Problem showing 'tab' in view of issue

[KirstenManica]

I have created a workflow for a software project. I created 9 statuses. See pic below. In the view of my issues, I see 3 tabs that were default, "To Do", "Done", and "Workflow". To find my 9 statuses, 7 of the statuses are in the "Workflow" tab, then one of the statuses that I named "New" is actually achieved when I click "To Do", and one of the statuses that I named "Accepted" is actually achieved when I click "Done". 

When I am in the editing functions surrounding the workflow, these tabs are labeled "Categories", but I cannot find a place to edit those Categories so that they are labeled the same as my statuses are labeled. 

Does anyone have any help they can offer?

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

Those things are not "tabs" (if you look at the bottom of the screen, you'll see tabs - All/Comments/Worklog/History/Activity).  I'm also lost on where you're seeing "Categories" - those don't have anything to do with workflow in JIRA.

What you are looking at here are "transitions".  These are part of the workflow.  A workflow is made up of quite a lot of different things, but the two important ones are "status" and "transitions". 

A status tells us where an issue is in the process the workflow represents.  A transtion enables the user to move an issue from one status to another.

Transistions have names that are shown to the users in the workflow section.  Generally, a lot of us will give status a descriptive name, so we can describe an issue's postion in the process, such as "This issue is 'open'", or "This issue is 'in progress'".  We then tend to give transitions an action-like name, so that we can say things like "The transition 'start work' moves an issue from 'open' to 'in progress'".

Of course, you can, and should, name your status and transitions to suit the way you want to work.  Your question suggests you want transitions named such that they take the issue in to a status of the same name.

It also seems like your transitions and status don't match that, because things like clicking "Done" transitions the issue intothe status "Accepted".

So, you'll need to edit your workflow, renaimg your transitions to match the status each one goes to.

[KirstenManica]

Nic, 

Awesome, thank you, that was sooo thorough. And yes, you understood all that I was asking. I'm going back in and I will work on having the statuses and transitions function in the best manner. I will reach back out if needed. 

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

I should say that a lot of that is a copy and paste from an old blog that ended up in an admin training course somewhere.

I'd encourage you to ask rather than struggle - JIRA is complex for admins (it kind of has to be, so it can be flexible), but there's lots of people here happy to help.

The only reason I answer questions here is because I've got so much help from the other members!

[KirstenManica]

That is really encouraging to hear. "..ask rather than struggle.." -it's like you knew what my day was like yesterday! I, in fact, did struggle beyond that reasonable point. I believe passionately in the power of words and your respectful delivery and acknowledgement of the complexities is a great boost for me. Thank you. I'm sure I'll "see" you again as I make this a habit, then eventually I'll be helpful to others as you have been for me.

[KirstenManica]

Nic, btw, you mentioned not knowing where "Categories" were. To find them, go to the top tool bar, the gear icon, under "JIRA ADMINISTRATION" then "Issues". Then the left tools, "ISSUE ATTRIBUTES" then "Statuses". There are now 5 column headers, and the 2nd one is "Categories". I first saw it referred to when I was in a workflow and I was editing. 

I hope this helps :) I was definitely using my own wording when I referred to "tabs" in the context that I did.

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

Ah, you meant the "status category" for to-do, in-progress, done.  But they don't have any effect on the workflow, they're just for grouping and displaying status. 

There's also project categories.

[KirstenManica]

Got it, grouping and displaying makes sense. I spent a fair amount of time with my team this morning and we honed the statuses that we're really going to use. I'm ready to dig back it.