AND the description can be edited. When a workflow is active you can only change its description when you edit it.

[Martin Gregory]

Well I'll be danged: I could have sworn I tried that and I didn't get a pencil for the name ... but I see that I do, so it's as simple as that!

[Michael Aglas]

this is just because the workflow table in the database uses the workflow name as related index... don't know who designed it, but that is antique handling... better would be to use a workflow ID, so renaming wouldn't be a problem at all.

[Deleted user]

so... so... right... :)

[WW]

oh...my...god

it's 2021

[Timothy Ryner]

The part I have the issue with is the constant naming changes (v1, v2, v3, etc...).  I'd rather all of my active workflows just be named what they are, without all of the added stuff.  Figured out a workaround, if you don't mind the extra work to keep your database cleaner.

1.  Create a copy of the workflow you want to modify.

2.  Name the copy "Workflow Name... (Changes Pending)"  <--or whatever unique identifier you want

3.  Go to the Workflow Scheme

4.  Add the (Changes Pending) workflow to the scheme.  Since it's a copy, the current issues should map right over.

5.  Open the original workflow, it should now be under the Inactive workflows.

6.  Make your changes, save it.

7. Go back to the workflow scheme.

8.  Add the modified original workflow back to the project.

9.  Publish.

10.  Now you'll have to associate issues to their new workflow.

11.  Test.

12.  If testing is good, remove the (Changes In Progress) workflow to keep your DB clean.  

[JD Lobue]

Ridiculous over-processed solution for what should be handled easily by a re-name. Why oh Jira why are you so complex? Don't you know that the scrum framework - the most popular of agile frameworks is about making complexity simple? Wake Up!

[Franzi Joseph]

@Timothy Ryner does this affect current issues? I want to rename a workflow which is used within multiple issues and they should not be affected when I do it the way you described. BR

[jeff huettman]

This is kinda brutal. We've settled on a workflow that we use for almost all of our projects. When we make a change we want to notew the version fot he workflow.To reassociate it to ALL those projects would just be horrible.

[rachel]

Thanks for the help! I made a copy of the workflow I wanted to rename, and then changed the name of the copy, then associated the new workflow and deleted the old.  It was a little bit of work to do so, but now things look cleaner.

[Abdulrazaq Mohammed Ali Omar]

Hi Gareth,

You can edit a workflow, and JIRA would make a draft of that workflow during editing then you can publish it to be used in your JIRA project, here's a document to help you out:

https://confluence.atlassian.com/display/AOD/Configuring+Workflow#ConfiguringWorkflow-Editingaworkflow

Hope that helps.

[Gareth Hughes]

sorry but that doesn't answer the question.

I have plenty of experience of building workflows. I simply want to rename an existing workflow and I believe that the only way you can do it is copy the workflow and put that into the workflow scheme instead of the original. A brutal solution

[Abdulrazaq Mohammed Ali Omar]

Sorry for missunderstanding your previouse comment, Yes, you are right, you can only copy the workflow and put that instead of the original.

[Sharona Keren]

I'm sorry but the inability to change it at the moment is really disappointing, especially in Jira that suppose to be very flexible.