How do I do a bulk move within next-gen backlog from "Backlog" to "Board"?

James MacEwan January 9, 2019

I have dozens of issues in my next-gen project in the backlog. The backlog has two regions "Backlog" and "Board". The issues in the "Board" region show in the TO DO column on the main board view. The issues in the Backlog region do not show on the main board view.

I am using an issue filter to sort my issues in the backlog in a particular order, and wish to do a bulk change of the issues from "Backlog" region to "Board" region. Is there a way to do this? What about a bulk change from "Board" to "Backlog". See image below...

An example filter would be to sort by due date and then do a bulk move of all issues with a due date in the next month from Backlog to Board.

project = JNEXTGEN AND status = "To Do" ORDER BY duedate ASC, updatedDate DESC

Screen Shot 2019-01-10 at 11.24.21 AM.png

 

 

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Ryan Fish
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January 10, 2019

@James MacEwan

Operation details/ transition issue through the workflow/ change status should be an option assuming you have permissions to bulk change.

James MacEwan January 10, 2019

I do have permissions to bulk change. Looking at "Transition Issue", there is no distinction within TO DO between "Backlog" and "Board".

Screen Shot 2019-01-10 at 11.18.28 AM.png

Ryan Fish
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January 10, 2019

@James MacEwan

To recap: You want to move many issues from Backlog/ To do --> Board/ To do:

  1. Bulk change - Edit Issues will not work, because status is not an editable field.
  2. Bulk change - Operation Details will not work because "To do" status is in both board and backlog workflows

Have we tried a multi-select and drag from backlog to board?

Could add a transition status between "to do"/ backlog and board to differentiate. ie "to do"/ backlog v "sprint ready"/ board

  • Use Project settings/ workflows and board settings/ column management to make option #2 feasible.
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James MacEwan January 10, 2019

Multi-select Drag and drop would work if I could see the values of the fields that I am sorting by in the Backlog. Bonus would be if I could sort the Backlog by my filter AND see those values too, then the multi-select will be easy because all the issues I want will be beside each other in the board listing.

Option #2 it is, I will add a column before TO DO on the next-gen board and do my bulk moves from backlog to it. An implication is that I will not be using the "Board" feature in the backlog.

Thanks for the suggestions, they are much appreciated

4 votes
Chris June 5, 2019

@Ryan Fish I have read a few of your comments about this bulk move feature in next-gen projects and, with respect, I think you are completely missing the point.

Next-gen is about ease of use.

I have just been doing a lot of re-sorting issues for our next major piece of work and it is driving me absolutely crazy.

Bulk move is currently outside next-gen.

The problems I have here:

  1. to do bulk move I have to go outside my project into the issues search screen.
  2. bulk move is so clunky and time consuming
  3. we need a bulk-move from within next-gen that works like next-gen does
  4. in a classic project, to change an issue type, I could do this from within the issue screen by simply choosing the new issue type. Now I don't think this is actually the best way to do it, but the point is it is much harder to do in a next-gen project. Now I have to go through 'move'. It would be much easier if I had the option to
    1. "Change project", or
    2. "Change Issue Type" in one step.
  5. It would also be a lot easier if I could do a bulk move directly from the backlog.
  6. Bulk move in next-gen needs to be a lot easier and a lot faster. (Ok, this is sort of a repeat of 2. above but it is worth repeating.)
  7. I also need the option to "Change parent" in bulk move – but from the backlog. Eg: I create a new story and want to put a bunch of tasks into this story. I have to create the issue in the backlog. I should be able to move the issues in the backlog.

I could think of a few other things about this process that could be improved but I think you get the idea.

I'm not saying any of this to be critical. I know next-gen is a long term project and it's going to take a while to get it working just the way that we want it to. So please take my comments on board as suggestions.

My one criticism is that you keep directing people back to the Issue Search screen without any acknowledgement that it could/should be easier in a next-gen project.

And, oh, I have to say Next-Gen is absolutely fantastic. As I said, it's nowhere near all there at the moment but it is going in a great direction.

Raphael TANT September 30, 2020

Next-gen is about ease of use. --> ahhaaahhhahhahah best of the year ...

1 vote
Jan Erasmus July 15, 2020

We use a NextGen Kanban wall because we find the artificial ritual of Sprint+1 a waste of time. We also can't keep all known scope on our wall because we have more work than we can manage at any one point in time. 

As such we have to stash work in the backlog and surface them on the Board when they become a priority.

Sometimes a bunch of cards suddenly become a priority. Not being able to filter them in an advanced search and then somehow transitioning to from Backlog to Board is a big gap in the NextGen solution. 

I'm generally a fan, but this is something that is killing me every day. The suggestion of disabling/enabling the backlog is a clever hack, but it makes me cry. That would hurt a lot. 

Dear Jira developers, please add an inBacklog field that we can filter on and set in bulk so that teams with larger backlogs can retain their sanity. 

Raphael TANT September 30, 2020

Dream on ... another thing aded to this next gen 'crap' going back to the classic one with all my customers since one year already

0 votes
Nicola Jean April 2, 2020

+ 1 

0 votes
Alyia Hammond-Williams October 10, 2019

I found a roundabout way to do this. If you go into your project settings and under Features, turn off backlog, it will move all items to the board. You can then turn backlog back on and it will ask if you want to move items back and say no. Not the most straight forward but it did work to get my 50+ items off the backlog and into To Do on my board

backlog.JPG

Romano Pravdic February 16, 2022

This is exactly what was needed in my case. Thank you!

0 votes
Ryan Fish
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January 9, 2019

@James MacEwan

Hey James,

  • Search for the issues to bulk move
  • Select Tools/ Bulk Change.
  • Select the issues to bulk move

Documentation

Hope this helps

Ryan

James MacEwan January 10, 2019

Thanks Ryan.

The key to the question is what to pick within the bulk move.

The issues are already in TO DO status, and I want to move them within TO DO. So the "Move issues" operation doesn't seem right. In the "Edit issues" option, I do not see a field for moving within TO DO from "Backlog" to "Board".

I've attached some screen shots.

Step 2

step 2.png

Step 3

step 3.png

Jesus Carpintero April 25, 2019

+1

 

I need to bulk move my TO-DO issues out of my board to the Backlog, and none of the solutions make sense for me.

Like Ethan Shvartzman likes this
Maria Kouras May 15, 2019

+ 1 

I'm also running into this problem.

Pawit Khid-arn June 11, 2019

+1 

I'm also running into this issue

Phukao Soraprasert June 11, 2019

+1

Johannes Berggren June 20, 2019

+1

Jose Fuentes July 4, 2019

+1

j.haddick September 11, 2019

+1

Alyia Hammond-Williams October 10, 2019

I found a roundabout way to do this. If you go into your project settings and under Features, turn off backlog, it will move all items to the board. You can then turn backlog back on and it will ask if you want to move items back and say no. Not the most straight forward but it did work to get my 50+ items off the backlog and into To Do on my boardbacklog.JPG

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