When bulk changing issues to move them to a new issue type, how can I stop fields being removed?

[Maxine Freedman-Thompson]

When bulk changing a story to a new issue type with the same workflow and screen scheme, how can I stop certain fields from being removed, as shown below re Story Acceptance Criteria:

and below for Story Points

Many thanks.

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist- · Accepted solution]

Ok, that makes the answer easier!

Custom fields for company-managed projects are quite complex under the hood, but the important bit is that they have a "context".  

The context is where the data is stored and it can be done by project or issue type (or both).  The default context for a field though is "global", which means the field exists for all projects and issue types.

The reason I'm talking about context first is that it is about the data storage - if a field has context for your source and target projects, then moving an issue will not delete the data you have for the field.   You only lose field data when moving if a field does not exist in the target project.

This is what your screenshot is talking about when it says "removed <field>" - the fields it is listing do not exist in the target project.  

You should go to Admin -> Issues -> Custom fields, and look at the context of the fields that it says will be removed - you will find that they do not exist for the project/issue-type you are trying to move the issues to.  You'll want to edit the context, widening it to include the project/issue-type you are moving to.

The second part of this is about visibility of the field.  A field must have a context for the project and issue type you are looking at, but the context does not say anything about whether you can see the field.  You'll need to check the field configuration, screens, and layouts for the target project and issue-type, make sure that the fields are included and not hidden.  But that won't affect the data in the fields.

[Maxine Freedman-Thompson]

@Nic Brough -Adaptavist-  perfect! Thank you! 🙏

[Elizabeth Jones]

You would need to update the layout of the issue type in the project to which you are moving. So in your example, EXT-DQR would need to be updated to include those fields in the issue type layout. 

[Maxine Freedman-Thompson]

Hi @Elizabeth Jones 

Thanks for the info, but the layout for the issue does include the field that's going to be removed -

Am I missing something else?

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

Are the projects company-managed or team-managed?

[Maxine Freedman-Thompson]

Hi @Nic Brough -Adaptavist- they're company-managed.