How to re-assign deleted CMG ID # to a new issue logged later

Question

Hi,

I have recently deleted an issue(which was a dummy issue, issue ID for it was CMG-9) under a project in JIRA( and after that, i created a new issue but JIRA assigns the ID as CMG-10 and don't use CMG-9. it looks like counter used to create the issue doesn't go back when issue is deleted. am i correct? If not, can you please let me know how to use the deleted issue ID to a new issue logged.

Thanks,

Nic Brough -Adaptavist- · Answer

Now there's something I don't know.  In older versions of JIRA, yes, deleting a project and then reusing its key worked fine.  But I don't think more recent versions of JIRA let you do this.  BUT, I have not tried it, so I am not sure.

Lakshmi Narayana Mukkapati · Answer

Hi Nic,

Thank you for the response. Is this behviour true for project name and key value assigned to it. I mean, Can i delete a project called "CMG" and re-create the same project again? or Do i need to do hack the data base to allow me to create the project with deleted project name?

Nic Brough -Adaptavist- · Answer

You are correct, JIRA will not reuse dead issue IDs

It's actually a bit of a pain when systems do - I've been in a situation a couple of times where a document or comment has said "see issue x-123" and when you visit it, you find out it's nothing to do with the problem because the number has been recycled for something totally different, and you're wasting time looking at it.  It's much better to have "no, sorry, this has been deleted", at least you know where you stand.

Having said that, you can safely hack the database (stop Jira, get a backup, run an SQL update, restart JIRA) to wind it back.  But you can only do it if no more issues have been added to the project, or they have been deleted.  In your case, if you want to roll back to CMG-9, then you need to delete CMG-10 and above before rolling the clock back.