Inconsistent behaviour of Custom filters on Backlog & Board views

[Thomas Schöpping]

When selecting multiple filters of the same type in the Backlog or Board views, Custom filters behave differently than all other filter types.

For instance, if in the filter "Type" the two values "Task" and "Bug" are selected, the view shows all issues which are either a "Task" or a "Bug". If two values in the "Custom filter" drop-down are selected (let's call them A and B), the view shows all issues for which A and B apply. Technically speaking, all filters use an OR logic, except for the "Custom filters" which follow an AND logic.

This inconsistent behavior is not only odd and counterintuitive as it breaks consistency, but it also results in exponential increase of custom filters thet need to be defined and maintained. This is because in order to represent all combinations of "simple" custom filters (e.g. A, B, C) one has to define the power set of those (A, B, C, A or B, A or C, B or C, A or B or C) in order to represent all possible filter configurations.

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Here are two screenshots showing the issue.

In this first screenshot, the "Type" filter is used. Notice that issues are shown, which are either a "Bug" or a "Story." Further note that the states of those issues are "To Do" and "In Review."

In this second screenshot, the "Type" filter has been removed, but two "Custom filters" have been applied. The filter queries for the two selected filters are `status = "To Do"` and `status = "In Review"` respectively. Notice that the two issues shown in the first screenshot are not shown. If only one custom filter is selected at a time, all issues in the according state are listed as expected.

[Jack Brickey · Accepted solution]

Hi @Thomas Schöpping , welcome to the community. Could you provide more details on the type of project you are referencing here. I just did a quick check in my team managed project and custom filters in both the backlog and the board view work the same way. Specifically custom fields work in an "And" manner. Feel free to use a screenshot if that helps drive your point home.

[Thomas Schöpping]

Hi @Jack Brickey , I am referring to Scrum Projects where you have a Backlog view for planning & organizing upcoming work in sprints and the Board view to inspect the progress of the current sprint. I have also extended my description above and added two screenshots.

Furthermore my complaint was not that Custom filters behave differently between Backlog and Board view, but that Custom filters behave differently than all other filters - regardless of the view in which they are applied. They are consistently (= across views) inconsistent (compared to other filters) if you will.

[Jack Brickey]

Thanks for the clarification @Thomas Schöpping

indeed. I see you are using TMP projects and yes the behavior is different between the default filters and custom filters. I can't say why this has been implemented this way. You may wish to provide feedback to Atlassian via the in-app feedback link (under the "?" Icon) or, if you want an answer back open a support ticket with Atlassian (again under the "?").

[Thomas Schöpping]

Filed a report, thank you very much for the quick response!