Need to update Epic Status from DONE back to TO DO

[Victoria Danner]

I had previously marked an Epic as Done, as I considered it complete.  We were asked to add another Story which we did, but now I'm unable to return the Epic Status to TO DO.  My research thru Atlassian Community tells me that this is a locked field.  Is there a JQL statement I can run to return this to TO DO status?

[Randy · Accepted solution]

Check your screen for editing epics and verify that Epic Status is included in the screen.

[Victoria Danner]

It's taken me some time to get back to researching this.  We considered modifying the transitions in the workflow, but since all of our projects are tied to an existing workflow it seemed a bit risky, as my research tells me you must COPY the existing workflow to make edits and then apply the copy as the new, active one.  Just seemed overkill.

I did find that I was able to add the Epic Status field to our Epic edit screen.  I was then able to change the status from Done to In Progress and that met my needs.  It now shows in my Kanban under In Progress, which is really what I wanted (not To Do).  Thank you both for your assistance, but I found Randy's answer was the one I could use to resolve my question.

[Darren Davie]

Correct answers were given above but showing the pictures might help. You will need to be project Admin to add the Epic Status field so you can update it.

Got to Project settings

Choose Epic under Issue Types

Add the Epic Status field

Then go back to the Epic you want to change the status and change the Epic Status value.

[Scott Pascoe]

"Epic Status" is indeed a locked down field, and generally not available for editing.  My JIRA Admin and I figured out that by temporarily adding the "Epic Status" to the Epic's edit screen (which is an Admin only task, especially when the screen is shared amongst projects), a user with "Edit" permissions can then change the value.

We did that and then reverted the Edit Screen change to keep the ability set as Atlassian had configured.  The OP had also figured this out, but I thought it would be useful to pull this out to an individual answer...

[Victoria Harding]

This was very helpful. Thanks!

[Bethany Robinson]

@Victoria Danner , check the workflow for Epic issue type on your project, and make sure there is a transition that allows you to move the issue from "Done" back to "To Do" status. If you are not able to do this, then I suggest reaching out to your resident Jira admin. You can find more documentation on workflows in the Atlassian documentation here: https://confluence.atlassian.com/adminjiracloud/working-with-workflows-776636540.html

[Victoria Danner]

This did help me confirm that it is part of a workflow that I'm not able to modify.  I actually am set as a JIRA Admin, but don't yet have any experience as this is new to us.  I will check out the documentation link you provided.  Thank you.

[felix.weber]

to add here: https://confluence.atlassian.com/jirasoftwareserver0811/working-with-epic-statuses-1019393039.html

[Abhi Singh]

It never ceases to perplex me that Epics effectively have two parallel status fields - this is not in keeping with the level of agility Jira affords elsewhere and indeed seems like poor design with no tangible benefit. Why have inconsistent behavior across issue types? Especially when adding Advanced Road-mapping hierarchy above Epic, Epic remains the only level which requires this additional complexity.

[Rutger S]

Completely agreed. This can't be explained to the average user.

[Darren Davie]

Yes, it confused me when I was trying to workout how to reopen the epic. I saw the normal Status field value and set that. Had no idea there was an Epic status or why it exists.

[Johannes Rudolf]

Fully agree.