Backlog, numerically or date order

[ashley.frost]

Hello all, 

I've inherited a huge backlog with lots of legacy items, is there a way to reorder the backlog numerically or by date just so I can clear out any old / not required items and just leave me with my new / latest items.

Thank you for any help

[John Funk · Accepted solution]

Hi Ashley - Welcome to the Atlassian Community!

You could modify the filter associated with the board to sort all issues by date created or key or something like that. However, it will affect your entire board and all columns, not just your Backlog. AND you lose the ability to drag the cards up or down to change priorities.

So having said all of that, I would not recommend you do that. 

One thing you can do is to create some quick filters on your board that would, in effect, hide the old cards. 

One example might be: Created >= 2019-01-01 and status = Backlog

That would hide all of your backlog items created prior to January 1, 2019. Of course you can modify the dates as you like or even do ranges. 

We have talked about a policy that would automatically Discard (or Cancel) issues that are more than 6 months or a year old and have not made it out of the Backlog. 

I hope that helps.

[Bill Sheboy]

Hi @ashley.frost 

Yes, and...to what John suggested...

You may also want to add a custom field checkbox like Abandoned.  Then after you filter to gather up the old items for discard, you can bulk change them to discard them, adding a comment to indicate why.  Then bulk change again to move them to Done.

After the initial clean-up, you can selectively abandon items the team will not do.

I find using something like Abandoned is better than just deleting old stuff. 

• First, there is no "undo" for delete in the Cloud version, and...
• Second, explicitly abandoning issues the team will not do helps provide visibility to your requestors 

Best regards,

Bill

[ashley.frost]

Excellent information chaps, as you can probably tell I'm rather new to this, so I will head off and try your suggestions.

Thank you

Ash