How do you resolve or close an issue in a next-gen project?

[Stephen Melrose]

Our team are long time Trello users, and this past week we decided to try using Jira due to some of the benefits it would bring us.

We're using a next-gen project, and so far have everything working how we'd want/expect. We have enabled roadmap, backlog, estimation, and pages.

One thing we just can't seem to work out is how to (in the Trello venacular) "archive" an issue, i.e. "resolve" or simply "close" an issue.

I feel like I'm being really stupid here as I just can't find what I assume is a very simple option. When I click the menu button on an issue I can see the option to delete, but I can't see any options to resolve or close. When I select delete, the dialogue box asks,

You're about to permanently delete this issue, its comments and attachments, and all of its data. If you're not sure, you can resolve or close this issue instead.

Can you even resolve or close issues in a next-gen project? Is there a setting somewhere else to enable this functionality?

[Charly _DEISER_ · Accepted solution]

Hi @Stephen Melrose 

I don't think this is possible. As you can see in the following links some people have the same question:

https://community.atlassian.com/t5/Jira-questions/Marking-issues-as-closed-or-won-t-do-in-the-next-gen-backlog/qaq-p/923451

https://community.atlassian.com/t5/Next-gen-questions/Cannot-close-a-ticket-on-next-gen-SCRUM-board/qaq-p/924361

Hope this helps!

[Stephen Melrose]

Either the language in the "Delete" dialog is incorrect or this has to be an incoming feature. I must admit, not having the ability to close or resolve issues (i.e. duplicates) is really disappointing.

[Jason Stork]

deleted

[Jeff Berndt]

Does anyone know if Atlassian is working on letting users Resolve an issue in a NextGen project?

[Deleted user]

not sure if it's on the Road Map or not.

But current functionality is to drag the issue that is resolved over to the Done column on the Project Board and the item, is then completed/closed...

[Dan Whitston]

This is disappointing. I'm having to delete tickets rather than closing them, which makes Jira a not-very-useful way of finding tickets. As others have said, it's a weirdly obvious behaviour to have not implemented.

[Deleted user]

In the "New Issues View" you can edit an Issue and change the Status to "Done"

[Mathias Weber]

Hi Dwight,

can you tell me where exactly that is possible? The new Issue View is activated but where exactly can I change the resolution? The Status I can change but the case is what if something is not Done but won't be done as it is not reproducible or won't be fixed? Thanks for clarifying

[Deleted user]

If you open the issue, in the top right corner is "Status" you can use the Drop Down and change Status to 'Done"

[Mathias Weber]

Hi Dwight, I do not have this option. Just "Done" but I do not want to mark it as done (it is not done, but it is a duplicate or won't fix, etc.", I want to mar it as done and don't have it on my scrum board.

 

[Deleted user]

You can edit it and Delete it....does that work?

[Mathias Weber]

yes that works

[Mathias Weber]

any idea how I can manage to close an issue and not mark it as done?

[Deleted user]

Are you looking for "Closed" but "UnResolved" ??

Not sure how to do that in Nextgen

[Mathias Weber]

correct, that is what I need and I think the person who started this thread meant.

[Deleted user]

JIRA Classic had this option; we need to request it be put on the RoadMap..

[Mathias Weber]

This has been done already multiple times (for over half a year now), funny that such a commonly used feature is not present.
Thought you might have found a way to do this :)

thanks for your help though (y)

[Sheila Hippert]

I managed to figure out a workaround with the Automation for Jira app. It works with next-gen projects, so I just set up a simple trigger to set the resolution to "Won't Do" and it worked perfectly! :)

I'm using the free version of the app: https://marketplace.atlassian.com/apps/1215670/automation-for-jira-cloud-lite

[Adam Sigel]

@Sheila Hippert can you share the details of your trigger and workflow please?

[Sheila Hippert]

@Adam Sigel Sure. This is for a project our support team uses to track feature requests. We have an issue status for "Won't Do" that needed a "Won't Do" resolution. The automation is simple: 

• When: Value changes for [Status]
• If: Status equals [Won't Do]
• Then: Edit issue fields [Resolution = Won't Do]

[Mathias Weber]

@Sheila Hippert how did you get a Status "Won't Do" - do you have to create a column on the board with that name? Otherwise I cannot find a way to create a status

[Elena_Trushnikova]

@Mathias Weber 

Status of Resolution "Won't do" you can configure in workflow using post-functions for you transition. 

[eren]

@Elena_Trushnikova Could you explain how you do that in JIRA next-gen project, without creating a column??

Thanks!

[Gary Menzel]

I have to chime in here.  It is ridiculous to think that everything can just be marked as DONE.  There are different types of DONE (as others have mentioned).  Such as "could not replicate", "will not fix" - to name the ones I can think of.  "DONE" is a specific state which is a variation of "CLOSED" - as are the others mentioned.

This really needs to be a feature as I have inherited a backlog that needs this type of treatment and I have been polluting sprints with these to ensure they are at least being tracked in some way.

I like next-gen better than the previous templates but this definitely needs to be fixed.

[Deleted user]

This is wild. 

I guess I just have to delete everything I want to simply close, since despite a clear suggestion right there in Jira, you actually cannot resolve or even close an issue.

[Mathias Weber]

This is insane, I know. They suggest closing it but it is actually impossible to do it. 

[eren]

JIRA needs to get its s*** together. 

[Tim Klein]

I seriously wonder why nobody of Atlassian did react so far. This is what I did (New Gen Agile) - adding a "Dropdown" field to the ticket type calling it "Resolution" with the according options like "done", "won't do", "duplicate", etc

its in Project Settings > Issue Types

[Zhanna]

Maybe this is a difference between the standard and the next-gen projects, but based on these two articles, you can add different resolution types:

https://confluence.atlassian.com/adminjiraserver073/defining-resolution-field-values-861253253.html

https://www.thinktilt.com/blog/closed-vs-resolved-the-final-stop-on-a-jira-workflow

I simply went to "board settings" (three little dots) --> Columns --> Add Status "Won't Do" to the Column of "Resolved" and that was that:

[fabian]

Yesssss

[fabian]

Please get this done Jira team! - or will not fix? 

:)

[Graham_Farrugia]

The accepted answer on this thread isn't remotely helpful.

Another workaround we're using

To get around the issue of not being able to 'Close' a ticket as 'Won't do', 'Resolved', 'Duplicate' or other status we've just moved tickets to Done, add an appropriate label such as 'Won't do' and added the reason that explains why as a comment.

Why closing a ticket is important and should be considered on the Roadmap for 2020.

There's plenty of valid reasons as to why you should be able to Close a ticket and makes no sense you can't. You make plans, and then sometimes plans change, perhaps radically and justifiably, but makes no sense to delete all knowledge of their previous plans existence. Good housekeeping of the backlog means keeping it free of things that are not an immediate priority and that you cannot commit to a realistic timeline of when you might come back to it so closing until such time you want to come back to it is really helpful.

[Jason Stork]

@Stephen Melrose The last column of the board is your resolution or done column.  The issues in this column with a checkmark will be removed from the column after 14 days.

[Jeff Berndt]

How do you put the checkmark on an issue?

[Jason Stork]

It happens automatically when the issue is in the done column (The most right column).

[Jeff Berndt]

Aha! I didn't see the check because the issue was Flagged. When I removed the Flag, the check appeared.
Thanks!

[Jason Stork]

I do believe if an issue is flagged it cannot be marked done and will not disappear.  Now that you have removed the flag, I believe the two-week clock starts now.

[Lucy Walton]

I wonder if anyone could help - I am in the process of setting a project up using the Kanban Next Gen board. I understand that "done" tasks will automatically be removed from the board after two weeks if untouched. Please could you let me know if they will also be removed from the board section of the backlog list after two weeks as well? I'm concerned that I will be left with a long list of "done" items on here too. 

Thanks!

[Jason Stork]

It will be removed from the board section of the backlog.

[Marc Schallehn]

Finally found a solution:

In Kanban-Board, if the issue is in the far right column, click on the "..." in the upper right corner of this column. There is another option "Clear Issues" - this will close all Issues in this column.

[Евгений Дмитриев]

Thanks!

[Luis Grangeia]

Please fix this.

[Timmy]

Please sort this out Jira! :D

[Michael Richmond]

What is the Atlassian recommended way of handling this in NextGen?

There are plenty of cases where a ticket is closed as "Won't Do" or "Works for Me" and then later on the ticket becomes important because it contains context and relevant data when the underlaying problem gets identified. Deleting the "Closed, Unresolved" ticket rather than keeping in the system for context and background is not a viable approach.

I will look at the "Conclusion" field to see if this can work for my team.

[Michael Richmond]

I had no luck in finding the "Conclusion" field in my NextGen or Traditional projects.

Closing a ticket to an unresolved state is key to JIra functionality. As a work-around my company has defined an Epic "won't do" and we allocate tickets to this epic. It is a nasty hack that at least allows us to write some filters to hide these tickets.

Ultimately, this breaks most of the Jira functionality around sprint reports and sprint planning. But it seems like Atlassian is no longer interested in making products that serve the needs of the customer.

Is it really the case that Atlassian is marking the feature request for a "won't do" conclusion as "won't do"? If so, how is this being reflected in the Jira project for Jira?
(It's meta- all the way down.)

[Dan Davidson]

Does anyone know when/if this is going to be fixed so that issues can be closed? We can have 20-30 "done" tickets sitting around at any one time and it makes it difficult to see the wood for the trees when managing backlog etc. Waiting 14 days is not a great "solution" and I don't see why there can't be a way to close off manually.

[Sam]

Cards that sit in the Done column for 14 days will automatically be archived. I don't think this "rule" can be edited to my knowledge. 

[Deleted user]

You drag issues to the  "Done" Column on your board.  When you close your Sprint they are removed the Board...and are "Done"

Afterward, If you run a query against your project with status = "Done" those issues will be retrieved 

[Jeff Berndt]

That's great if you're using scrum. 
What happens to "done" issues on a Kanban board? Do they just stay there forever?

[Jason Stork]

The issues will be removed from the column after 14 days.  After the two weeks, there will be a link in the bottom of the column that will allow you to view your old issues.

[Deleted user]

Can you set this to be removed after after 7 days?  We are working in Kanban and review weekly 

[Jason Stork]

No.  This is a Jira setting.

[Iryna]

for some reason tickets in last column on my kanban board aren't being removed after 14 days, any ideas?

[Jason Stork]

If you have updated them in any way, that resets the 14-day clock.

[fabian]

I made a horrible discovery :) 

1. I added a new Status to my workflow, so not I have two resolution states in the project: the usual "Done" and a "Won't do" - both result in green color so one would expect they behave the same

2. When you actually set "Won't do" the Issue will remain in the sprint forever, it will remain in the backlog forever and it will remain in the Roadmap forever.... why? Simply because it's not the Last status in the Workflow.... 

Meaningless. 

[Charles Stuart Edwards]

How is this not resolved for kanban?

[Mathias Weber]

They introduced a field in NextGen:

 

well since there is no real right management in Jira NextGen I cannot 100% say if that was not introduced by someone in my company. But maybe you can check it out and verify?

[Lucas Liu]

I think this is a custom field, actually a good idea before anything official, I copied this field to our project, it will do for now. Thanks for the idea

[Andreas Rath]

@Mathias Weber Where did you find this field? I do not have these in my projects settngs -> Issue Types

[Deleted user]

In the "New Issues View" you can edit an Issue and change the Status to "Done"