How do I transition the parent issue? I can only drag and drop the sub-tasks.

[James Ryan]

This question is in reference to Atlassian Documentation: Transitioning an issue

I am trying to change the status of a parent issue from "To Do" to "In Progress".  However, on the scrum board I can't drag and drop parent issues. I can only seem to drag and drop the sub tasks. How can I change the status of a parent issue independently of the sub-task?

[Nic Brough [Adaptavist]]

Have a look at the conditions on the workflow for the parent issue type.  I suspect you might find one that says something like "do not allow closure if there are any unresolved sub tasks"

[James Ryan]

Thanks for the advice, @a display name. I don't have any conditions on the workflow transitions. The parent issue type is the same as the sub-tasks.

It's not that I'm getting some kind of error or anything like that, it's just that I physically don't know how to change the status. Parent items can't be dragged to a different column, and there doesn't seem to be any menu item or button allowing you to change the status. It just doesn't seem possible via the interface to do this.

How do you change the status of a parent item?

[Nic Brough [Adaptavist]]

So you're saying that the parent and subtasks have the same workflow? The only thing that stops transitions happening are the conditions on the workflow, or that the workflow does not have any transitions *out* of the status that the issue is in. Could you go to the plain issue view (forget the boards for now) and check 1. That there are definitely no transition buttons available 2. That the workflow diagram shows at least one transition out of the current status 3. And double check the conditions on the transitions you find in point 2 If that's all definitely broken, then you may have run into corrupt data - you'll need to run the integrity checker to confirm (and fix) this.

[James Ryan]

Thanks! I didn't realize that those buttons were transition buttons, I only knew how to drag and drop on the board. Works great!