Link work items

Use linked work items to connect work across teams and projects in Jira. Linked work items help your team surface, understand, and manage dependencies and related work. You can link work items across different project types in Jira to streamline collaboration and increase visibility between software and non-technical business teams.

Work items can have the following link types:

• is blocked by

• blocks

• is cloned by

• clones

• is duplicated by

• duplicates

• added to idea

• is idea for

• is implemented by

• implements

• merged into

• merged from

• is reviewed by

• reviews

• is caused by

• causes

• relates to

Work item link types can be configured by Jira admins. If an admin deletes a link type, it won’t be available to use. Read how admins can configure linked work items

Show linked work items on the board

Linked work items appear in the detail view by default. You can also choose to show linked issues on the board via view settings. Once enabled, issue links will be visible on the relevant issues' cards.

To show linked work items on the board:

1. Select View settings in the top right of the board view (Active sprints or Board in the project navigation).

2. Select the toggle to switch on Linked work items.

Note that view settings are applied per user. You’ll be switching them on for your board, and not anyone else’s.

Link work items

To link a work item directly on the board:

1. Right-click on a work item or hover to select more actions (•••).

2. Select Link work item.

3. Select a link type, then select the work items you want to link. If you want to link a work item that hasn’t been created yet, select Create linked work item.

4. Select Link.

Work items can also be linked through the work item detail view by selecting the Add quick-add button under the work item’s summary and then Linked work item.

View linked work items

On a work item, select the linked issues icon to view linked iwork items on the board. You’ll see the link type, work item key, summary, and status for each linked work item.

Unlink work items

To remove the link between work items:

1. On the board, select the linked work items icon on a work item’s card to view its linked work items.

2. Hover over the work item you’d like to unlink, then select the Unlink icon that appears.

3. In the modal that follows, select Unlink to finalize.

You can re-link any work item again if you need to.