How do I move a Sub-task from one project to another project?

[Ashwani John]

I have 2 projects as of now, gradually there will be 3 to 4 projects.

Is there anyway to move Sub-Task from One project to any other project?

[Dave Armstrong]

I found this thread today as we tried to do the same thing. We had multiple Sub-Tasks with a Parent in Project A, and we needed to move the Sub-Tasks to Project B and assign a new Parent. We followed the earlier suggestion, where we moved the Sub-Task to a Task, then moved the Task to Project B, then Moved the Task back to a Sub-Task and assigned to the new Parent. It worked fine and we decided to see if we could do that in Bulk, much to our surprise once we selected the option to move the Sub-Tasks in bulk, we were then presented with the option to move the Sub-Tasks to Project B and assign a new Parent. So I think the resolution to the initial question is to do it with a bulk command in the Jira Cloud UI. 

[Trudy Claspill]

I have confirmed this works in Jira Cloud.

Using the Bulk Change option from the View All Issues screen you can move subtasks from one project to another while also setting their parent to an issue in the destination project.

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

Welcome to the Atlassian Community!

Yes, you can use "change parent" from the options menu to change the issue the sub-task is a part of.  You are not limited to the parent issue being in the same project.

[Trudy Claspill]

@Nic Brough -Adaptavist- 

I don't see a Change Parent option in the menu when I look at Subtasks in a Company Managed project (working in a Free subscription where I am the uber-admin of everything).

I found Change Parent as an option under Move, but it restricts the parent selection to issues in the same project.

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

Hmm.  It is there on Server, but I didn't know it had been removed from Cloud.

I do get offered issues in parent issues in other projects when I use "move" on my Cloud instance though, so I'm a bit confuddled.

[Ashwani John]

Thank you @Nic Brough -Adaptavist- , Thank you @Trudy Claspill for providing the quick inputs.

Just to let you know, I am using JSM on cloud and I am able to move Issue from one project to another but not Sub-Task.

When I am trying to move Sub-Task, it only give option to Change Parent, and there is no option to select another project.

Could you please advise if there is any option to move Sub-task from one project to another?

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

I do not know why it won't let you move to a parent within another project, as it's letting me do it.

As you're not getting that option, I think the only way you're going to be able to do it is to move the issue of which it is a part to the new project, then you'll be able to move it to be a part of another issue in that project, and then move the old parent back to the old project.

As a consultant type, I'd also want to have a look at why someone tried to break up the issue into pieces and defined a piece that is nothing to do with the parent issue!

[Andre.Mantas]

It does not work: 

[Trudy Claspill]

(Edited: There was a typo in my reply. The word "can" in the second sentence should have been "cannot".)

In Jira Cloud a sub-task and its parent must be in the same project. You cannot set a sub-task to have a parent that is in another project. And you can't "move" a sub-task to another project like you would for other issue types.

The work arounds are:

1. Create a new subtask in the destination project.

2. Convert the subtask to a standard issue type (i.e. Task), Move the Task to the new project, then convert the moved Task back to a sub-task and assign its parent.

@Nic Brough -Adaptavist- 

I do not know why it won't let you move to a parent within another project, as it's letting me do it.

I would be interested to see some evidence that you were able to do that with a sub-task in Jira Cloud.

[John Isherwood]

@Trudy Claspill @Ashwani John I'm wondering if you could do this simply without changing issuetypes and reassigning parents as you suggest (just imagine having hundreds of issues to sift through). My thoughts are:

1. Run a csv export of the original project. Open in spreadsheet software to sort out which issues are parents, and those which are sub tasks with parent links

2. Move all parent issues to the new project: the best practice might be to import the parent issues alone via a new csv. Change the issue key by changing the project key in it to the new project's key but keep the same issue number in front of the new project key. (for example issue ORIG-123 becomes NEW-123)

3. Import csv of parent issues.

4. Now to the child issues. Update the original exported csv by removing the parent issues, then changing the project key to the new project's key in the issue key column and the parent link column. Save

4. Import the csv.

[Trudy Claspill]

Hello @John Isherwood 

The user doesn't want to move the parent issue, only the subtasks. So your step #2 does not align with their need.

They did not want a "copy" of the subtask in the destination project. They wanted the subtask moved. So in your process the subtask to be moved would need to be deleted from the source project.

Setting an explicit issue key in a CSV import file has repercussions and risks. The risk is that you specify an issue key that has already been used. The repercussion is that the last issue key used in the import sets the next sequence number to be used for the next issue to be created; the ### part of XXX-###. Setting the issue key explicitly in a CSV import should not be done when importing to a project that already has issues, unless you are using numbers that are larger than any of the issues that already exist in the project.

[John Isherwood]

Hi thanks for the response @Trudy Claspill , I was working from the assumption that it would be a new project without issues already existing there - well noted - I should have specified as it may have existing issues.

I was also thinking that the user will need to move the parent issue too, as you and Andre pointed out to the post creator previously :) 

My team and I have had to move issues from other instances and have been faced with parent mapping Epics and Sub Tasks. Its not simple, and takes some planning in a spreadsheet