This page last changed on Oct 01, 2009 by alui.
Bulk Operations enables multiple operations to be performed on multiple issues at once. The bulk operations are performed on the result set of a search. The following list details the available bulk operations:
- Workflow Transition
This operation allows multiple issues to be transitioned through workflow at once — e.g. resolve a collection of issues.
- Delete
This operation allows multiple issues to be deleted at once.
- Move
This operation allows multiple issues to be moved at once. Please see the Bulk Move section for further details.
- Edit
This operation allows multiple edit operations to be performed. Please see the Bulk Edit section for further details.
On this page:
Bulk Change Global Permission
It is necessary for a user to be granted the appropriate project specific permission and the global Bulk Change permission in order to execute a bulk operation. For example, a user must be granted both the Move Issue and Bulk Change permissions in order to execute the Bulk Move operation.
The project specific permissions are still respected for the collection of issues selected for the bulk operation.
Disable Mail Notification for Bulk Operations
It is possible to disable mail notification for a particular bulk operation by de-selecting the "Send Notification" checkbox in the bulk operation wizard. The user must be an administrator or project administrator of all the associated projects for the bulk operation in order for this option to be available.

Steps to Perform Bulk Operations
- From the Issue Navigator, perform a search with the required filters to produce an issue result set.
- The Bulk Change option in the "Tools" menu of the Issue Navigator provides access to the bulk operations. The Bulk Change link is only available to users who have been granted the global Bulk Change permission. If the result set spans a number of pages, it is possible to select all issues within the result set to be considered for the bulk operation. Alternatively, all issues on the current page can be selected for the bulk operation.
- The next screen allows the selection of the issues that the bulk operation is to be performed on.
- The next screen allows the bulk operation to be selected - Workflow Transition, Delete, Move or Edit.
- If the Delete operation is selected, the final step is confirmation of the delete operation on the issues selected.
- If the Edit operation is selected, the next screen provides a list of the available edit operations that can be performed on the issues selected. Some operations may be unavailable, please check the Bulk Edit section for further details.
- After selecting the required Edit operation(s), the final step is confirmation of the edit operation(s) on the selected issues.
- If the Move operation is selected, the next screens allow a target project and issue type to be selected, with the ability to migrate workflow statuses and update required fields as necessary. Further details can be found in the Bulk Move section.
- If the Workflow Transition operation is selected, the next screen shows the available workflow transitions that can be performed on the issues. The transitions are grouped by workflow — along with a list of the affected issues for each workflow transition. Once an operation is selected, the appropriate field screen for that operation is displayed - allowing any necessary field edits that are required to complete the transition. It should be noted that only those issues associated with the selected transition will be updated. It is only possible to select one transition per bulk workflow transition operation.
Bulk Move
The Bulk Move operation allows multiple issues to be moved at once. It is possible to move a selection of issues to a new project with the ability to select a new issue type in certain cases. The issues are selected through the Issue Navigator as discussed above.
The operation is completed as follows:
- Select Projects and/or Issue Types
- Select Projects and/or Issue Types for Sub-Tasks
- Select status migration mappings for invalid statuses
- Select values for required fields and fields with invalid values
- Confirm changes to be made and complete the operation
Note that steps 3 and 4 will occur once for each different target project and issue type combination.
Issue Selection
The bulk move operation can be performed on both standard issues and sub-task issues. Standard issues can be moved to another project and issue type, whereas a sub-task can only have its issue type changed.
It is not possible to select both a sub-task and its parent to bulk move. This is so to adhere to the parent/sub-task relationship (i.e. the sub-task is always located in the same project as the parent issue). Any sub-tasks of selected parent issues which were also selected will be automatically discarded from the move.
For example, you have issue B being a sub-task of issue A and you try to bulk move both A and B simultaneously. You will see a warning message (see below) and will be prompted to select a target project and issue type for issue A. If you select a new project for A, you will be prompted to move the sub-task to a new issue type based on issue A's new project. If you don't change the project for issue A, the sub-task will not be required to be moved.

Select Projects and Issue Types
The first step of the bulk move wizard is to choose what projects and issue types you'll move your issues to. The target project and issue type will determine whether extra steps will be required to migrate statuses and fields.
This screen shows all selected issues grouped by their current project and issue type. You can either select a new project and issue type for each one or choose to move all standard issues to a single project and issue type. To do this, select the check box with the label Use the above project and issue type pair for all other combinations and the selected project / issue type will apply. Note that this will not apply to sub-tasks since they cannot be moved to a standard issue type.

Select Projects and Issue Types for Sub-Tasks
If you are moving issues with sub-tasks to another project, you'll also need to move the sub-tasks to the new project. On this screen you can elect to change the issue types of the sub-tasks being moved if you need to.

Workflow Status Mapping
As multiple workflows can be active simultaneously, some statuses associated with the collection of selected issues may not be valid in the target workflow. In this case, JIRA allows the user to specify a mapping from invalid statuses to those available in the the target workflow.

This step of the wizard will only appear if you have invalid statuses. If you are moving issues to different projects and issue types at the same time, you will complete this step as well as the next for each of the different target project and issue type pairs. To help you easily keep track of your progress, the current context, that is the target project and issue type, is highlighted in the left-hand, "progress" pane.

Field Updates
In order to adhere to the field configuration scheme associated with the target project and issue type, it may be necessary to update/populate required fields. For example, if one of the selected issues does not have a value for a required component and version fields, JIRA prompts the user to enter a suitable value.

Retain Original Values
It is possible to retain original field values that are valid in the target destination by checking the Retain checkbox associated with the field. For example, some issues may already include a valid custom field value — these values can be retained, while issues that require an update will adopt the value specified on the field update screen.
- Checked: the original value is retained where possible¹. The field will not be updated with the specified new value.
- UnChecked: all fields will be updated with the specified new value.
¹ Please note that the values of the following fields will not be retained:
- Component
- Affects Version
- Fix Version
- Custom fields of type Version-Picker
Bulk Move Confirmation
When all move parameters - e.g. target project, status mappings and field updates - have been specified for all issues, the user is presented with a confirmation screen displaying all changes that will be made to the issues being moved. The following details are displayed:
- Issue Targets: the target project and issue type
- Workflow: the target workflow and invalid status mappings
- Updated Fields: new values for fields that require updating
- Removed Fields: values to be removed in fields that are not valid in the target
The issues will only be moved once the Confirm button is clicked from the confirmation page. If the operation is exited anytime before this step, no changes will be made to the issues.

Bulk Edit
The bulk edit operations available depend on the issues selected and the nature of the field it changes.
Available Operations
The following table lists out all the possible operations. Please note that all the conditions must be true for the corresponding operation to be available.
Available Operations |
Conditions |
Change Affects Version/s |
- Selected issues belong to one project, and that project has version/s
- This field is not hidden in any field configurations the selected issues belong to
- Current user has 'edit issue' permission for all the selected issues
|
Change Assign To |
- This field is not hidden in any field configurations the selected issues belong to
- Current user has 'assign issue' permission for all the selected issues
|
Change Comment |
- This field is not hidden in any field configurations the selected issues belong to
- Current user has 'comment issue' permission for all the selected issues
|
Change Component/s |
- Selected issues belong to one project, and that project has component/s
- This field is not hidden in any field configurations the selected issues belong to
- Current user has 'edit issue' permission for all the selected issues
|
Change Due Date |
- This field is not hidden in any field configurations the selected issues belong to
- Current user has 'edit issue' permission for all the selected issues
- Current user has 'schedule issue' permission for all the selected issues
|
Change Fix For Version/s |
- Selected issues belong to one project, and that project has version/s
- This field is not hidden in any field configurations the selected issues belong to
- Current user has 'edit issue' permission for all the selected issues
|
Change Issue Type |
- Current user has 'edit issue' permission for all the selected issues
|
Change Priority |
- This field is not hidden in any field configurations the selected issues belong to
- Current user has 'edit issue' permission for all the selected issues
|
Change Reporter |
- This field is not hidden in any field configurations the selected issues belong to
- Current user has 'edit issue' permission for all the selected issues
- Current user has 'modify reporter' permission for all the selected issues
|
Change Security Level |
- This field is not hidden in any field configurations the selected issues belong to
- All the selected projects are assigned the same issue level security scheme
- Current user has 'edit issue' permission for all the selected issues
- Current user has 'set issue security' permission for all the selected issues
|
Change Custom Fields |
The 'Change Custom Fields' operation is available only if:
- a global custom field exists OR
- an issue type custom field exists and the issues are all of this specific issue type OR
- a project custom field exists and the issues are all of the same project
|
Unavailable Operations
The fields listed in this section have no operations for bulk editing. This is because there is an alternative method or it is not logical to perform bulk edit on them.
The following system fields are unavailable for bulk editing:
- Attachments
- Summary
- Description
- Environment
- Project — Please use 'Bulk Move' to move issues between projects
- Resolution — Please use 'Bulk Workflow Transitions' to modify the resolution of issues
The following custom fields are unavailable for bulk editing:
|