Changing the type name of a type which has a connection field associated

[Freyr Gudmundson]

I had a type called Products and a connection field associated with it. I then changed the name of that type to Current Products. I got a warning that the connection field is now broken. I then updated the connection field to point to the new type, and all the data from the previous setup was gone.

I wasn't able to avoid the breaking, there was no "do you want to do this" popup, just the message after. Best experience would be no breaking, smart copying of data or something like that.

Any way to recover that data? It's not a lot in my case, so not a huge issue, but still good to know if there are any tips and tricks here.

[Tanguy Crusson · Accepted solution]

Hi @Freyr Gudmundson , just checking first: as soon as you updated the connection field to point to the new type name everything was back to working, correct? If so then I think we'll need to insert that warning before you confirm the renaming :) 

[Christos Markoulatos]

@Tanguy Crusson please add that warning 🙏. In complex setups with lots of connection fields, we often rename types, and breaking links without a heads-up can cause a lot of cleanup work. Ideally, the warning should show which fields will be impacted before confirming the rename or even better, offer an option to auto-update dependent fields and preserve existing links.

[Tanguy Crusson]

OK that's why I was keen to confirm the impact you had: 

Connections are based on issue links, and these issue links stay even if you rename the types.

All you need to do is to associate the connection field with the new type name and everything should be exactly as you left it. No need to migrate any data, no need to re-connect ideas or clean up anything - the links should all be preserved. 

Wasn't it the case for you? 

[Tanguy Crusson]

I'll share a Loom tomorrow to demo how that works and why you shouldn't lose any data or connection

[Freyr Gudmundson]

Hey, sorry for the late response.

So this resolved itself in between. Not sure about the time, less than 24 hours, more than 1 hour. Was weird, it was clearly completely empty, and then the data was there.

So yes, the warning would make me feel better as a user :) Plus the understanding that there might be some syncing or caching? 

Might have just been a fluke. Thanks as always for the attentiveness!

[Corey K]

Not an answer, but to the same / similar point there is no warning or confirmation message when changing issue type that the linkage will be dropped.

Example:  Changing Issue type from Epic to Objective dropped all linked issues that had previously existed. This could be bad for many reasons that I don't even need to point out folks! At a minimum there should at least be a large pop-up or some other warning about the action you're about to perform.

[Tanguy Crusson]

Hi, just to be clear no data is lost when you rename a type. If you go to the connection field and make it point to the new type name, everything is immediately back where it was @Corey K (all the connections between ideas show exactly as before). The same happens if you rename the type back to what it was. 

[Christos Markoulatos]

Hi @Freyr Gudmundson

When you rename a type in Jira Product Discovery, any connection fields linked to that type break because the link is based on the type’s internal ID, not just the display name. Updating the connection field to point to the new type creates a fresh association, which is why the old data disappears, it’s not migrated automatically.
Unfortunately, there’s no built-in way to restore those connections after the type change. The only options are:

• Undo the rename (change the type name back to the original), which could restore the previous connections (haven’t  tried it my self).
• Or manually re-link the ideas using the updated connection field.

I presume this behavior is expected because connection fields are still in beta and don’t yet support seamless migration when types change.

Docs:
Create and configure idea types
Jira Product Discovery fields reference

[Tanguy Crusson]

So actually this is incorrect: there is no need to "restore connections" - connections are based on issue links, and these issue links stay even if you rename the types.

All you need to do is to associate the connection field with the new type name and everything should be exactly as you left it. No need to migrate any data, no need to re-connect ideas. 

[Christos Markoulatos]

Awesome, good to know @Tanguy Crusson thanks alot!