How to create and use labels in JIRA Cloud

Summary

This article addresses the process of creating labels in Jira and provides best practices for label management.

Solution

Steps to create a label

1. Open a work item: Navigate to the specific Jira work item you want to label.

2. Find the Labels field: Locate the Labels field, which is usually on the right side of the work item details.

3. Type a new label: Start typing the name of the new label. Jira will show a list of existing labels as you type.

4. Create the label: Press Enter or select your new label from the dropdown list to add it to the issue.

5. Add more labels: You can repeat this process to add multiple labels to the same work item.

6. Save changes: Ensure any changes are saved. Usually, clicking Enter automatically saves the label; you would need to tab out or left-click your mouse anywhere outside the field to ensure the label is saved/created. 

Important Notes

1. Multi-word labels: Since labels cannot contain spaces, use hyphens or underscores for multi-word labels.

2. Consistency: Jira suggests existing labels as you type, which helps you stay consistent with your team's labeling practices.

3. Labels are global: Labels created in one company-managed project are visible in other company-managed projects, provided the Labels field is enabled in the field configuration.

4. Label creation timing: Labels must be created on work items. It can take up to a minute for a label to be saved and available in the database.

5. Propagation delay: It may take upto 15–20 minutes for a newly created label to appear on other work items. The creator sees it immediately, but others see a delay. Also other users would need to refresh their browser or open the work item in a new tab to see the newly created labels. A feature request JRACLOUD-96889 has been created to improve this behavior and make labels available to other users more quickly.

6. Label deletion: If a label exists on only one work item and is removed from that item, the label is deleted and becomes unavailable to others.

Related Links

• Delete a label in Jira | Jira and Jira Service Management

• Edit and rename labels in Jira Cloud | Jira and Jira Service Management

Feature Requests

Consider voting and watching these feature requests to stay updated:

• JRACLOUD-73090: Please implement a label administration page in Jira.

• JRACLOUD-33672: Improve the way Labels can be deleted in JIRA

• JRACLOUD-96889: Make labels available to other users after creation without (too much) delay