Tips & Tricks with JSM - Populating large select lists

[#1]

Hi all,

This is the second article in my Tips & Tricks series.

As an administrator, I’ve often been tasked with populating custom select list fields—sometimes with thousands of entries. Typically, I'm handed a CSV file and asked to turn it into a usable select list. Manually copying and pasting each entry would be painful and inefficient. So, what’s the solution?

Here’s a simple trick to populate a select list field directly from a CSV or text file.

First, start by creating your single-select or multi-select custom field.

-> Work Items -> Custom Fields -> Create Custom Field

Next, we will import using the a restore from Backup

-> System -> Import and Export -> External System Import -> CSV

Next, we’ll be prompted to create a new project for the import. I recommend using a company-managed Business project—something like “Blank”—since we’ll be deleting it once the import is complete.

Ensure that the column headers in your CSV file exactly match the names of your custom fields. Although the importer is case-insensitive, I prefer to match the case precisely to avoid any issues. Additionally, make sure one column is mapped to the Summary field, as this is required.

For example, I created a multi-select custom field called Article, and my import file looks like this:

The remaining columns in the import can be ignored.

Continue clicking Next through the setup steps and—just like that—your custom field is populated!

So, we’re done, right? Not quite.

<Soapbox moment>
Jira/JSM Admins, power users, newcomers—we all share the responsibility of keeping our environment clean and efficient. If you created a custom field that ended up unused—delete it. We created a temporary project like Blank just for this import. Let’s clean that up.

One unused field or project may not seem like much, but over time, these leftovers accumulate and contribute to unnecessary clutter in your instance.

</Soapbox off>

Once you've deleted the temporary project, your custom field will remain—fully populated with the choices from your CSV file, and your Jira instance will stay tidy and organized.

Best,

Robert

[Joe Pursel]

Thank you, @Robert Nadon , for creating this content. I wish I had this many years ago.

Do you know if this will work with a cascading select custom field?

I am interested to hear your thoughts.

Best,

Joe

[Robert Nadon]

Hi @Joe Pursel,

Thanks for the kind words!

Yes you should be able to do cascading fields.  The magic here is the CSV has to be formatted correctly with the "->" characters.

For example:

Summary, My Cascading Field
Example Summary, Parent Value -> Child Value

Best,

Robert