Cannot delete issue type and unable to find issues still associated to the Issue Type being removed
Platform Notice: Data Center Only - This article only applies to Atlassian products on the Data Center platform.
Note that this KB was created for the Data Center version of the product. Data Center KBs for non-Data-Center-specific features may also work for Server versions of the product, however they have not been tested. Support for Server* products ended on February 15th 2024. If you are running a Server product, you can visit the Atlassian Server end of support announcement to review your migration options.
*Except Fisheye and Crucible
Summary
When attempting to delete an Issue Type, Jira will inform you about how many issues are still utilizing that particular issue type.
This article provides solutions for when:
You can't delete an Working with issue type schemes because some issues are still using it.
You can't find at least some of the issues of an issue type you want to delete with the Advanced searching.
Environment
You're using Jira Server or Data Center.
Cause
Jira doesn't allow for a particular issue type to be deleted, while there are issues still utilizing it.
If you can't find some of the issues reported by the "Delete Issue Type" page, it is possible that those were archived.
Even archived issues will prevent the proper removal of an Issue Type, and thus you may need to first restore them, then re-assign them to a new issue type, to only then, remove the Issue Type you need.
Diagnosis
Check if the missing issues are Archiving an issue:
Go to Administration > Issues.
In the left-side panel, under Browse and export, select Archived issues.
Use an issue type you want to delete as a filter to search for archived issues.
đź’ˇ Alternatively, you can search for issues in the database with the following query. Set your issue type in the last line:
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SELECT p.pname AS "Project Key",
ji.issuenum AS "Issue Number",
it.pname AS "Issue Type",
ji.archived AS "Archived"
FROM jiraissue ji
JOIN project p ON ji.project = p.id
JOIN issuetype it ON it.id = ji.issuetype
WHERE it.pname LIKE '%<issue_type>%';The query will find all issues that use the issue type you set.
ℹ️ If either of these methods returns issues that were archived while using this Issue Type, you can proceed with the solution below.
Solution
As mentioned above, Jira doesn't allow for Issue Types that are still being used to be deleted, thus, we'll need to re-assign those issues to a new type, which will also require any archived issues to be restored.
Begin by restoring the archived issues for a given Issue Type.
ℹ️ If there are a lot of issues to be restored you may also use this REST API endpoint to facilitate the operation.
Now Bulk Edit the issues using the Issue Type you want to delete, changing their type into a new one.
After all issues have been moved to a new type, you can proceed to delete the issue type.
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