How to disable Jira Issue Key being converted to Issue Link when used in comments/descriptions
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 users try to add a text in the comments or in text fields in the format of an issue key e.g. IT-1, these texts automatically get converted to issue hyperlinks of the issue which has the key IT-1. In some use-cases, end users would like to stop this automatic conversions. End users would like to keep the issue key text IT-1 as text itself, rather than a link to the issue key.
Environment
Jira v8.x, 9.x and 10.x versions.
Solution
This automatic conversion is because of the wiki style rendering feature of issues 'jiraissuelinkrenderer' which is a core module and feature of Jira applications. This feature comes from one of the core modules of the system plugin 'Renderer Component Factories Plugin'. To prevent the Jira application from converting issue keys into issue links in text fields, we need to disable this module. The modules within this system plugin cannot be modified/disabled from GUI and hence we need to rely on database approach to disable this type of module.
As a best practice, we suggest taking the backups of the specific tables or entire database in general before making any changes.
Atlassian generally won't recommend direct database manipulations and supporting such changes is something outside of our support scope as per Atlassian Support Offerings and this solution is offered based on a best effort basis.
Here are the steps we need to follow to disable the module 'jiraissuelinkrenderer' from the system plugin 'Renderer Component Factories Plugin':
Run below query against Jira Database and ensure that one record is successfully inserted. ⚠️ This change is applicable to whole instance and hence need to be exercised with caution.
INSERT INTO pluginstate VALUES ('com.atlassian.jira.plugin.wiki.renderercomponentfactories:jiraissuelinkrenderer',false);Once the change is in place, it requires application restart for changes to be effective. Hence plan to make the changes during a maintenance window to ensure end users are not affected.
Validate by typing the issue keys (e.g IT-1) in the text fields and comments of the issues, they will remain as normal text and will not be converted to hyperlinks.
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