How to add a default value to the Description field in Jira
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
Showing a pre-entered text in the Description field in Jira has been available since Jira 8.16 (release notes) through:
This how-to provides a workaround for previous versions. It works for the three operations: issue creation, issue edition, and inline edition (editing from the view screen).
Note this solution is different than setting a placeholder text, which is somewhat grayed out and gets substituted by what the user types in.
Environment
All versions of Jira from 4.x up to 8.x.
Solution
The solution consists of editing a .vm file and restarting Jira. Note this change will be overwritten at every Jira upgrade, so keep record of this to reapply the changes as needed.
Locate and backup the file: WEB-INF/classes/templates/jira/issue/field/description-edit.vm
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18#disable_html_escaping() #customControlHeader ($action $field.id $i18n.getText($field.nameKey) $fieldLayoutItem.required $displayParameters $auiparams) ## setup some additional parameters $!rendererParams.put("class", "long-field") $!rendererParams.put("rows", "12") $!rendererParams.put("wrap", "virtual") #if ($mentionable) $!rendererParams.put("mentionable", true) #if ($issue.project.key && $issue.project.key != "") $!rendererParams.put("data-projectkey", "$!issue.project.key") #end #if ($issue.key && $issue.key != "") $!rendererParams.put("data-issuekey", "$!issue.key") #end #end ## let the renderer display the edit component $rendererDescriptor.getEditVM($!description, $!issue.key, $!fieldLayoutItem.rendererType, $!field.id, $field.name, $rendererParams, false) #customControlFooter ($action $field.id $fieldLayoutItem.getFieldDescription() $displayParameters $auiparams)Edit it and add this code right before the "let the renderer display the edit component" line:
1 2 3#if(!$description || $description == '') #set ($description = 'Put stuff here: ...\\Use double backslashes for braking lines: ...\\ \\ And a pair of them for skipping a line: ... \\ \\ \\ And so on: ...') #endChange the 'Put stuff here: ...' by the default text you want to display.
Save the file and restart Jira
The description should look like this, if the example text above is used:
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Put stuff here: ...
Use double backslashes for braking lines: ...
And a pair of them for skipping a line: ...
And so on: ...Was this helpful?