How to Create Powerful Checklists ✅ in Jira (2025 Guide)

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Checklists are having their moment. In 2025, they’re no longer just simple to-do lists — they’re the backbone of repeatable, transparent work across teams. Especially inside Jira.

From product launches to QA flows, onboarding, incident response, and sprint planning — everything starts with a good checklist. But here’s the thing: Jira’s native options are limited. And creating subtasks for every step? Exhausting.

That’s why we built Tick — a next-gen checklist plugin that lives inside your Jira issues and turns every task into a clear, trackable, collaborative flow.

In this guide, you’ll learn:

• Why checklists matter more than ever in 2025
• How to take your workflows to the next level with Tick:
  ✅ Assignable checklist items
  ✅ Descriptions, due dates, mentions
  ✅ Templates, tabbed views, interactive client mode
  ✅ And more…

Whether you’re a Jira Admin, Project Manager, or someone tired of work slipping through the cracks — this article will show you how to build powerful, scalable checklists that actually make your life easier.

Let’s dive in 👇

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Why Checklists Matter More Than Ever in 2025

In 2025, teams are managing more tools, more workflows, and more complexity than ever before. But one thing hasn’t changed: clarity wins.

That’s where checklists come in.

They break chaos into clear steps. Even the most complex project becomes manageable when it’s broken down into actionable items. A checklist forces clarity — step-by-step, line-by-line.

They show who’s doing what — and when. Unlike a general task description, a checklist can assign ownership at the micro level. Every sub-action can have its own assignee, due date, and context — no ambiguity, no guessing.

They prevent scope drift. Checklists act as a real-time scope lock. You can see exactly what’s been done and what’s left — without jumping between Jira issues, boards, or Confluence pages.

They make knowledge repeatable. Whether you’re onboarding a new teammate, releasing a new feature, or running a security audit — checklists codify process. Once created, they can be reused again and again.

Checklists are the fastest way to add structure, ownership, and clarity — without adding extra overhead. And in 2025, that’s not a “nice to have.” That’s a competitive advantage.

💬 How do you use checklists in your Jira setup today?

Are they part of your team’s daily workflow — or something that often gets overlooked? We’d love to hear your take — share your thoughts in the comments below.

As far as we know, Jira does not offer a native checklist feature. This makes it difficult for teams to break down large issues into clear, trackable steps without cluttering their backlog with subtasks or relying on messy workarounds like bullet lists or comments.

To overcome this limitation, many teams turn to third-party apps from the Atlassian Marketplace — and Tick is one of the top choices. It brings the structure of real checklists directly into Jira issues, helping teams manage micro-tasks, track ownership, and stay aligned — all without leaving the issue view.

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How to Create a Checklist in Jira with Tick (Step-by-Step)

Tick is a lightweight, yet powerful Jira Cloud app that adds rich checklists inside every Jira issue. Tick empowers your team to build clear, trackable, and reusable process checklists — all inside Jira. Let’s see how to build one.

1. Install Tick from the Atlassian Marketplace. Head to Tick on the Marketplace and install the app. Once installed, every issue will show the Tick panel.

Image 1 — Tick in Your Jira

2. Add Checklist Items. Type into the “Add Task Title” field. Hit Enter to add the next item.

Image 2 — Adding Task Title 

Pro tip: Paste a full list from Notion, Excel, or Docs — Tick splits it automatically.

Image 2.1 — Pasting a full list into Tick 

Built-in Features That Come Standard in Every Checklist

Before we even talk about advanced features — let’s talk foundation.

These core tools are not “nice-to-haves.” They’re essential. Without them, your checklist is just a static note. With them — it becomes a living, collaborative workflow inside Jira.

These come built-in with every checklist in Tick:

• @Mentions: Tag teammates, issues, or specific dates right inside any task
• Due Dates: Add deadlines for every item — and track them visually
• Emojis, Bullets, Rich Text: Format content for clarity and context
• Drag & Drop: Reorder checklist items in seconds
• Statuses: Mark tasks as In Progress, Blocked, Done, etc. — directly from the checklist
• Filters & Local Search: Instantly find tasks, even in long checklists
• Mobile-Ready: Fully functional on any screen size

This is your checklist foundation. The basics that ensure clarity, accountability, and structure. But if you want to take it even further — let’s unlock what Tick can really do 👇

3. Assign Responsibility. Every checklist item can be assigned to a teammate via the built-in user picker. You can do it in 2 clicks — no need to leave the checklist.

Image 3 — Unassigned Task State

This is how a checklist item looks before an assignee is selected. You’ll see a small user icon next to the checkbox — click it to open the user picker and assign the task.

Image 3.1 — Assigned Task State

And once assigned:

• The assignee gets a clear visual tag in the checklist
• The task becomes filterable, reportable, and trackable

Why it matters:

Mentions are not ownership.

Too often, teams rely on comments or tags to communicate responsibility — but that leads to confusion:

— “Was this my task or just a heads-up?”

— “I saw my name, but didn’t know I was responsible.”

— “We missed the deadline — I thought someone else was on it.”

With Tick, you eliminate the ambiguity. Every task has a name next to it — visibly, clearly, and trackably. This boosts accountability, avoids duplicated work, and ensures nothing falls through the cracks.

Pro tip: You can also filter checklist progress by assignee — perfect for standups, retros, or when reviewing work allocation across the team.

4. Add Task Descriptions. Open an item and add a rich-text description (bullets, links, formatting).

Image 4 — Adding Description To The Task 

You can include step-by-step instructions, links to documents, or even embed quick how-tos for teammates. A full editor appears once you expand the checklist item. No need to switch to the Jira issue view.

Image 4.1 — Show & Hide Description

Once the note is added, you can hide it to keep your checklist clean — and show when needed.

5. Organize Your Checklists Like Browser Tabs — with Tick Tabs. Working with multiple processes in one issue? With Tick Tabs, you can split checklists into separate tabs — just like browser tabs. It’s perfect for Jira Admins managing multi-phase setups or cross-functional workflows.

Image 5 — List of the Checklists, before Tabs View 

Image 5.1 — Checklists in Tabs View 

No more endless scroll. Just switch between task lists like browser tabs. 

• Add, rename, remove tabs instantly
• See % done on each tab
• Turn tab view on/off anytime

No more endless scrolling. Switch between task lists like browser tabs.

Everyone gets the view that works best for them.

6. Enable Interactive Mode for Clients in the Jira Service Management [JSM] Portal.

Make Jira Service Management checklists truly collaborative — directly in the portal.

Before, clients could only view the checklist in the JSM portal. Now, with Interactive Mode enabled, they can actively participate — saving your team time and communication overhead.

How to Enable It:

1. Open the checklist in the JSM issue
2. Click the three-dot menu in the top right
3. Select “Enable Interact”

Image 6 — Enabling Interaction Mode

Users can activate Interactive Mode directly from the checklist settings. You stay in full control of when (and where) clients can collaborate.

Image 6.1 — End users can now interact with checklists in the portal

Once enabled, clients can start checking off tasks they’ve completed — or even add new items. Everything happens right in the JSM portal, making collaboration seamless and immediate.

Need to pause client collaboration? You can turn off Interactive Mode with a single click from the same menu.

Image 6.2 — Disable Interactive Mode at any time

When Interactive Mode is turned off, the checklist becomes view-only again for end users. Clients can still see the progress — but can no longer make edits or updates.

Image 6.3 — Back to read-only for clients

All interactions happen directly in the portal — no extra setup for the client.

And don’t worry:
✔️ All actions are permission-based
✔️ You decide what they see and what they can do
✔️ You can enable or disable the feature per issue

7. Apply Ready-to-Use Templates. Every user gets access to 9 built-in checklist templates by default. These templates cover common Jira workflows and can be used right away — no setup needed.

But that’s not all.

You can also explore our Template Library to find ready-to-use checklists tailored for different use cases — like onboarding, release planning, or workflow audits.

Just open the library, pick the one you like, and copy it into your issue in one click.

Tip: Templates are fully editable — feel free to customize them to fit your team’s exact process.

To apply a template to any Jira issue:

1. Open the issue with Tick enabled.
2. Click the three-dot menu (•••) in the top right corner of the checklist panel.

Image 7 — Applying Templates

1. Select Templates → Apply from the dropdown.

Image 7.1 — Choosing Necessary Template

1. Browse the available templates, preview tasklists, and insert with one click.

Image 7.2 — Applied Template 

All templates are fully editable — so once pasted into an issue, you can customize tasks, assignees, and due dates freely.

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Want to create a new template?

1. Click the three-dot menu (•••) in the top right corner of the checklist panel.
2. Select Templates → Manage from the dropdown.
3. Give your template a name, choose visibility (private / shared), and hit save.

Image 7.3 — Defining A New Template

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Final Thoughts

Checklists are more than just a productivity hack — they’re a foundation for scalable, error-free workflows. Whether you’re managing development sprints, HR onboarding, audits, or incident response — the right checklist setup keeps your team aligned, informed, and accountable.

With Tick, you don’t just use checklists — you supercharge them. From advanced features like task assignments and tabs to interactive client mode and reusable templates — Tick is the most flexible and powerful way to manage tasks inside Jira.

Want to try it?

You can install Tick for free from the Atlassian Marketplace.

Start with our 9 ready-to-go templates — or create your own from scratch.

💬 Let’s keep the conversation going. How are you using checklists in Jira today?

Got a use case we should build a template for? Drop a comment below — we’re always learning from the community.