Transition a work item
We’re currently updating how you transition work items with workflow screens your admin has mapped out
You may notice the following improvements:
Adding comments using the new ADF editor, and yes, that includes Atlassian Intelligence
Comments on service projects will default to internal visibility
Reference existing attachments when adding new comments
Search for specific values inside fields
Confirmation toast when a work item is transitioned successfully or fails
Modern look and feel and so much more!
For more information about these updates, read our community post.
Before you can transition work items to columns on a board, your Jira administrator or board administrator will have already mapped workflow statuses to your board's columns. To know more about configuring these mappings, see Configure columns.
You can only transition a work item if you have project permission to move that work item to the status in the Jira workflow to which the column is mapped. Jira will respect your workflow configuration, and will trigger all your workflow validations, conditions, functions, and notifications when you transition work items (see Workflows for more information). However, note that boards currently don't auto-assign work items to you.
Transition an open work item
Transitioning a work item can mean moving it to another status, or performing a "looped" transition where the transition allows you to perform an action but keep the work item in its current status. We refer to these looped transitions as work item actions.
To transition a work item to a new status:
Select the Status menu at the top of the work item.
Select the new status for the work item.
You can also see the work item workflow by selecting View workflow.
To perform a work item action (looped transition):
If you only have one action, select the name of the action at the top of the work item.
If you have more than one work item action:
Select Actions at the top of the work item.
Select the action to perform.
You can perform this action with your keyboard via Jira’s command palette. Use command + K (for Mac) or Ctrl + K (for Windows) to open the command palette while you’re in Jira. Read more about Jira’s command palette
You must log in as a user with the Administer Jira global permission to edit workflows. For more information, see Setting up work item workflows.
Transition linked work items and subtasks
If the work item you're working on has subtasks or linked work items, you can transition them without having to leave the work item you're viewing. Select the status of a linked work item or subtask and choose the relevant status or transition.
Transition a work item from the board
Select the Jira icon > Projects > then select the relevant project.
In the Active sprints (Scrum projects) or on the Kanban board (Kanban projects), transition a work item by dragging and dropping the work item from one column to another.
If a dialog box opens for your workflow transition status, complete all mandatory fields (indicated by a red asterisk) before submitting the form.
If the target column is associated with more than one status, when you hover the work item over that column, each possible status will appear as a separate section. Complete the transition to the appropriate status by dropping the work item onto the section of the column.
Transition a work item with subtasks in the Kanban backlog
To transition both the parent work item and its subtasks, drag and drop the parent work item while it's collapsed to the corresponding section.
To transition just the parent work item or a subtask, expand the parent work item first, then drag and drop only the parent work item or the sub-task to the corresponding section.
If all subtasks of a work item have been completed, you need to resolve the parent work item itself. When you move the last subtask to the Done column, Jira will prompt you to move the parent work item as well. If you resolved the subtasks in native Jira instead, a button will be displayed on the parent work item the next time you visit the Active sprints page.
Transition multiple work items
You can also transition multiple work items at the same time
Troubleshooting
There may be times when you try to transition a work item, but find that you’re unable to. For example:
You try to move a work item, but get the error “Unable to transition the work items to [status name]. Check if all transition conditions are met.” This is because Jira admins have the ability to set rules (conditions, validators, and post functions) around who can transition work into specific statuses, or under what circumstances this can be done.
A status is visible on the board, but not available for the work type you’re moving. For example, you could have a column called “QA” on the board, that is configured so that only Bugs can transition to it. Attempting to move a Story to this column would result in an error.
In most cases, we recommend contacting your Jira admin, and give them as much information as you can about what you were tying to do so they can investigate. Try to keep an eye on the bottom-left corner of the screen, which is where error flags usually pop up when trying to move work items - this can help your admin identify what’s going wrong.
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