Manage epics in team-managed spaces
This page is for team-managed spaces
To check whether your space is team-managed or company-managed, select More actions (•••) next to the space name in either the header or the sidebar. At the bottom of the menu that opens, your space details will be shown.
If you're in a company-managed space, check out these company-managed space articles instead.
More about the difference between company-managed and team-managed space.
You can use work types in Jira to track a group of work items that all relate to the same, larger body of work. In software spaces, the default name for this work type is “epic” but you can change the name.
An epic is typically completed over several sprints, or a longer time frame if you don't use sprints. To learn more about epics and how they differ from other work types, check out our guide on epics, stories, themes, and initiatives.
This page explains how to manage epics outside of your timeline. However, we do recommend using your timeline to manage your team's epics. Read our timeline documentation to learn more.
By default, this work type will be called epic in software spaces. However, you can create your own work types and rename them.
Create an epic
Outside of your timeline, there are two ways to create an epic.
Via the backlog
You can create an epic (or whatever work type you’ve set up for tracking larger pieces of work) in your space’s backlog, if you’ve enabled the backlog feature. Find out about the backlog.
From your space navigation, select Backlog.
On the Backlog, select the Epic filter and enable the Epic panel toggle.
Select + Create Epic.
Via the global menu
From any space, select Create in the top navigation.
Under Work Type, select your work type for tracking larger pieces of work.
Enter the details and select Create.
If you don’t see a particular work type, your space admin may need to add this work type to your project. More about adding suggested work types to team-managed spaces.
View and edit an epic
Outside of your timeline, there are two ways to view and edit an epic.
Via the backlog
From your space navigation, select Backlog.
On the Backlog, select View settings () and then select the toggle to show the work type your space uses for larger pieces of work (by default, it’s called Epic panel).
In the panel, select the work types you want to view/edit. Their details will appear to the right of the panel. Expand a work type in the panel to view and edit more details.
Via global search
Select the search field in the top navigation. If your epic doesn't appear in your list of Recent work items, select View all work items.
Use the Type filter to select the work type your space uses for tracking larger pieces of work.
Add a work item to an epic
Outside of your timeline, there are two ways to add work items to an epic.
Via the backlog
From your space navigation, select Backlog.
On the Backlog, select View settings () and then select the toggle to show the work type your space uses for larger pieces of work (by default, it’s called Epic panel).
Drag-and-drop work items from the backlog to the epic panel. Hold Ctrl (Windows) or Command (Mac) to select multiple work items at a time.
Tip
Select multiple work items at the same time by holding Ctrl (Windows) or Command (Mac).
Via a work item
From your board or backlog, hover over a work item and select More actions (•••).
Select Add parent (to assign the work item to an existing epic) or Change parent (to change the work item’s epic). You can only assign one parent to a work item.
Work items in a company-managed space can only be added to parent work items in the same (or another) company-managed space. The same applies to work items in team-managed spaces. Manage and administer team-managed spaces
Remove a work item from an epic
To remove a work item from its parent:
Navigate to your board or backlog, or open a work item.
Hover over the work item and select More actions (•••).
Select Change parent.
In the dropdown menu, select Remove.
Removing a work item from its parent doesn't delete the work item from your space. The work item still exists, but it's no longer associated with the parent work item.
Learn more
To find out about using the timeline to manage larger pieces of work, check out Manage epics on the timeline.
To find out more about configuring your work types, including epics, check out our team-managed spaces documentation.
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