Can I remove a Custom Field from a Screen without loosing the data and still be able to access the data?

[Pei]

I want to remove a Custom Field in a Screen, however, I want to store the field in another location so I can still access the data periodically. Is JIRA Archiver the only way?

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist- · Accepted solution]

Two parts:

Removing the field from the screen, or even from the field configurations, or field contexts, will not lose the existing data. Removing it from the screens will not affect search or reporting. Removing it via field configuration or context will remove it from searching and reporting, but still not damage the raw data it stores.

To destroy the data in the field, you need to delete it entirely.

Secondly, the "store in another location" is a totally different prospect - what do you mean by this? Extract the data to another storage system and kill the field off completely?

[Pei]

Thanks for answering Nic. Here's our situation: we have several JIRA projects under one instance and we are trying to reorganize the projects. We're not extracting data from another storage or don't want to delete any fields, yet. Custom field is one of the areas we are focusing on. We want to remove some Custom Fields in several projects and screens, we did test to see if the data will come back if we add the fields back into the fields, and yes, the data will reappear. We are looking to still being able to access the data somewhere if we do remove the field from the screens. So far, our only thought is to create new tabs in each screen and assign specific custom fields to specific Issue Types. We did look into the JIRA Archiver, thoughts?

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

What you're proposing with tabs sounds like absolutely the right way to start. Move the unwanted fields to tabs for display, and then delete them from the edit screens, and you'll lose nothing at all.

I would do that and then leave it for a few weeks maybe. Because you'll be able to judge the reaction of your users to not having the data editable or immediately on-display if you do that for a while.

Then, when you reckon it's safe to "kill" a field, you can use the field configurations to hide the field from the project(s) you want to remove it from. This won't remove the data, is really easy to undo if someone yells, but it will clobber both the display and the search, so your users will get used to it not being there at all.

If there's still no problem after that, you've got a good justification to delete the field entirely - you've demonstrated that no-one is using it and they don't care!