How to clone a project in Jira: answering your most common questions

[#1]

Cloning an entire project in Jira often feels like navigating a maze, wasting your time and energy. While Jira is a robust tool for project management, it doesn’t provide an out-of-the-box, user-friendly way to duplicate projects with all their issues and configurations. Automation can help, but it often requires advanced skills to create multiple rules.

So, how can you copy a project in Jira quickly and efficiently?

This guide aims to answer the most common questions about project cloning, whether you're a Jira novice or a seasoned admin.

Why would I need to clone a project in Jira in the first place?

Cloning a project can save time and effort in many scenarios, such as:

• Project templating: Set up a reusable structure for recurring projects.

• Organizational changes: Transition projects between teams while maintaining workflows.

• Onboarding a new client: Duplicate project setups to serve as a baseline for client collaboration.

• Project initialization: Create a new initiative using a pre-defined structure.

• Testing changes: Create a sandbox environment to test configurations without impacting live projects.

By replicating projects in the same or in different instances, you can maintain consistency, reduce setup time, and ensure alignment with organizational standards.

---

How can I clone a project configuration?

Jira offers a native option called "Share settings with an existing project" when you decide to create a new project. This allows you to replicate the configuration of an existing project into a new one. A real time-saver!

Here’s what gets cloned:

• Workflows and statuses

• Issue types and their schemes

• Permissions and notifications

This is particularly helpful when you want to create a new project that mirrors the original project's setup.

Pro Tip: Ensure that you have admin permissions in the settings, as this functionality requires specific roles.

---

How can I clone the issues of a project?

While Jira doesn’t provide a straightforward method to bulk clone issues, an app like Elements Copy & Sync can help. It allows you to clone all the issues within a project, including their subtasks, in bulk.

Key features include:

• Hierarchical cloning: Maintain the full issue hierarchy, including linked issues and child issues. You have the ability to easily clone epics with its child issues.

• Bulk cloning: Copy multiple issues at once

• Issue synchronization: Keep cloned issues in sync with the original ones, ensuring any updates are reflected across both projects.

You can try it for free here.

---

What can be cloned?

Projects can be cloned into:

1. The same type: For example, replicating a Jira project.

2. Another type: Convert a Jira project into Jira Service Management project

3. Another instance: If you’re working across multiple Jira instances, apps like Elements Copy & Sync simplify this by offering cross-instance capabilities.

---

Other recurring questions about project duplication

1. When you clone a project, does it copy all permissions?

Permissions depend on the project configuration. If you use the "Share settings" option, permissions are inherited but can be modified afterward.

2. Can I automate project duplication?

Yes, using automation tools or scripts combined with an app like Elements Copy & Sync. While native automation in Jira helps, it often requires technical know-how to set up comprehensive rules.

3. Will cloning retain the same issue IDs?

No, cloned issues will have new unique IDs but can retain links back to the original project if required.

---

Making project cloning seamless

While Jira offers some native solutions for project configuration duplication, apps like Elements Copy & Sync fill the gaps, providing robust capabilities for bulk issue duplication and synchronization. By leveraging such tools, you can save valuable time and reduce errors when replicating projects in the same or different instances.

Check Elements Copy & Sync documentation here.

If you’re frequently managing similar projects or onboarding new clients, investing in a specialized app can be a game-changer. Tools like these enable you to scale your project management efficiently while staying organized.

Any questions? Share your thoughts or experiences in the comments below—we’d love to hear from you!

[Keyur Majmudar]

use the following

acli YOURJIRAINSTANCEHERE --action cloneProject --project "SOURCENAME" --toProject "TARGETNAME" --cloneIssues --copySubtasks --copyLinks --useParentVersions --copyEstimates --copySubtaskEstimates --copyVersions