How do we link a task to a story

John Houser
Contributor
December 10, 2021

Newbie here. 

I piloting Jira before adopting for a wider team, and have most of Jira figured out.

I have searched, and I have been unsuccessful finding out exactly what setting I need to change in order to link a TASK to a STORY.

 

I am looking to do this type of hierarchy:

jira hierarchy.jpg

And when I click on the three dots on the TASK and select Add Parent

add parent.jpg

 

I only get the option to add an Epic parent, not a Story parent.

 

epic only.jpg

 

Any help would be appreciated!  Thanks!

 

5 answers

1 accepted

9 votes
Answer accepted
Kristján Geir Mathiesen
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December 10, 2021

Hi @John Houser  and welcome to the Community!

On the Story, you click on Link Issue and enter the issue key of the Task and choose the type of linkage you want it to be (Blocks, Relates to, ...). Or you can do the same on the Task but enter the Story key there.

HTH,
KGM

John Houser
Contributor
December 11, 2021

@Kristján Geir Mathiesen  - Thank you!

 

Yes, this is what we were looking for!

story link.jpg

 

Thank you again!

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Michael Figueras
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March 26, 2023

Thank you for this. I have been on different JIRA courses and this was not mentioned. Appreciate the help. 

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Rishabh Jain June 13, 2024

@Kristján Geir Mathiesen Can I do the related to activity in bulk for multiple tasks in one go?

Kristján Geir Mathiesen
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June 13, 2024

Hi @Rishabh Jain

Do you mean can you bulk edit many issues with link issue (and choosing the "related to" link)? I don't think you can.

Best,
KGM

Rishabh Jain July 4, 2024

Hi @Kristján Geir Mathiesen 

Yes, thats what I want to do.

5 votes
Bill Sheboy
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December 10, 2021

Hi @John Houser -- Welcome to the Atlassian Community!

Based upon your hierarchy example image, you may instead want to use the Jira issue types:

  • Epic
    • Story
      • Sub-task

Tasks in Jira are at the same level as Story and Bug (defect), and so can only be connected with links, as @Kristján Geir Mathiesen describes.  Sub-tasks are child items of a Story, Task, or Bug.

Kind regards,
Bill

John Houser
Contributor
December 11, 2021

Thank you @Bill Sheboy  I was using that.  We were hoping to have the tasks visible on the board and move across the board during the sprint.

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Rose Alcolea
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September 15, 2022

Hi John, 

You can do that by configuring your board so it shows sub-tasks. In your Board Configuration, go to Card Layout and under Backlog choose "Sub-Tasks" and add it.

Hope this helps!

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Philip Couling
Contributor
May 30, 2023

I'd have two concerns with this approach:

  1. The inevitable cognitive dissonance in placing "subtasks" under "stories" and not "subtasks" under "tasks" as any native english speaker would naturally understand these concepts.
  2. Effectively removing the availability of subtasks for their intended purpose: breaking up large tasks.
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Michael Aglas
Contributor
June 15, 2023

But... You can have sub-tasks for any issuetype, can't you? Like you could breakdown a Bug, Feature, whatever into sub-tasks. It just means you need several sub steps in order to fulfill the Issue. Also you can have different type of sub-tasks, like analysis, review, implementation, documentation and so on. And you can't even restrict what subtask type belongs to what standard issuetype... so why needing it to be restrictive?

3 votes
Gary Walvin
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February 1, 2024

This doesn't make any sense.

  • I have a story.
  • I have tasks to be done to fulfill it.
  • I have subtasks that break down what needs to be done to fulfill the tasks.

Tasks and Stories really shouldn't live at the same level.

Natalie Franklin
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May 7, 2024

I agree!  It makes it confusing to structure - 

0 votes
Ryan Heath
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October 14, 2024
Ryan Heath
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October 15, 2024

For the record, lots of other official posts suggest they ARE, so who knows!

0 votes
Brian Nelson
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November 7, 2023

This may be new functionality since the previous replies above, but you can do what was requested these days if you don't mind using the SubTask type:

Open the Task and click the little icon beside the task name to change issue type.

There you can select to convert it to a Sub-Task. From there you will be prompted which Parent object to link it to, and you can then enter the Story id to link it to.

Yes this will change a Task to a Sub-Task. The hirearchy restrictions mentioned by Bill Sheboy still seem to be present.

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