Return to previous state in Jira workflow

[M Vijay Kumar]

Hi All,

I would like to know if there is an option to return to the previous status in JIRA workflow. For example I have open,Development in progress, Testing in progress and closed in a workflow. User working on the issue which is in 'Development in progress' moved to 'Testing in progress' unknowingly/ or by mistake. So is there a way to get back to the previous status.

Any help provided will be helpful to us.

Thanks,

Vijay

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist- · Accepted solution]

Yes.  Make sure the workflow has a transition that goes back to the desired status.

[M Vijay Kumar]

That would create a lot of transitions back and forth between all the status in the workflow. I have 12 statuses and 20 transitions in the workflow, applying back and forth transitions will make the workflow more complex.

I am thinking is there any other way so that it could ease the process. please let me know.

[Paz]

Your process already sounds complex without the back and forth transitions, but that's not because of the back and forth. It's complex.

The workflow is what dictates which status an issue can go to/from.

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

John is absolutely right - a workflow is a model of your process.  You have a complex process and you need to reflect that in the workflow.

I would share transitions where possible though - when creating a transition back to X, have a look at the existing transitions going into X - you may well be able to reuse them.

[M Vijay Kumar]

Hi All,

Thanks for your response. Will try to reuse the transitions which would really help us. 

Thanks,

Vijay

[Markos Stefanou]

The alternative would be activating hidden transitions back to status and placing a a transition back to the status itself that would activate the appropriate hidden transition. 

A new custom field that would record what the previous status was etcetera.

Not really worth it I'd assume, and if you didn't understand my proposal you probably shouldn't attempt to maintain such a solution in your workflows.

[Jonas Andersson]

There is the "Undo transition" plugin which proved very useful to us. It demands that the user who made the transition undo's it however. https://marketplace.atlassian.com/plugins/nl.avisi.jira.plugins.undo-transition-plugin/server/overview

[Tanya B.]

This plugin is wonderful.  It has been a lifesaver for not having to configure tons of back transitions.  It does have restrictions that can be configured and all undo activity is tracked as though you had configured a transition for the activity.

[Raphael Henrique Fernandes Lopes]

Hey guys, i found another soluction.

[Todor Katsarov (Sofmobile)]

Hello Everyone, 

Sofmobile just released a plugin aimed to solve the issues discussed on this thread. Find it on the market - https://marketplace.atlassian.com/apps/1223312/sofmobile-teleport-for-jira

Documentation and how-to - https://docs.sofmbl.com/display/ST/Sofmobile+Teleport+for+Jira

Regards,

Todor

[Nancy_Bessette]

question - until recently when anyone on team click done by mistake i could put it back in last status. Now it does not seem to be available. Did anything change recently?

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

Either the transitions that allowed you to go back have been removed from the workflow, or you had the app mentioned above and it's been uninstalled (or de-licenced)

[yaniv.shoshani]

You can use the "Action Undo for Jira" plugin that will also help to undo many other functions than just transitions. 

[Manoj]

Thanks.

[raphilevine]

I have a complex workflow, which allows many of the states to transition to a Needs More Info state.  instead of creating a transition from Needs Info back to all the incoming states and relying on the user to determine what state to put the issue in, I would like, once the info is provided the user can select back to previous state.

Are there any plugins or trigger.... that would allow this?

[Jeroen Eenink]

You can use the Jira Misc Workflow extensions for that.

It is however not possible this way to only have one transition, as you can only reuse a transition when it goes to the same status. If the destination status is different you will need to use a different transition name. But you can work around that my adding blank spaces at the end of the name of the transition. Like: "Provide Info", "Provide Info ", "Provide Info  ", etc.

The way JMWE can do this is by adding the Previous Status Condition to the transition. That way the issue will only show the "Provide Info" transition that goes to the status it had before you transitioned to Needs Info, instead of all possible "Provide Info" transitions.

Important tip: While adding this condition you can select the previous status, but also make sure that you select the options "Most recent status only" and "Ignore Auto-transitions (loops)". That last one is especially important if you can transition from "Needs Info" to "Needs Info", because if you don't add that you will end up in a situation where you can't move away from the "Needs Info" anymore.

[Filip Jagura]

Actually there is an option. It`s called condition. If you want to let user return only to the previous status then set the Condition that allows to do it only when the 'Previous status' is equal to the status you are trying to move to. It`s important to choose "Only the most recent" option

[Todor Katsarov (Sofmobile)]

Try Teleport for Jira. You can return to state it came from in "From all" transitions. Or jump to any state without need of having transition to this state. 

[Paz]

Methuku,

If there is no option to go back on the issue then the workflow was configured to not allow you to backwards in the process. 

Contact one of your JIRA administrators and explain your problem, there are a number of solutions they could try to unblock you.

Comment back if you'd like specific help changing the workflow to allow you to go back.

Good luck. 

[Manoj]

Could you help me with some specific help about this, how to change the workflow status please? I have candidate tracking system, wherein by mistake i have change the status from resigned to active.

Pls suggest.

Thanks

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

You need to look at the workflow and check that it has transitions that allow you to go "back".  If it does not, or you cannot see these transitions, talk to your administrators - they need to add the transitions for you and/or check the conditions to ensure you can use them.

[Manoj]

Hello Nic, 

Thank you for your response, i have spoken to Admin for the necessary access.

Thanks, M