Get started with Jira
New to Jira? Check out our guides for new administrators and users.
Edit project details
To check which type of project you’re using, look at the bottom left of your project’s sidebar to see whether you’re in a company-managed project or a team-managed project. Learn more about knowing whether your project is team-managed or company-managed.
What you can edit in both team-managed and company-managed projects
As a project admin, you can edit your project's:
Name (which appears when people in your Jira site search, browse directories, or use the project switcher)
Avatar or icon (which helps teams across your Jira site visually identify your project)
Project lead (who is usually the project administrator for your team-managed project)
Default assignee (which is a role to which all issues created in the project are assigned).
Project key (which is typically the shorthand version of the project's name)
Category (which helps larger organizations label and filter similar projects in directories)
What else you can edit in company-managed projects
As a project admin, you can edit your project's:
URL
Description
If you change the name of your project, the new name will automatically update in any filters on your Jira site.
Change your avatar for your company-managed project
Avatars help give a face to your project's name. They appear in the project sidebar and in your site's list of all projects.
To change your project's avatar:
Select Project settings, then Details.
In the Avatar field, select your current avatar.
Choose from a default icon or upload your own.
Select Save.
Change your icon for your team-managed project
Project icons help give a face to your project's name. They appear in the project sidebar and in your site's list of all projects.
To change your project's icon:
Select Project settings, then Details.
Under the current icon, select Change icon.
Choose from a default icon or upload your own.
Select Save.
Change the project lead
These are steps for changing the project lead for both team-managed and company-managed projects.
A project's lead is usually the project administrator, who controls and manages a project's settings.
You may want to change the project lead as people move in and out of your team for a longer-term project.
To change your project's lead:
Select Project settings, then Details.
In the Project lead field, set a new person to lead the project.
Select Save.
Add or change your project's default assignee for your project
These are steps for adding or changing your project’s default assignee for both team-managed and company-managed projects.
When issues are created in your project, you can set a default assignee. This is useful for open projects where everyone on the site can report tasks to your project.
The default assignee is typically a team member who prioritizes or validates that reported issues are meant for their team and distributes these tasks to their team members accordingly. By default, they receive a notification when someone creates an issue in the project.
If you’re unable to change the default assignee, then check if you’ve enabled Allow unassigned issue under system Jira’s general configuration. Learn more about configuring Jira application settings.
To change your project's default assignee:
Select Project settings, then Details.
In the Default assignee field, nominate your project's default assignee.
Select Save.
Change your project key
Only organization, site and Jira admins can edit a project key.
Project keys provide a shorthand for the issues in your project. Together with an issue's sequential number, they form a unique identifier called an issue key.
Things to consider before changing a project key
Before making any significant changes, it’s a good idea to back up your Jira site to ensure important information isn’t lost.
You won't be able to create a new project with a project key that has been used previously and not yet been deleted. The previous project key will only become available if you delete it from the project it was previously associated with, or if that project is deleted.
If you change a project key, all issues associated with the project will be updated with the new project key.
If you use Confluence with Jira, the Jira issue macros in Confluence will continue to work. If you don't see the change straight away, allow some time for the cache to refresh.
Links containing the old project key will continue to work; however, link aliases within descriptions will not be updated with the new project key.
For example, if you have a link to an issue 'EXAMPLE-1' in the description of an issue, and you change the project key from 'EXAMPLE' to 'DEMO', the alias 'EXAMPLE-1' will not be updated to 'DEMO-1'. But the link will still direct you to DEMO-1.
After you change a project key, we recommend communicating the change to your users. You will need to update any links, filters, and queries with the new project key.
Change your project key
To change your project key:
Select Project settings, then Details.
In the Project key field, enter your desired project key. It must:
be at least two characters long
start with an uppercase letter
and, contain only uppercase letters or numbers
Select Save.
Delete a previous project key
Only organization, site and Jira admins can delete a project key.
Whenever you change your project key, we automatically save your previous project keys. This ensures any links, filters, and queries using your previous key continue working.
In some cases, you may need to delete a previous project key from its associated project so you can use it for a new project. Deleting a previous project key can impact anything that is still using that project key, including:
links
board filters
dashboard filter gadgets
JQL queries
We recommend letting users know before you delete your previous project key so that they can update any links, filters or queries using the previous project key.
Delete a previous project key
To delete a previous project key:
Select Project settings, then Details.
In the Previous project keys field, delete the relevant project key.
Select Save.
Assign or change your project's category
To change your company-managed project's category, you’ll need to contact a Jira administrator.
Project categories help group similar software, service, and business projects across your Jira site. They can be used in advanced search, filters, reports, and more. Your Jira admin creates and manages the categories that are available. Learn more about adding and deleting project categories.
To assign or change your project's category:
Select Project settings, then Details.
Under Category, use the dropdown to assign your project a category.
Select Save.
Link to more details with a project URL for your company-managed project
Project URLs are only available in company-managed projects.
You can link team members and viewers to an external site by adding a project URL. The project URL is displayed on the Summary page of your projects and in the Projects directory of your site.
Most teams supply an address to documentation about the project, roadmaps, or other important content outside of their Jira site. If you use Confluence to collaborate, we recommend adding a link to your team's space.
To change your project's URL:
Select Project settings, then Details.
In the URL field, enter your link.
Select Save.
Was this helpful?
Still need help?
The Atlassian Community is here for you.