How to change a Simple Text field to MultiLine text field?

[Taber Loveless]

I have a Custom Simple Text Field I want to convert/change into a MultiLine Text Field to retain the data that currently exists but allow for more than 255 chars.

Can this be done or will a new field need to be added, screens/workflows/etc be changed and somehow copy the values from the old field?

Id prefer to just convert/expand the field so we can add more then 255 chars while keeping the current data with screes/wf/etc intact.

[Mikael Sandberg · Accepted solution]

Once you created a custom field you cannot change the type, so if you want to change a short text field to a paragraph field you would have to create a new field and then either manually move the content over from the old field to the new one, or you could use automation to copy the data over.

[ELFAPP Technologies · Accepted solution]

The easiest way to go about this is to create a new custom field of the field type that you want then use the CSV importer to copy the field value from one field to another. It's not feasible to change the field type, so going through that route is a workaround. Then you can add it to the screens/workflows etc

[Hannes Obweger - JXL for Jira · Accepted solution]

Hi @Taber Loveless,

as already suggested, you cannot change the type of a custom field; you'll have to create a new custom field, transfer over the values from the old custom field, and then delete the old custom field.

For copying the values over, I've seen people use Automation rules for this, or do a CSV export, make changes to the CSV file, and re-import it.

Alternatively, if you're open to solutions from the Atlassian Marketplace, you'll have more options. I'll provide more information below.

Hope this helps,

Best,

Hannes

[Hannes Obweger - JXL for Jira]

... and to expand on my last point: If you're open to solutions from the Atlassian Marketplace, this would be easy to do with the app that my team and I are working on, JXL for Jira.

JXL is a full-fledged spreadsheet/table view for your issues that allows viewing, inline-editing, sorting, and filtering by all your issue fields, much like you'd do in e.g. Google Sheets or Excel. You can also bulk edit your fields, using copy/paste. This makes it very easy to copy values from one column (i.e., field) to another column/field.

This is how it looks in action:

As you can copy/paste any amount of data in one action, you should be done with your work in no time.

I should also add that JXL can do much more than the above: From support for configurable issue hierarchies, to issue grouping by any issue field(s), sum-ups, or conditional formatting.

Any questions just let me know!