Jira is getting a fresh new look and navigation

We’re in the process of rolling out these changes and the documentation may not match your experience. Bear with us while we update it to reflect the new changes. More about navigating the new Jira

Manage epics in team-managed projects

This page is for team-managed projects

To check whether your project is team-managed or company-managed, select More actions (•••) next to the project name in either the header or the sidebar. At the bottom of the menu that opens, you’ll be able to view whether your project is team-managed or company-managed.

If you're in a company-managed project, check out these company-managed project articles instead.

More about the difference between company-managed and team-managed projects.

Epics are used to describe a group of work items that all relate to the same, larger body of work. Epics are 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, the epic work type will be Epic, but will be different if you have created your own epic work type.

If you don’t see the Epic work type, your project admin may need to add this work type to your project. Learn more about adding suggested work types to team-managed projects.

Create epics  

Outside of your timeline, there are two ways to create epics:

Via the Backlog

You can create epics in your project’s backlog, if you’ve enabled the backlog feature. Learn more about the backlog.

  1. From your project’s sidebar, select Backlog.

  2. On the Backlog, select the Epic filter and enable the Epic panel toggle.

  3. Select + Create Epic.

Via the global menu

  1. From any project, click Create in the navigation bar.

  2. Under Work Type, select your epic work type. Enter details and click Create.

If you don’t see the Epic work type, your project admin may need to add this work type to your project. Learn more about adding suggested work types to team-managed projects.

View and edit epics

Outside of your timeline, there are two ways to view and edit your epics:

Via the Backlog

  1. From your project’s sidebar, select Backlog.

  2. On the Backlog, select the Epic filter and enable the Epic panel toggle.

  3. Select the Epics you want to view/edit. Their details will appear to the right of the Epic panel. Click an Epic's chevron (>) in the panel to view and edit more details.

Via global search

  1. Click the search field in the navigation bar. If your epic doesn't appear in your list of Recent work items, select View all work items.

  2. Use the filters to find and edit your epic.

Add work items to epics

Outside of your timeline, there are two ways to add work items to epics:

Via the backlog

  1. From your project’s sidebar, select Backlog.

  2. Click the Epic dropdown filter > Click the Epic panel switch.

  3. Drag-and-drop work items from the backlog to epics in the epic panel. Hold Ctrl (Windows) or Command (Mac) to select multiple work items at a time.

Tips

  • Select multiple work items at the same time by holding Ctrl (Windows) or Command (Mac).

  • Use the Epic filter to create new work items assigned to a specified epic. To do this, select an epic and click + Create.

Via a work item

  1. From your board or backlog, hover over a work item and select more (•••). 

  2. Click Add parent (to assign the work item to an existing epic) or Change parent (to change the work item’s epic). Work items can only belong to one epic at a time.

Company-managed project work items can only be added to company-managed project epics, and team-managed project work items can only be added to team-managed project epics.

Remove work items from epics

To remove a work item from its parent epic:

  1. Navigate to your board or backlog, or open a work item.

  2. Hover over the work item and select more (•••). 

  3. Select Change parent

  4. In the dropdown menu, select Remove.

Removing a work item from its parent doesn't delete the work item from your project. The work item still exists, but it's no longer associated with the parent work item.

Learn more

 

Still need help?

The Atlassian Community is here for you.