Is it possible to create issue templates for a specific project?

[Andrew]

Hi All,

I am wanting to create different issue templates so that I am able to improve the consistency of the information in my different items.

The challengeI have is my manager who has admin rights says that our jira has been set up in a way where templates will be global, so once created all squads will get the templates. I want to avoid impacting other projects and only apply templates to my project.

If this is possible it would be awesome if someone could point me in the right direction

[Luka Hummel - codefortynine]

Hi @Andrew

If you are willing to use a third-party app, our app Deep Clone for Jira can help you when working with template issues.

You can create your template issue or even a whole issue hierarchy (Epic → Task/Story → Sub-Task) and then clone it with all its field values whenever you need with Single Clone or Epic/Tree Clone. You could even let a Jira automation trigger your clone for tasks that repeat in regular intervals or need to be created in response to other conditions.

[Andrew]

Thanks @Luka Hummel - codefortynine but unfortunately we need solutions that are not using 3rd party apps. Thanks again for taking the time to look into my issue and your help

[Kate Pawlak _Appsvio_]

Hi @Andrew ,

The simplest way is creating templates for issues with our app Issue Templates Agent. In the configuration, you have to define for which projects and issue types the current is available. So don't worry that it will affect unnecessary projects. What's more in the Description you can use rich text editor which provides a lot of formatting options, like you know from the Create issue screen. So your another requirements about info panels and tables will be met. Thanks to the global permission: Manage templates, you can define who is able to create/update/delete templates. By default - only Jira administrators.

I feel that our solution provides all features which you need, so encourage you to start a free 30-day trial. 

Kate

[Andrew]

Thanks you @Kate Pawlak _Appsvio_ unfortunately we need options that are not using 3rd parties but thanks again for your help and suggestion. Much appreciated

[Ste Wright]

Hi @Andrew 

It depends how you're creating templates internally - can you confirm this for us?

And when you say templates - do you mean...

1. Templated wording for a rich-text field (eg. Description), or...
2. Templated Issue population (i.e multiple fields), or...
3. The Project's configuration (eg. what Workflows, Screens, etc are available)?

---

(3) Project Template

You can create a separate "Project Template" - which would be the Issue Types, Workflows, Screens, etc available for your Project.

You could either...

• Create a custom Company-managed Template
• Ask for a Team-managed Project, which allows a Project Admin to customise their own design

But whilst it's technically viable, that doesn't mean every business will allow you to do it. For example, you might have an internal rule that all teams must use the same Workflow, to help with reporting or data normalisation. So there maybe internal constraints beyond the tooling platforms which stop certain things being an option.

---

(1 & 2) Issue Templates

In terms of rich-text field templates, you could...

• Add these post-creation using Automation, for population prior to a Story being "ready"
• Add a Default Value to the rich-text field at creation, just for your Project. This could also be used for other fields as well. If this is a Company-managed Project, you'd need to use a field context.
  • This doesn't work for System Fields (like Description) - but you could create a custom Description field for the Create Screen, then copy it back into the System Field post-creation using Automation
• Use an App from the Marketplace to create Issue Templates (both rich-text and other fields)
• Create templates for teams to copy/paste in Confluence. Not an automated option, but still a possible solution

Ste

[Andrew]

Thanks @Ste Wright !

Yeah so to your point above I think where I am going to be limited is that my manager would like consistency across all squads, so boards, workflows and items types....etc which is how they have configured our jira. If they were to add my templates then this change would be applied to all squads which is not viable as we do have some freedom with the content and formats in the items.

I have made an attempt with trying out jira automation but got stuck.

My automation approach was:

• Created a "template" item of each issue type which has the nice formats
• Created an automation rule that would then clone these on create

Where I got stuck is with the clone step I couldn't figure out how to clone my specific "template" items

[Ste Wright]

Hi @Andrew 

The "Template" item is an issue in itself, is that correct?

If you can confirm I can look at how best to clone it or create "from" it. I'm thinking it might be best to use a manual trigger and then ask users to create Bugs from the Template Bug, etc.

There might be other options too - eg.

• When an issue is created
• IF Issue Type equals "Bug"
• Then populate fields X, Y and Z
• ELSE-IF Issue Type equals "Story"
• ...etc

Ste

[Andrew]

@Ste Wright thats correct, the "template" items are an issue in themselves.

You are on the money with the automation logic

• When issue is created
• If the issue type is a bug
• Then clone <the "template" bug item>
• Else if the issue type is a Task
• Then clone <the "template" task item>

The clone step is where I am getting tripped up because I don't know how to get the clone logic to clone a specific issue

[Ste Wright]

Hi @Andrew 

Do you need to clone from another Issue though? Couldn't you just build the information to populate into each field into the Automation Rule?

Ste

[Andrew]

@Ste Wright - yip but it seems that there are limitations in adding format. 

For example, my templates use the /info panel component multiple times with different colours and headings....etc as well as I want to add the /table component...etc I can't seem to do that in the rule which is why I went down the path of creating "template" items to clone/copy.

[Ste Wright]

Hi @Andrew 

That's fair.

Did you work this out in your instance? Or still need help on how to clone the specific key?

---

Edit: I did try to create an Info Panel using the "default" option I mentioned above and was able to; it uses markup rather than markdown. For example...

{panel:bgColor=#ffebe6}
Error Panel
{panel}

{panel:bgColor=#deebff}
Info Panel
{panel}

{panel:bgColor=#e3fcef}
Success Panel
{panel}

{panel:bgColor=#fefae6}
Warning Panel
{panel}

{panel:bgColor=#eae6ff}
Note Panel
{panel}

This answer helped me find the right combinations!

---

You can also create tables - eg.

||heading 1||heading 2||heading 3||
|col A1|col A2|col A3|
|col B1|col B2|col B3|

Ste

[Pavel Pavlovsky_AppLiger_]

Hi @Andrew ,

Looks like you might benefit from our Easy Issue Templates for Jira app.

Besides global templates, It allows scoping of created issue templates per project so that they are visible only in selected projects. Check the wiki:

https://help.appliger.com/easy-templates-for-jira/set-template-scope

In case of any questions - drop us a line!

Cheers,

AppLiger team

[Andrew]

@Pavel Pavlovsky_AppLiger_ Thanks but unfortunately we need solutions that are not using 3rd party apps. Thanks again for taking the time to look into my issue and your help

[Brant Schroeder]

@Andrew I am assuming that you mean when you create a specific issue it would have specific fields associated with it? If that is the case yes it can be changed for a specific project.  

Your admin will need to do the following:

• Configure the new issue screens - https://support.atlassian.com/jira-cloud-administration/docs/configure-issue-screens/ 
• Add a new screen scheme - https://support.atlassian.com/jira-cloud-administration/docs/manage-screen-schemes/ 
• Add a new a new issue type screen scheme - https://support.atlassian.com/jira-cloud-administration/docs/manage-issue-type-screens/ 
• Associate them to the project.

This project then will no longer share the same screens as the other project and you can have unique screens (templates) for each issue type in that project.

[Andrew]

@Brant Schroeder yes and no. So the fields for the different items I am all good, its more the content inside the fields that I am looking to have templates for.

For example:

When I create a bug item I would like the following in the description field

• /info panel section where I would like the description of the bug to be written
• /info panel section where I would like the scope and requirements of the bug
• /table section which will contain the manual test cases

[Brant Schroeder]

@Andrew Thanks for the clarification.  Would you need that to be there on the create screen in the description field?   If so you cannot do that.  You would have to create a custom field to populate it with a description.  You could use automation to populate it on create but then they would have to edit the issue after creation to add the information.  

[Andrew]

@Brant Schroeder - happy to live with the extra step of needing to edit the issue after its created. Main goal is having the format all nice and shiny for each issue type ;).

I have made an attempt with trying out jira automation but got stuck.

My automation approach was:

• Created a "template" item of each issue type which has the nice formats
• Created an automation rule that would then clone these on create

Where I got stuck is with the clone step I couldn't figure out how to clone my specific "template" items

[Brant Schroeder]

@Andrew Have you tried just updating the description on the issue when it is created as an option to get what you need?  This might be another route to get what you need.  If you want to share your clone automation we can take a look as see what might be happening.

[Andrew]

@Brant Schroeder so I am trying to do this

• When issue is created
• If the issue type is a bug
• Then clone <the "template" bug item>
• Else if the issue type is a Task
• Then clone <the "template" task item>

The clone step is where I am getting tripped up because I don't know how to get the clone logic to clone a specific issue

[Brant Schroeder]

@Andrew cloning an issue in Jira means you create a brand new issue from one that already exists.  So if you are cloning an issue on issue create are you adding it a linked issue or are you hoping to replace the issue that is being created.  If you are hoping to replace the issue being created it will not work that way.   I would suggest at looking at using the automation to just update the description of the issue that is being created with the information you want in that issue.

[Andrew]

@Brant Schroeder - looking to make a copy of the template items and then I would need to still set a title, fill out the description with just the information as copying the "template" has all the format....etc I will continue to have a play with updating the description to see if I can come right.

Thanks again for your help, appreciate it.

[Carla Ann Rowland]

Issues in JIRA have screens that manage content for functions create/edit/view. I believe that is what your manager is referring to as a template.

Each function create/edit/view can share the same default view or have individual screens. Each issue type comes with the default template so that system fields are consistent on a global basis; e.g. Summary, Description, Component, etc.  That being said Your Jira Administrator can create a specific template screen for your project and create a screen scheme and assign it to the screen scheme for your project only. 

Note: Jira administrators are responsible for ensuring the instance performs well so before you Ask be sure that the screens you are asking for and changes to the Issue types are needed and not just duplicative because the issue name was not flexible. I inherited a team that had 13 issue type that all had the same fields only difference was name of issue that was customized. That was on a server and in Cloud it is even more challenging.

For your reference instance Cloud JIRA:

https://support.atlassian.com/jira-cloud-administration/docs/configure-issue-screens/

https://support.atlassian.com/jira-cloud-administration/docs/manage-screen-schemes/

https://support.atlassian.com/jira-cloud-administration/docs/manage-issue-type-screens/

[Andrew]

@Carla Ann Rowland my manager would like all squads to have consistent item information for all item types. This means that all squads have the same fields across all the same issue types that we use.

My issue is not about the fields its more about the information in the fields themselves that I would like to have as defaults for my project.

For example:

When I create a bug item I would like the following in the description field

• /info panel section where I would like the description of the bug to be written
• /info panel section where I would like the scope and requirements of the bug
• /table section which will contain the manual test cases