Add statuses to a Jira workflow

Statuses are the “steps” of a team’s workflow. For example, a workflow of To do → In progress → Done would be three statuses. This page describes how to add a status to an existing workflow.

Add a status to a workflow

1. Go to Jira settings, then select Issues and then Workflows.

2. Find the workflow you want to edit. In the Actions column, select More […], then Edit.

3. Select Add status.

4. Search for the status you want to add - for example, Under Review.

   • Note: If the status you’re searching for doesn’t exist yet, you’ll be able to create it at this step too.

5. Select Add.

6. (Optional) Select Allow all statuses to transition to this one to allow users to transition work items from any status to the newly-added status. This gives your users more freedom when transitioning work items, but isn’t a good idea if you want work to move through a specific series of steps.

   • Example: Let’s say we’re configuring a workflow for a Marketing team, and we’ve created a status called Content Review. Selecting Allow all statuses to transition to this one will allow users to move work items from any status (e.g. To do, or Done) into Content Review.

   • Leaving this box unchecked will allow you to ensure work items can only transition from specific statuses into Content Review (for example, enforcing that work items can only move into Content Review from In Progress).

7. Select Publish draft to save the changes you made. This will ensure that all teams and projects using this workflow will be able to use the new status.

For Jira Service Management workflows, you also have the option of adding an approval step. Read more about workflow approvals in Jira Service Management

Next steps

If you didn’t select Allow all statuses to transition to this one above, you’ll need to add a transition to your new status. Work with issue workflows