Restore deleted work items in Jira Cloud using local backup files
Platform Notice: Cloud Only - This article only applies to Atlassian apps on the cloud platform.
Summary
When a Jira work item is deleted, it is removed from the database and can no longer be accessed or viewed. Atlassian’s RDS backups can't restore individual work items, and recovery sources (backups, notifications, or Marketplace apps) must have existed before the deletion event.
Solution
Atlassian backups can't restore individual deleted work items. Recovery is only possible if you already have a pre-deletion export (XML/CSV) to import, or enough notification data to recreate the item manually.
Option A — you have a backup | Restore the XML backup, export the item, then import the CSV |
Option B — no backup | Reconstruct the item from email notifications (they contain field values) and re-create it manually. |
Restore deleted work from local backup files
At this time, it is only possible to restore accidentally deleted data in Jira Cloud if you have an existing backup file to import, as outlined in the Import Issues documentation.
Restore XML backup (from before the work item was deleted)
Export the work item
Instructions found here: Export search results to CSV
Import the CSV data
Instructions found here: Import data from CSV
Manually recreate the work item by piecing together notification information
If there is no exported backup file to use, you may be able to manually create the work item with the same information it had originally.
To find that information, you can review the notification scheme that is configured for the project. When work is created, deleted, or updated, a notification will be sent to the users added to the respective work items. By default, Jira sends Issue Created notifications to these users:
All Watchers
Current Assignee
Reporter
You may wish to consult with the users involved in this project to determine if they possess copies of the notifications in their inboxes. Please note that notification reconstruction necessitates that emails were sent and retained prior to their deletion. Please note that this will result in a different work item number.
You can also check for apps available in the marketplace to restore the deleted work items. This will not allow you to restore work that was deleted before add-ons were installed, but it can help in future instances.
We have an ongoing feature request to implement a recycle bin-like component, which would allow recovering deleted work items and various other Jira data that would work as a safety net for such incidents in the future:
Prevent recurrence
Restrict the Delete Issues permission and prefer a Closed/Canceled/Archive status over deletion.
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