Update an issue's details

You can store a huge amount of information in the fields on a Jira issue, in both in-built and custom fields (which you create yourself). Things like the assignee, labels, priority, and due date can all be important factors that decide when and how you move an issue forward and resolve it. These issue details also help you categorize and search for the issue later.

Update basic details

There's no trick to updating issue details - open an issue and select the field you'd like to update. There's also no need to save when you edit issue details, as whatever you enter is saved as soon as you click or tap away from a field (unless you select escape to discard a change).

Description and context fields

Issues in Jira have two main sections—the description fields section and the context fields section.

Description fields

These are multiline rich text fields that help you describe the issue in detail. You can add text, code, images, tables, and more to these fields. The description fields section usually appears in the left, larger section of the issue, or at the top in a single column layout. Fields like the built-in Description and Environment fields can appear in this section, along with other multiline custom fields you add to your issues.

Context fields

These fields add information that helps sort and categorize issues. They appear to the right of the issue, or below the description fields in a single column layout. Fields like Assignee, Reporter, Labels, and more appear in this section.

"Show more" and hide when empty

Some fields are more important than others, and you'll update some fields more often than others. You can configure the layout of your issues to make sure important fields are always visible while others are hidden until you need them. When configuring your issue's field layout, fields you put in the Hide when empty section won't appear on the issue until you add a value to them. To view and edit those fields when viewing an issue, select Show x more fields at the bottom-right of the issue.

1. Description fields: Since this section is the first place users look when they open an issue, your most important fields should be configured here.

2. Field tabs: If the issue layout's screen is configured with more than one tab, they'll show up here.

3. Context fields: Fields above the hide when empty line in configuration appear here in the Details group. Each user can pin their most important context fields into the Pinned fields group depending on what works for them.

4. More fields: Fields under hide when empty are placed in this group when they don't have a value. When they have a value, they'll appear in the Details group.

5. Configure issue layout: Select Configure to change the position and visibility of fields in the issue view.

Add or change the parent issue

To add a parent issue to your issue:

1. Open the child issue.

2. Select Add parent in the top-left corner. Depending on the issue types available in your project, this may appear differently, for example, Add epic.

3. Select a parent issue.

To change the parent issue of your issue:

1. Open the child issue.

2. Select the issue type icon in the top-left corner next to the issue key of the parent issue.

3. Select a new parent issue for your child issue.

In the timeline and list views, you can also change an issue’s parent by dragging and dropping it underneath a new parent issue.

Change the issue type

If you create an issue but realize later that it's the wrong type (a bug instead of a task, for example), choose the issue type symbol at the top-left of the issue and select a new issue type. You can use the same process to convert an issue to a subtask.

Log and track time

Jira comes with in-built time tracking, so you and your team can log the amount of time you spend working on an issue and use the information for reporting and planning.

To log time:

1. Choose More actions (•••) > Log work (or click on the time tracking field).

2. Enter the time spent, choose when the work was started, and optionally complete any other fields

3. Choose Save.

1. Time tracking panel: Shows the time logged so far, and time remaining. Click anywhere on the panel to log time.

Take a look at Logging time on issues for more info. If you and your team use time tracking regularly, you can configure the layout of your issues so that time tracking is always visible.

App content and field tabs in glances

Glances show content from apps from the Atlassian Marketplace that display information from external sources and add extra functionality. Field tabs also appear as glances along with other issue details.

What's a glance?

A glance is a panel that appears alongside the contextual information about an issue (on the right side when viewing an issue in the full-page view). When the glance is collapsed, like when you first open an issue, you get a glance at what's inside—a truncated list of fields or summary information from the app.

When you click the glance its content expands to cover the details section of the issue. In the case of field tabs, this lets you see and edit the values in the fields within the glance. For apps, you can interact with the app when it's expanded.

Here's an example of how field tabs appear:

1. Field tab name

2. Fields in the tab

And here's what the glance looks like when it's expanded:

Glances for apps appear above Show more in the issue details section. Glances for field tabs can be above or below the Show more link. If you're a project admin and would like to change the position of a field tab, open an issue and choose ••• > Configure. Take a look at Configure field layout in the issue view for more information on field layout in the issue view.

Categorize issues with labels

Labeling helps you categorize and search for issues. When viewing an issue, click on the Labels field in the issue details or press L and start typing to add a label. If there are existing labels, Jira will suggest them as you type.

You can click a label to see a list of all issues with that label.