Reuse exisiting custom field name but with different type

[Gian Israel Nampi]

Hi Atlassian Community,

I need to change/convert an existing custom field type from "Text Field (Single Line)" to "Text Field (multi-line)" as mentioned in the documentation How to change custom field types in Jira

• If you wanted to convert a Text-field Custom Field to a Free-text-field(unlimited text) Custom Field, first you need to change the data type from a stringvalue field to textvalue:

UPDATE customfieldvalue SET textvalue=stringvalue WHERE customfield=(SELECT ID FROM customfield WHERE
customfieldtypekey='com.atlassian.jira.plugin.system.customfieldtypes:textfield' AND cfname='Text Field');

• Then, change the Custom Field type by updating the customfield table as below:

UPDATE customfield SET CUSTOMFIELDTYPEKEY='com.atlassian.jira.plugin.system.customfieldtypes:textarea', CUSTOMFIELDSEARCHERKEY='com.atlassian.jira.plugin.system.customfieldtypes:textsearcher'
where cfname='Text Field';

I am not really sure if this is related to the "Text Field" type so I am thinking if it's safe to just create another custom field type that uses the same name of that custom field? will it affect the current field after the new field is created?

After that, I will bulk edit to transfer the current values to the new field.

Thank you.

[Antoine Berry · Accepted solution]

Hi @Gian Israel Nampi ,

As stated in the KB, atlassian incentivises against changes in the database.

You should indeed create a new custom field with the same name. After the data transfer, remember to update your screens / filters / dashboards to display the new field instead of the old one.

[Gian Israel Nampi]

Hi @Antoine Berry

Thank you for your response, so I created the custom field with the same name and migrate the existing values to the new one using Adaptavist Script Runner - Built-in Scripts.

Thank You!