Bulk Action Link

[Evan Cutler]

Greetings, I have 100+ Defect JIRA issues I want to link to a Single output Build Issue. I've been reading up on Bulk Actions, but I don't see a Bulk Link Action.

help?

Thanks

[Renjith Pillai · Accepted solution]

For linking, you need not go via the bulk action. Instead, open that one single issue, select 'Link Issue' from More Actions and paste all the 100+ issue keys in that edit box and submit.

In order to quickly get you that 100+ issues as one text field, you could export that list from Jira to excel, copy the issue-link column, paste in a good text editor and replace newline with comma.

[Stefan Egli]

It does not seem to work with commas anymore, but it works fine if you have spaces.

If your issues are visible in an Agile Board you can select them and use the context menu to see them in the Issue Navigator. If you do this, you will get a query of the form "issueKey in (...)". Thus you have a comma separated lists of the issue keys and you just need to remove the comma.

[MattS]

Spaces between issue keys didn't work for me in 6.4, nor newlines. But you can do a search in the Link popup and get the issues that way with Advanced Search. Just as David says below.

[Yash Ruparel]

Renjith's method worked for me. All i did was got the list of issues which i need to update, exported to csv, copied the keys and pasted it in linked issue and ta-da! THANKS Renjith

[Wes]

So, just replace spaces/commas/whatever with a TAB character, works like a charm.

Terrible UX, as usual :(

[Rajesh Iyer]

I couldn't get this to work with the "," separated values, but the space separation worked for me. 

Just FYI, I copied the key column to text wrangler and removed all line breaks to ge the space separated values

[rboekdrukker]

I had the same problem with line spaces etc, nothing worked, then I copied from Excel or Text editor, pasted them in and then clicked out of the box, for example reselecting link type, and then all the pasted issues appeared as separate issues, not necessary to change line feeds or anything to commas and the likes.

[Brian Amstutz]

This doesn't appear to work with the on screen edit that's part of the new Jira Issue View (https://confluence.atlassian.com/jiracorecloud/the-new-jira-issue-view-938040503.html).  Now if you paste in a bunch of ticket numbers it forces you to pick one or you can select Exact Key which won't allow you to proceed.  If you click outside of the box it doesn't save what you entered.  I reverted to the old Jira issue view and it worked as described above in a separate on-screen popup window.

[Andrews]

@Renjith Pillai 

Hi Renjith,

Recently we have upgraded JIRA from v7.9.2 to v8.2.4 but the easy links add on is not compatible with v8.

I have checked in the marketplace but the add-on does not appear.

Is there any similar add-on to use like easy links? 

Regards,

Andrews

[andycaseASA]

Like @Brian Amstutz the other suggestions didnt work for me, so as per Brian's suggestion I had to revert to Classic JIRA mode through the personal settings, then (as per everyone, I exported the JIRA cards I needed to excel, and copied the column with the JIRA key), after that pasting the links was easy. I pasted 312 links. I reverted back to Modern JIRA mode after that.

[David Bakkers]

Just had to do this for the first time to link 50+ issues to a single issue, since there is no bulk linking action. Same as others, modern issue view for Jira Cloud doesn't support cut and pasting all the issue keys in the search field, so had to open the issue, switch to full page view, switch to old view, paste all the issue keys, confirm the links happened, switch back to new view.

If I had to do this on a large scale for multiple issues, the web interface would be too slow, so I think I'd switch to doing it by importing a CSV with all the issues that had to updated and set the appropriate field for the outward / inward link with the keys of the destination issues, or do the equivalent via the REST API.

[Bill_Miller · Accepted solution]

Here's my solution...

Using Jira Cloud...

1. Find the Issues you want to bulk link to another issue
2. Click Advanced query.  Copy the JQL statement.  (e.g.: project = MNS AND status = DONE AND assignee in (dcmiller13)  )
3. Find the issue you want to link to.  Click Link, pick the Link type, then  --> Search for an Issue --> Advanced.
4. Paste the JQL.  Click the top checkbox to select all.

[Tyler Quillen]

This is only a partial solution, as you will only have a max of 10 issues returned from the search. 

[Kelly Buchanan]

You can add to the end of your query a condition for "and not already linked" using the linkedIssues function:

[query for issues you want to link] and Issue not in linkedIssues([key for issue you are linking to]) 

You can run that repeatedly to link 10 at a time.

This is the best solution imho. I cannot easily convert jql results to issue keys with spaces, but I can query for everything I want to link. If someone has a way to generate keys with spaces easily then possibly the accepted solution would be more useful.

[Matthew Day]

I just tried this using a parentlink in the advanced search, and it returned all the tasks in that epic, but when I tried to link, it just linked the epic, not the tasks. :-/

[Florian Royer]

This solution doesn't work for me...

[Patrick Gray]

It's 2018 and we still can't bulk link through the web. Wow.

[Breno Lima]

This is Atlassian..

[Airam Gibson]

It's 2019 and we still can't bulk link through the web. Wow.

[Paul_Sorauer]

This is Atlassian..

[Trinh Nguyen]

It's the end of Q1 2019 and you still cannot bulk link issues.

[Kevin Peterson]

This is Atlassian...

[Igor Kosoy]

Just unbelievable . Basic functionality is not available.... 

[kimmi kalindi]

This is Atlassian.

[Mike Loux]

It's the middle of Q3 2019 and you still cannot bulk link issues... *sigh*

[Richard Ranft]

This is Sparta.

[Diane Edinger]

I really would like to bulk link issues...

[ingemar_76]

Just fix this Atlasian, it is extremely annoying not to be able to bulk upgrade link issues.

[John Mayo-Smith]

It's almost 2020 and still not able to bulk link issues... 

[ingemar_76]

This is a tragedy 

[Gal Keidar]

We're doing it manually!
Better to move back to sticky notes. 

[Brian Reavey]

Still cannot bulk link....  SMH

[Mat Lavoie]

It's 2020 now in Australia. Still doesn't exist

[Andrew Smittle]

It's more than a week into 2020 in the US and we still cannot bulk link...

[ירדן_חי]

It's the end of February 2020, and still cannot bulk link. 

[Deleted user]

Bulk linking works now!

April Fools!  It's April 1st 2020 and we still can't bulk link.

[Jonathan Marino]

It's May 2020... nope, still can't bulk link issues.

You can, however, add them in bulk by switching to the old issue view, click "add link" and paste a space-separated list of issue IDs and then click outside of the box / suggestion which causes jira to split your input into individual issue entries.

[Nicholas Vidal]

It's October 2020 and we still can't bulk link... but Jonathan's workaround was a huge help!

Not sure what to do though once Atlassian discontinues the old issue view though... 

[Aaqib Javeed]

Steps for bulk update:
1. Switch to OLD view of Jira by turning off the "Jira Labs" toggle

2. Filter out all the tickets you want to link and export it as CSV file

3. Copy all the issue IDs from the CSV file in one go

4. Open parent ticket -> Link Issue -> ctrl-v / cmd-v all the copied issues in the field

5. Just click outside the text field (un-focus)

6. Click "Link" and there you go!

Just hoping this feature to be added in the new view as the old view will no longer be supported in coming days.

[Christèle Brunesseaux]

You saved my day. Thanks a lot!

[Rubén Herrera Ruiz]

Thanks!!!

[Eric Jaskolka]

I followed all of these steps and it did not work for me.

[Nicholas Vidal]

@Eric Jaskolka That's because Jira discontinued Old Issue View as of early this year. So far I am not aware of an alternative workaround...

...it's April 2021 and...

[Benjamin Peikes]

Yup, April Fools, still can't do it.

[Matt Nolley]

It's May 2021, but you still May not bulk link.

[Kathy Barton]

Almost the end of June 2021 and still can't do it...

[Brian Reavey]

Today is Twos-day, February 22nd, 2022 (2022-02-22)...

Still cannot bulk link...

EOM

[Brian Reavey]

Migrated to cloud, still cannot bulk link.

[Eitan Gur]

1. Go to parent issue à More à Link
2. Define the link type
3. Paste into the "Issue" field your list of issue keys separated by space and just click on the area outside of the text box
4. The system will process and accept each key as a separate issue
5. Press Alt+s to submit

[Yaron Azar]

WORKS!!! for Jira 7.7

linked over 100 in single action and over 500 in total.

Thanks :)

[Lauren Andersen]

Yes, it works!  THANK YOU!!!

[Laura Murphy]

I was only able to see this option when in Old View, but it worked then.

[Ritesh Patil]

Awesome!!!

[David Tombs]

In the "Add Link" dialog's search function, you can return and multi-select issues to link to the item.jira_link_multiselect.png

[Geoff Wilson]

the only problem with this seems to be that it limits how many results are returned to 10 which is not helpful for the OP's scenario (nor mine), but is useful to know of this approach (using a JQL query to get a list of issues for linking)

[Martin Hinge]

Hi Renjith

I tried following your instructions but it didn't get me anywhere. Whenever I tried pasting 87 issues as a comma separated string it would br parsed as a one issue and would not work.

What you have to do is paste is with the newline in it - do not replace with comma..

I'm on Jira 5.2.7

[BrianW]

This function really should be added to bulk edit!  My solution is a little easier for large numbers of tickets (and much easier to repeat) if you can access Jira Automation (formerly Automation for Jira).

1. Create a new Automation rule with a Manual trigger.  (You don't want others running this rule, so restrict it to the highest possible permission group you are a member of).
2.  Add a Branch rule / Related issue, JQL type.  Set the JQL to return exactly what tickets you want bulk-linked.  Uncheck "Only include issues that have changed since the last time this rule executed" (or check it if you want that for repeated executions).
3. Add a Link issues Action with the link type you want, and set it to run on the Trigger issue.
4. Publish the rule and set a name for it like Bulk Link.
5. Bring up the issue detail page for the issue you want bulk linked to all those tickets, select your new rule in the Automation section, and Run.
6. Once the rule is run, go back into Automation and disable it so it doesn't get accidentally run in the future (or leave it enabled if you want to do this same operation repeatedly).

[Curt Holley]

Nice one @BrianW 

[Mikaela Bertucci]

Thanks for this.. I created a rule based on the label changing.. So if the label changes to a value then the linked issue automation runs. 

If field Label changes to "GEOBC" then run this jql to look for other issues with the "GEOBC" label and link all of those issues to the trigger issue 

[Latha]

Hi,

How can we do bulk remove links for issues in JIRA?

Thanks in advance for any solution.

Regards,

Latha

[Anne C]

My company also looking for the same. 

There should be bulk operations for both:

 > link issues

 > delete link issues

[Jarosław Solecki _Deviniti_]

We created the free plugin for bulk link action after we also struggled with that problem - Issue Link Manager.

I hope for your feedback after trying it. 



Best regards, 
Jarek

[Karla P Davenport]

You can link 50 issues at a time by opening the parent issue in edit.  Scroll down to the link and click the + sign.  If you searched for the issues and have the list on screen prior to editing the parent issue, select the recent issues radio button, or you can select from filter radio button in the pop-up dialogue box.  Select the individual issues or click the select multiple issue button at the top of the screen.  Check off those to link to the parent issue.  Shift-click for the whole list will work.  Scroll to the bottom and link. 

[ribailey]

Easiest to export to csv and import to google sheet.  then use =join(" ",A2:A) to turn into a string in a cell.  and copy that to jira. 

[priyanka ghongade]

Can we perform "Bulk Edit" operation on security level?

[Fernando Llaca Romero]

Hi Andrea,

please check out my answer to this question, I think it may help you: https://answers.atlassian.com/questions/40224

Regards!

Fernando

[Andrews]

Hi @Fernando Llaca Romero 

Recently we have upgraded JIRA from v7.9.2 to v8.2.4 but the easy links add on is not compatible with v8.

I have checked in the marketplace but the add-on does not appear.

Is there any similar add-on to use like easy links? Or your team will upgrade this plugin to compatible with Jira v8?

Regards,

Andrews

[Fernando Llaca Romero]

By using this free plugin I made (Easy Links for JIRA) you can create a custom field that represents an issue link type (for example: "is blocked by"). This custom field looks like a dropdown issue select list that autocompletes as you type in but, when you set the value, the plugin will create behind the scenes a regular JIRA issue link using that value. You can use this plugin in bulk edition (so you can bulk create and/or remove issue links).

It also gives you other features, like using the "Link" custom field in gadgets, dashboards and JQL.

Hope it helps!

Best regards,

Fernando

[Andrea Kelley]

Does anyone have a better way to bulk link more than 10 issues to another issue?

[Faizan Farooq]

This sounds good but how do you bulk unlink them? 

[Fernando Llaca Romero]

Hi!

with the plugin I made (Easy Links for JIRA) you can bulk link and/or unlink issues. Check out my answer: https://answers.atlassian.com/questions/40224.

Regards!

Fernando

[Andrews]

Hi @Fernando Llaca Romero 

Recently we have upgraded JIRA from v7.9.2 to v8.2.4 but the easy links add on is not compatible with v8.

I have checked in the marketplace but the add-on does not appear.

Is there any similar add-on to use like easy links? Or your team will upgrade this plugin to compatible with Jira v8?

Regards,

Andrews

[Stefan Niedermann]

i can click "search issue" - but if i wanna go to the advanced search, there is a notice, that the auto complete is loading, and then the pop-up closes. so i can't do anythin.

has anyone an idea what could cause the problem (no javascript exception, nothing special at jira log file) or has anyone another workaround to link all issues from a filter to a single other issue?

[Thomas Schlegel]

Bulk linking is not (yet) possible. it's an old issue, see https://jira.atlassian.com/browse/JRA-2428

Only workarounds like the one mentioned by Renjith are possible

Best regards

Thomas