Importing issues to a project from an XML files exported by JIRA

[Hung Dinh]

I planned a system restore from a full backup XML created 4 days ago. I am aware of that about 200 issues of one of our main projects are created during that 4 days so I do an issues search and export that 200 issues to an XML file. (XML file export option is provided by JIRA by default)

I thought we can imports such file into the project without having to create them again. However, I can't find a way to do it from the project admin or even via the JIRA Import Plugin https://marketplace.atlassian.com/plugins/com.atlassian.jira.plugins.jira-importers-plugin


So my questions:

1. Is there a way to import such 200 issues using the XML files
My XML file can be found here https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B0UXu_Ee2OmyaUZ4cWl0SGVKTGM/

2. Can I convert that XML file into a CSV and then import to the project using JIRA Importer Plugin? How we can convert that XML file?

[Vidic Florjan · Accepted solution]

1. You can import project information from a full backup XML by selecting:

- select Administration

- select Import Project in System, Import & Export section

- Enter filename in Project Import: Select Backup File ...

Link to details in Atlassian documentation:

https://confluence.atlassian.com/display/JIRA/Restoring+a+Project+from+Backup

2. XML file has a lot of data, not only information about issues of the project. My opinion is that it is to complicated to find and convert proper data to CSV.

[Hung Dinh]

Thank you very much Vidic!
Is there a way to Import Project using that XML files but not having to upload that file to Jira folder.

[Vidic Florjan]

As I know your backup file to import project must be located at JIRA_HOME/import/ (e.g. /home0/jira/import). You will get detailed information about location after selecting Import Project link.

Additional information about JIRA_HOME directory: https://confluence.atlassian.com/display/JIRA/JIRA+Home+Directory

And don't forget to preapare attachments (please read detailed information about attachments in https://confluence.atlassian.com/display/JIRA/Restoring+a+Project+from+Backup).

[Kimball Johnson]

The accepted answer is a story about something almost unrelated to the actual question.

This answer is like answering the question 'where's the refrigerator?' by saying, 'go to the garage and get the Coleman cooler stored with the camping gear.'

Based on the reply, I'm guessing the most correct answer is 'you can't import just a single issue or 200 single issues from the XML files exported by Jira because the code for that has never been written.

But you could hand copy much of the information from one issue in one project to a new issue in a similarly named project in another project in the same Jira Instance or another Jira Instance. If it works, you could decide to do it 200 times.

Or, if both the old and new projects were in the same Instance, you could move the 200 issues to the new project while its empty by using the 'move' feature after selecting them in the JQL query interface.

Or, if the old and new projects were not in the same instance, you could export the source project as xml and import it to the new instance, and then use move or delete in the JQL interface to manage the issues you cared about and delete the issues you don't care about.