Merge multiple custom field context for a field

[Aswin Raj D]

Hi I was trying to merge the multiple custom field context for a field A. Is there any easy way to do this. Field A is a single select and having 3 context for different projects, now we want to make that into a single context with all projects and values. How we can merge this? Also we have 1000+ number of already created issues so how we can update that issues. Any scripts or database update to achieve this?

[Tom Lister]

Hi @Aswin Raj D 

There is no quick solution to merging the fields. If you have scriprunner or similar is it possible to update the options. But if your volume of values is relatively low a cut and paste on the screen is more straightforward.

(Database is 'possible' but these days I avoid it wherever possible as there are more and more links that can catch you out. And I've done a lot of jira database work!)

As a route I would suggest making your 'best' context global and then work on merging the remainder. 

The real gotcha is that you can't move the issue to a different context without losing the existing values. So the only option I know is to remove a context then use bulk updates to reset the values. I appreciate that if there are a lot of values in the contexts this can be a huge amount of effort. (plus you will need to label the issues to target is order to find them to update once a context is removed)

An option to play with is to create a dummy project. And change an existing context to refer to the dummy project.

When you unhook a context onto a different project you don't lose the select values. The unhooked project will now default to the default context and only the new values are available. e.g.

You can still run JQL queries against the unavailable values and bulk update to the new values.