Unable to retrieve issue key for Parent when importing issues

[Danilo Simić]

Hello everyone,

I am trying to import some tickets into Jira and link them to an epic immediately during import.

For testing purposes I exported data from 1 ticket (all fields) and tried to import it into another project.

I mapped the following fields:

• Summary
• Description
• Created Date - in order to test if it works but got same results when this was not mapped as well
• Parent
• Issue ID
• Issue type

I did not map the issue key since I want this to be a new ticket (a copy in a way).

The error I get is "Unable to retrieve issue key for parent: 123456"

I found the following solution which seems to have worked for many people:  https://community.atlassian.com/t5/Jira-articles/Create-Update-Parent-Child-linking-using-CSV-Import/ba-p/2651594

However, this does not work in my case because I would like to link the issue that I am importing to the existing Epic, not to create a new one.

[Trudy Claspill]

Hello @Danilo Simić 

Welcome to the Atlassian community.

Can you provide an example of the actual data in your import file? Example:

Summary	Description	Created Date	Parent	Issue ID	Issue Type
X	Y	01/01/2025	ABC-123	1	Story

[Pallavi Swamy]

i am encountering the same issue. did you manage to solve this? 

[Trudy Claspill]

@Danilo Simić 

What type of project are you adding the issues to?

Does the Epic you have specified in the Parent field already exist?

Is the Epic in the same project where you are trying to add issues through importing?

@Pallavi Swamy if you are having the same issue please provide answers to the same questions, an example of the data you are providing, and details of how you map your CSV fields to Jira fields.

[Danilo Simić]

Hello, 

Apologies for the delay in my reply.

I have used the export csv (all fields) option and mapped what I mentioned above.

But here are the actual values for the fields I mentioned:

Summary	Description	Created Date	Parent	Issue ID	Issue Type
Device type web access comparison segmentation	XYZ	13-03-24 14:23	129080	129081	Story

The project type is a software project in Jira Software Cloud.

The Epic is not in the same project as the one that I want to import this ticket, this is intentional. I am able to manually the add the Epic in question to Stories in the project that I want to import this one.

I hope I provided all the info that you requested. 

Thank you for looking into this, it is appreciated.

[Trudy Claspill]

Is the destination project Team Managed or Company Managed?

I was successfully adding an imported issue created in a Company Managed project to an existing epic in the same or another Company Managed project if I used either the Epic's key (ABC-123) or its unique numeric ID (12345) in a CSV field that I then mapped to the "Epic Link" field.

I got the same error as you when I tried to map the CSV field to the "Parent" field.

[Danilo Simić]

Both projects are company managed (the one from which I did the export and the one I am trying to import into).

[Trudy Claspill]

Then the answer I provided should work for you.

I was successfully adding an imported issue created in a Company Managed project to an existing epic in the same or another Company Managed project if I used either the Epic's key (ABC-123) or its unique numeric ID (12345) in a CSV field that I then mapped to the "Epic Link" field.