JIRA change project key

Pangianto Pang November 13, 2012
Hi is there anyway to change a project key and all the issue key associated to the project?
This is one way to do it, but is there any easier way? This involves too many steps and time consuming if the JIRA is big.

  1. Export your JIRA data to XML.
  2. Go through the file and replace the instances of the project's key:
    • in the 'key' attribute of the Project entity
    • in the 'key' attribute of all Issue entities.
  3. Search for the project key in the whole XML file. You should not find too many references. Change any that you find.
  4. Rename all attachment folders, as the folder name depends on the project key. This includes one folder for each issue with an attachment, plus one top-level folder for the project.
  5. Reimport your data.
  6. Reindex the data by navigating to Administration -> System -> Indexing and selecting 'Re-Index'.

2 answers

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Answer accepted
Jobin Kuruvilla [Adaptavist]
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November 13, 2012

This is the most effective solution. If you do it in DB, there may still be references hanging around and it won't fix attachments.

Pangianto Pang November 13, 2012

another workaround is to create a new project with the same configuration as the old project but edit the project key.

do a bulk move issues from old project to new project

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0 votes
Danilo Conrad
Atlassian Team
Atlassian Team members are employees working across the company in a wide variety of roles.
June 25, 2014

This feature was implemented on JIRA 6.1 (see release notes), and it is now possible to change project key via the JIRA UI. For the detailed instructions about this feature, you may refer to the links below:

Cheers,

Danilo

James Guerin March 25, 2019

Warning to future admins using this feature: editing the project key in JIRA does not migrate attachments nor does it create a new project key attachment directory (even for new issues after renaming).

This could be important if you have additional web services accessing files in the Jira attachment directory based off the project key (like I did).

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Deepak Raja M July 11, 2019

Thats well said

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mbrock March 29, 2021

Hello, I have changed a Next Gen project name from IT to OLDIT. The Project Key shows as OLDIT now - hwever - when I try to create a Classic Project called IT and specify using IT as the Project Key, I'm told that "Old IT Support uses this Project Key". How do I accomplish creating my new Classic Project with the Project Key I love?

Amaury de Raulin August 28, 2023

Hello,

 

From what I read here and there, renaming a project Key doesn't allow you to re-use the old Key since its still "in  use" per say to allow oldkey/Newkey tracability (links etc).

The only way to free the old key is to create a new project, move all the issues you want/need to archive to this new project, delete completely the old project and re-create it.

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