Edit a project's details

As an admin, you can edit your project's:

• Name — appears when people in your Jira site search, browse directories, or use the project switcher

• Project key — typically the shorthand version of the project's name

• URL

• Description

• Category — helps larger organizations label and filter similar projects in directories

• Avatar — helps teams across your Jira site visually identify your project

• Project lead — usually the project’s administrator

• Default assignee — a role to which all work items created in the project are assigned

• Project background

• Card covers

To edit a project's details:

1. Open the project you want to change.

2. From your project's sidebar, select Project settings, then Details.

3. Edit the relevant details and select Save details.

Change a project's key

Project keys provide a shorthand for the work items in your project. Together with a work item’s sequential number, they form a unique identifier called a work item key. More about work item keys

To change your project key:

1. Next to your project’s name in the sidebar, select More actions (•••), then Project settings.

2. Select Details.

3. In the Project key field, enter your desired project key. It must:

   • be at least two characters long

   • start with an uppercase letter

   • contain only uppercase letters or numbers

4. Select Save.

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 the old project key. The old project key will only be available if you delete the project it was previously associated with.

• If you use Confluence with Jira, the Jira work item 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, since link aliases won’t be updated with the new key.

  • For example, if you have a link to a work item EXAMPLE-1 in the description of a work item, and you change the project key EXAMPLE to DEMO, then the alias EXAMPLE-1 won't be updated to DEMO-1. The link will still direct you to DEMO-1.

• After you change a key, we recommend communicating the change to your users. You’ll need to update board filters, dashboard filter gadgets, and any other global queries with the new key.

Delete a previous project key

Whenever you change your project key, we automatically save your previous project keys. This ensures that 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

To delete a previous project key:

1. Next to your project’s name in the sidebar, select More actions (•••), then Project settings.

2. Select Details.

3. In the Previous project keys field, delete the relevant project key.

4. Select Save.

Link to more project details with a project URL

You can link team members and viewers to an external site by adding a project URL. The project URL displays 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:

1. Next to your project’s name in the sidebar, select More actions (•••), then Project settings.

2. Select Details.

3. In the URL field, enter your link.

4. Select Save details.

Add a project description

Administrators can view the description in the Summary section of your project's settings.

To add or edit your project's description:

1. Next to your project’s name in the sidebar, select More actions (•••), then Project settings.

2. Select Details.

3. In the Description field, enter a summary of important details about the project.

4. Select Save details.

Edit a project's category

Your Jira admin may add project categories to help manage projects across your Jira site.

If you’re using a company-managed project, contact a Jira admin to assign your project to one of those categories.

If you’re using a team-managed project, here’s how to assign or change your project's category:

1. Next to your project’s name in the sidebar, select More actions (•••), then Project settings.

2. Select Details.

3. Under Category, use the dropdown to assign your project a category.

4. Select Save.

Change your project's type

You can't directly change your project's type, but you can create a new project of a different type and move all of the work items into it.

For example, you can create a software project and move all of the work items over from a business project to get finer control over your project's workflow, board settings, and more.

Using a different project type means changing the way your users work in that project.

Change your project's avatar

Avatars help give a face to your project's name. They appear in the project sidebar and in your site's list of projects.

To change your project's avatar:

1. Next to the relevant project in your sidebar, select More actions (•••), then Project settings.

2. Select Details.

3. Under your project’s current avatar, select Change icon.

4. Choose from a default icon or upload your own, then use Select to save your choice.

Change the project lead

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.

To change your project's lead:

1. Next to the relevant project in your sidebar, select More actions (•••), then Project settings.

2. Select Details.

3. In the Project lead field, select the person who’ll lead the project.

4. Select Save.

Add or change your project's default assignee

When work items 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 work items are meant for their team and distributes these tasks to their team members accordingly. By default, they receive a notification when someone creates a work item in the project.

To change your project's default assignee:

1. Next to the relevant project in your sidebar, select More actions (•••), then Project settings.

2. Select Details.

3. In the Default assignee field, select the relevant person.

4. Select Save.

Note that the default assignee can only be either Unassigned, or the Project lead. If you want a specific person to be the default assignee, you'll need to change the Project lead (described above).