How to clone a project?

[nsuwps ks]

Hi all,

I have seen some discussions/questions about cloning a project. But they seem to be outdated. I want to clone a project completly (with its sub-tasks). How can I do that?

[Julien Peyrade _ Elements]

Hello, 

There are two main things that one might want when cloning a project: to copy the project configuration or to copy its content (its Epics, Stories and Subtasks). Or both, of course.

Cloning the project configuration can be done with a native Jira feature, the shared project configuration.

However, in order to clone the full content of a project, I would strongly advice using an add-on such as our app, Elements Copy & Sync, to make your life easier.

It will let you clone the full content of your project (issues, fields, comments, attachments, forms, etc.) automatically, with no additional action required on your part, each time a new project is created. It will keep the hierarchy of your issues as well, meaning that Epics can be cloned fully, including their issues and subtasks, with the same structure in your new project.

The cloning of your project can be triggered in many ways, either manually, or with an Automation rule, or even from the Jira search result (if you need to pick and select which Epics you want to copy and which you don't).

As a bonus, the app lets you keep your projects synchronized. This is useful when your "source of truth" needs to be updated. You will be able to simply update the stories in the template project, and the changes can be automatically applied to all the projects that were created from it.

Elements Copy & Sync is free for 30 days, (and stays free if your instance is under 10 users), so feel free to give it a try, and don't hesitate to tell reach our Support if you have any question.

Kind regards,

Julien

[Marlene Kegel - codefortynine]

Welcome to the community, @nsuwps ks.

We've just released an update for our Jira cloud app Deep Clone for Jira that enables you to clone entire Jira projects, including configuration, issues and sub-tasks.

• Company-managed projects can be cloned right after installation.
• If you want to clone team-managed projects or company-managed project boards, you have to enable the Advanced Project Clone.

To clone a project you simply select "Clone project..." as target project in the bulk clone dialog.

Don't hesitate to share your feedback with our support team.

[Noah Hofmann]

Are the workflow statuses in the project also copied 1:1 or are all tickets set back to the starting status?

[Marlene Kegel - codefortynine]

Hi @Noah Hofmann, 

It is possible to clone the workflow statuses with Deep Clone for Jira.

Nevertheless you must keep some things in mind, in order to clone the issue status succesfully. You can read more about that in our documentation.

[Simon Teppett]

@Marlene Kegel -codefortynine-  Can you also clone JSM projects? That would be really interesting !!

[Marlene Kegel - codefortynine]

Update: 2023-01-24: It is now possible to clone team-managed projects with Deep Clone for Jira. If our app is installed on your Jira instance you can follow the instructions under Advanced Project Clone in order to enable this feature. 

---

My reply below is outdated:

It depends if the JSM project is a team-managed or company-managed project, since we're only able to clone company-managed (classic) projects.

You can check whether your project is team or company-managed in the projects overivew.

Unfortunately, Jira doesn't offer the necessary interfaces for us to enhance Project Clone for team-managed projects yet. You can vote and watch for this feature request so Atlassian hopefully fills this gap soon.

[Yoni PO]

Hello, Would it be possible to apply filters for fetching the tasks we want to clone ?

-> I don't want to clone "Done" tasks

-> I have many versions, already, and i only want to clone my tasks from version 4 and above. It would be very nice to filter by version.

Do you offer such an option ?

Regards.

[Marlene Kegel - codefortynine]

Hello @Yoni PO,

That is already possible. You can filter the issues you want to Bulk Clone using JQL.

If you clone with the same JQL on a regular basis, you can also create a "favorite filter" and select it from the "Bulk Clone dialog".

I am not sure about how to filter for version 4 and above, because this is a very specific use case and related to JQL. You could:

• Check out this documentation about JQL: https://support.atlassian.com/jira-work-management/docs/advanced-search-reference-jql-functions/
• Research/ Create a new question in the Atlassian Community to understand, if this is possible. 
• Think of easier ways to create a JQL that suits your use case:
  • status != done AND affectedVersion in unreleasedVersions()

[Johannes Mertens]

Hello @Marlene Kegel - codefortynine 

I just wanted to make sure I've understood correctly:

For JiraServiceManagement Team-Managed Projects it is currently not possible to use Deep Clone in order to clone these projects - even with the "Advanced Project Clone" feature enabled, correct?

Also, you currently can't give an ETA on this, since you are dependent on necessary changes by Atlassian in order to implement this?

Thank you!

Best regards

Johannes

[Marlene Kegel - codefortynine]

Welcome to the community, @Johannes Mertens.

Yes, you'r right.  As of now, it's not possible to clone Jira Service Management Team-Managed Projects with Deep Clone for Jira, even with the "Advanced Project Clone" feature enabled.

Unfortunately and as you've mentioned, we are currently unable to implement this without necessary changes from Atlassian. Therefore, we don't have an estimated time for this at the moment.

If you'd like to stay informed about any updates, please reach out to our support. We'll send you an email once we make any progress on this.

Thank you for your understanding!

[Michael Da Costa]

Hi @Marlene Kegel - codefortynine 

Ok so ideally i want to clone a team-managed project however as this is not possible using Deep Clone do you have a suggestion?

I was thinking potentially we could create a new team-managed project and then clone all Epics from project A to project B ? Can you confirm this would be possible with Deep Clone.

Thanks

[Marlene Kegel - codefortynine]

Thank you for reaching out, @Michael Da Costa,

Just to avoid misunderstandings: It is possible to clone all team-managed Jira projects with Deep Clone for Jira, except team-managed Jira Service Management projects.  

If you want to clone team-managed JSM projects, you could create the project first and then can clone and move Epics. Cloning and moving Epics and larger issue hierarchies is possible between all project types. 

[lorenz.schagemann]

Hello all!

We are using deep clone to clone projects as a default Template for new projects.

Its a pritty useful app... but there is one thing that bothers me:

Is there any way to set the default "bulk clone" settings (I mean all the checkmarks after choosing source and target project).
I know that i can "edit presets"; but we got a lot of different presets on different project types... so i would rather change the default ones.

Greetings
Lorenz

[Marlene Kegel - codefortynine]

Hi @lorenz.schagemann,

Thank you for your feedback. We agree that the ability to edit default settings would be a valuable enhancement for Deep Clone for Jira. 

I am happy to announce that we plan to release Presets for Bulk Clones and Epic Clones soon, and we'll update this post once this feature is live.

While we currently have other priorities that require our attention, we do have an item in our backlog to enable users to change the default settings of the Deep Clone form.  Unfortunately, we're currently not able to estimate when we will be able to work on that feature.

If you contact our support with your feature request, we'll  make sure to consider it when prioritizing our backlog. 

Thank you again for your valuable feedback.

[Florian Bauer]

If cloning a Jira project is not a one-time operation but rather a repeated operation using the source project as a template, think of your project as a process.

Flower - Process Automation allows you to create a graphical process template (in BPMN) that can then be cloned as many times as you like. This process instance contains all the desired hierarchies, such as Epics, Stories, Tasks, and Sub-Tasks.

@Michael Da Costa Flower also supports team-managed projects

Take a look at why recurring projects are processes.

[Syed Majid Hassan -Exalate-]

Hi,

This is Majid @ Exalate. A few questions here please:

• Is this a one time effort, or would you want updates on tickets to flow between the two projects?
• Are the source and target projects on the same Jira or different?

Thanks

Majid

[Julian G]

You will most likely need a add-in to achieve this in one bang.  

Alternatively, you can use the standard shared configuration when creating a new project to clone the same project configuration and then use Automation to clone or create the issues and bring them over to your project.

If add-in's are off the table for you and your org, then automation is going to be your best friend. 

[Ceniw]

I'm also looking for a solution. Is there any free add-in? And is standard shared configuration is in free plan available?

[Daniel Ebers]

A Jira admin can create projects with a shared configuration in cloud.
Here is the documentation for this case.

I assume when nsuwps said he want to clone including Sub-Tasks the actual content is meant (for example an issue BOOK-4711, which is a Sub-Task, should be cloned to SHELF-4711, also there being a Sub-Task).
This is not possible using "create a project using a shared configuration with another project".

On Jira Server you have the option to clone a project including configuration & issues using Script Runner. I must confirm this option is not available in cloud for Script Runner.