Configure work item linking
As a Jira administrator, you can activate work item linking to let your team create links between relevant work across all Jira applications on your site. Note that all users must have the Link Work Items permission before they can link work items.
Add, edit, and delete a link type
We don't recommend editing or deleting clone link types, as they are used to automatically link cloned work items.
Navigate to the Jira admin panel using the icon in the upper right and select Work items.
In the left hand sidebar, select Work item linking under Work item features.
Make sure that work item linking is set to ON. If it's not, select Activate to enable it.
Once activated, you can edit the Name, Outward description, and Inward description of an existing work item link by selecting Edit from the right column. Use Update to save your changes.
To add a new link, define the name of your new work item link and the descriptions using the fields under the Add New Link Type header. Use Add to save it.
When you delete a link type, you'll have the option of changing the link (for example, from "Relates" to "Duplicates") or removing all related links.
Link types and JQL search
Jira work item link types have the following properties:
Name: The title for the link type
Outward description: The description of how a work item affects other work items
Inward description: The description of how a work item is affected by other work items
For example, a link type could have the following properties:
Name: Problem/Incident
Outward description: causes
Inward description: is caused by
When searching workitemLinkType, Jira searches all three properties. This can mean you're unable to isolate work items with a specific inward or outward description if the link type's name and either of the descriptions are the same. This is the case for the default "Blocks" link type, where the name and outward description are "blocks".
If you need to be able to search specifically for work items with an outward description of "blocks", for example, you would need to change the name of the link type to something else. Be aware, this may change the work items returned for existing JQL queries.
To search specifically for work items with the "blocks" outward description:
Find the Blocks link type and choose Edit
Change the name to something else (Blocking, for example)
Choose Update
Deactivate work item linking
Select > Work items.
Click Work Item Linking.
A status message indicates whether work item linking is enabled. If it is enabled, click the Deactivate button. The Work Item Linking page reloads, stating that linking is disabled.
Linking closed work items
Closed work items won’t appear in the search drop down. Use the exact work item key to link a closed work item to an open one.
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