Mass change of existing JIRA issues if each change is individual

[Marc Dahinden]

Hello

I am aware that you can mass-create issues w/ a CSV file.
I am not aware that you can make a mass-change in one shot in existing issues like the case I should add an individual URL link per issue. This means for my case that each URL link is different per issue I need to add.

There is of course the way to process each issue one by one but this is a very time-consuming task doing this for 2000 issues.

I assume there is a way to execute a mass change via a CSV file.  How would the structure of the CSV file look like?

Thanks for your support

Cheers, Marc

[Jack Brickey]

Hi @Marc Dahinden , if you wish to update issues via csv then simply include a column in your csv with the issue key to be updated. 

[Jack Brickey]

@Marc Dahinden , please share screenshot of 1 or two rows of your CSV

[Marc Dahinden]

@Jack Brickey 

I attached a screenshot of the columns in the CSV file. My example contains currently one key ID for test purposes.

I want to add/change the value in the column "Story Points" for multiple stories at once. 

Any change needed?

Thanks, Marc

[Marc Dahinden]

@Jack Brickey 

Any recommendation?

[Jack Brickey]

Thanks for sharing. So when you import that CSV does the value of 17 get placed into the W3S2-3225 issue? If we can get it to work for that single issue then all we need to do is create a row for every other issue US to update.

[Marc Dahinden]

Hello Jack

Unfortunately not. There is no change happening in W3S2-3225.

But JIRA creates a new task with the summary in the file.

So it seems that JIRA ignores the key id during the run but it creates a new task.

Question: What field in JIRA do I need to map "key" in my CSV ? Maybe this is a reason that it does not update W3S2-3225?

Any recommendations?

Thanks, Marc

[Mark Segall]

Hi @Marc Dahinden - You can definitely do this with a mass import.  When mapping the csv, you'll need the issue key and summary.  By mapping the issue key and summary, Jira will perform an update rather than creating new issues.  Recommend you start with one or two issues as a test to make sure your mapping is good before processing the full batch.

[Marc Dahinden]

Hi Mark

I tryed to update one story w/ story points how you recommended.

I have in csv file: key id, summary and story points.

Unfortunately it creates a new task and the story remains untouched.

Maybe I did something wrong when mapping ? Any proposal how to proceed?

Thanks, Marc

[Mark Segall]

Looking at what you've provided @Jack Brickey there's nothing wrong with the csv.  Can you please confirm that when you perform the import, you're following the steps to map your column headers to the Jira fields and selecting Issue Key for your Key column mapping?

[Marc Dahinden]

Hello @Mark Segall 

Yes I mapped column "key" to JIRA field issue key.

I used "Import Issues from CSV" in the menu "Issues" to execute the import/update.

Thanks, Marc

[Mark Segall]

I have seen scenarios where the bulk importer simply isn't an option.  If you're a Jira Administrator for your environment, you can try the system importer instead which has been very reliable for me.  You can navigate to it via System >> External System Import.

[Hannes Obweger - JXL for Jira]

Hi @Marc Dahinden

as others suggested, it is possible to bulk edit via the CSV import. If that's the approach you'd want to pursue, I trust that the existing conversations will help resolve your issues.

Just as an alternative option: If you're open to solutions from the Atlassian Marketplace, this would be very easy to do using 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. Excel or Google Sheets. Among many other advanced features, you can also edit your issues in bulk, via copy/paste. This works within JXL, but also between JXL and pretty much any other app, including e.g. Excel. This is how this looks in action:

(I'm using story points here, but it would work the same way with any other field, including URL link custom fields.)

You can bulk update any number of issues in one go, so you should be done with your work in no time.

Any questions just let me know,

Best,

Hannes

[Marc Dahinden]

Hello Hannes
Unfortunately my company does not foresee JXL for JIRA. I am sorry.
Thanks, Marc

[Marc Dahinden]

Hi Mark

I tryed to update one story w/ story points how you recommended.

I have in csv file: key id, summary and story points.

Unfortunately it creates a new task and the story remains untouched.

Maybe I did something wrong when mapping ? Any proposal how to proceed?

Thanks, Marc