Are there any impacts to deleting a link issue option?

[Peter McGrath]

Hi Community! 

I've recently taken over administration of Jira. What I've found is that through the years, folks have added some duplicative Link Issue options. For example, there are two different "has to be done before" options when linking a Jira issue to another one. 

What I'm wondering about is what downstream impact might occur, should I delete one of these duplicative options? 

[Rebekka Heilmann (viadee) · Accepted solution]

Hi @Peter McGrath and welcome to the community!

First of all: When you add an Issue link, the dropdown will give you inward and outward links.

Usually, if the inward equals the outward description (like in "relates to") it should only show it once. So there might be a minor difference between the two or it is actual two link types. So first check out Administration > Issues > Issue linking.

In addition to @Jehan Bhathena

If the specific Link type is used, there are a few other things that might relate to an Issue link: Some Automation rules might be using them to filter issues and Searchrequests might refer to it.

When you delete a Link Type you will automatically get a prompt that lets you choose a different Link type instead. That's how you know it's still in use ;) 

[Peter McGrath]

Thanks @Rebekka Heilmann _viadee_ ! That's the sort of information I was looking for. 

[Jehan Bhathena · Accepted solution]

Hi @Peter McGrath 

You can search for all issues using that link Type using JQL (will add the documentation once I find it)

If none of the issues are using it then you're safe to delete it.

Although you may want to check for Issue Security schemes or Permission schemes where your user isn't allowed to view the issue, once you're confident that you've got global visibility then after the above mentioned Jql search you can safetly delete the additional links

[Peter McGrath]

Thanks @Jehan Bhathena ! This is helpful.