Cannot create child issue in Epic

[Jason Krewson]

I logged in today to find that every time a user clicks "Add a child issue" in an Epic that we are now getting an error "We can't Create child issues. This project only allows you to create Epics". 

We have always been able to create child issues in Epics for this Jira instance. I tested and this is impacting all projects, this seems to have started just this morning, no changes were made that I am aware of - I am the only instance admin but there are other Org Admins I am also checking with, they do not make changes to our instance though.

Also the "Create" button allows us to still create Stories and then relate them to Epics.

First thing this tells me is my hierarchy is wrong, so I check and I do feel it is correct, I have Capability at 2, Epic at 1, and then the Story "All other standard issue Types", and Sub-Task "All sub-task issue types".

I checked the schemes and issue types and they have story and are related to the correct projects. 

I checked permissions but I am not sure what permission this would be. 

I checked layout but I am not sure what part of the layout this would be.

Has anyone seen this before? Everything I find Googling and checking Atlassian documentation is that the hierarchy is incorrect, but it seems the advice is to build it like I have mine today, unless I am missing something and that is possible, but if so why was it working before and now not?

Thanks for any help in advance! 

[Trudy Claspill · Accepted solution]

Hello @Jason Krewson 

Can you provide a screen image of the screen you are on when you are attempting to create the child issue? It sounds like you might be viewing an Epic issue, but I don't want to assume.

At what point in the process do you get the message? Are you able to click the Add a child issue button? Does that open an inline addition row under Child Issues? Does the error occur when you try to save the issue?

When you use the Create button to create the Story, are you creating it in the same project as you are in when you use the Add child option?

Have you checked the Create transitions in Workflows to see if a Validator has been added that would prevent saving the new child issue?

[Jason Krewson]

Great questions. 

Here is the screenshot for when we see the error.

Here is our hierarchy. 

So at what point in the process, basically we open our Epic, click "Add a child issue", the box pops up with this new error we have never seen before (instance is about 2 years old, no issues before). 

When I click "Create" I can create a Story for any project, and currently they all are impacted by this, they are Company Manages projects, most are Jira Software (or Jira now) and a couple are Jira Work Management. 

Workflow for one of the projects we first noticed the issue for was last edited "This workflow was last edited by you at 29/Mar/24 11:23 AM.", but double checking I do not see anything added to the transition stopping us from creating a child issue.

[Trudy Claspill]

So far I have not been able to find a way to recreate this problem.

Does it occur for all users?

Have you tried different browser applications and private browsing windows?

Do you have third party apps in your instance? If so, have you examined those to see if one of them might possible be connected to this?

It sounds to me like you have checked all the correct things. If answering the above questions doesn't lead to a solution then I would recommend having your Jira Administrator open a support case directly with Atlassian. With your permission, they will be able to connect directly to your instance to do direct examination and debugging.

[Jason Krewson]

It occurs for all uses, even admins, I am a Site Admin and I still have the same issue as someone that is just a user.

I just tried a different browser, I currently use Chrome and I just tried Edge, same issue. 

And we do not use many 3rd party apps, the 2 we have wouldn't (or shouldn't) cause this, we have a to do list and a check list app only. 

I have reached out to the Org Admins on my side as well to see if they know anything on this and for help. Thanks for helping me today also!

[Trudy Claspill]

Please report back here what you learn.

I just saw a second post reporting the same problem.

https://community.atlassian.com/t5/Jira-questions/We-can-t-create-child-issues-This-project-only-allows-you-to/qaq-p/2694804

[Jason Krewson]

That person is from my work also lol, but I will absolutely update this with what the solution is once we figure it out.

[Jason Krewson · Accepted solution]

Atlassian fixed the issue, they deployed the fix to the issue described in https://jira.atlassian.com/browse/JSWCLOUD-26309 . 

Its not real clear what the fix actually was, I did follow up for more information and got the below answer, as the card they linked isn't the same issue as I was experiencing. 

From Atlassian: 

The bug shared with you describes a specific behavior where the project contained only epics but allowed users to create other issue types.

The fix deployed for this specific bug caused this behavior in the inline issue creation process.

The fix for the issue was a simple code review. The validation process described in the bug is the expected behavior and it is working as designed.