Epic Not Showing in Jira Board or Backlog – How to Troubleshoot?

[Annie Zhan]

I’m unable to locate Epics in my Jira project, even though I’ve confirmed they exist in the issue list. Here’s what I’ve checked:

1. Project Context

   • Type: Team-managed.

   • Board: Should be Scrum, but Kanban users also report this.

2. Basic Checks

   • The Epics exist in All Issues (found via search/JQL: issuetype = Epic AND project = ABC).

   • No active filters are hiding it (Board/Backlog filters are empty or inclusive).

   • I cannot see any Epic I created. This happened to tasks occasionally.

3. Where It’s Missing

   • Board’s Epic Panel: Not listed under "Epics" (even with "Show all" toggled).

4. What I’ve Tried

   • Refreshed cache, tried different browsers.

   • Verified Epic status isn’t "Done" or "Archived."

   • Checked for misconfigured column mappings (Board settings → Columns).

Potential Causes?

• Could this be a hierarchy issue (e.g., Epic linked to a hidden parent)?

• Is there a sync delay or indexing bug?

• Are there hidden JQL clauses in the Board’s filter?

This appears after I create an Epic:

Changes are saved, but work item isn't visible

For work item xxx to be visible, it must match your project and filters, and have a status that’s assigned to the board.

[Annie Zhan]

For tasks, the issue only seems to occur when the backlog feature is enabled. It goes away when I disable the backlog. It happens all the time when I create Epic though.

[Danut M _StonikByte_]

Hi @Annie Zhan,

As far as I know the epics of team-managed boards can only be displayed in the epic-panel and not as backlog-items or cards on the board.

This is how I can visualize epics in backlog of my test project:

Also you can choose to display swim-lanes by epics:

Did you try these as well? Maybe you can provide some screenshots. 

Do you need them dis[played for tracking purposes, or to work effectively on them?  

Danut.

[Trudy Claspill]

As far as I know the epics of team-managed boards can only be displayed in the epic-panel and not as backlog-items or cards on the board.

I agree with this, when we are talking about Team Managed Software projects.

A Team Managed project's board uses a non-editable filter that selects all issues from the project. So getting the message 

For work item xxx to be visible, it must match your project and filters, and have a status that’s assigned to the board.

...is strange, as is the author's mention that the option to show the Epics panel is not available.

[Trudy Claspill]

Hello @Annie Zhan 

Welcome to the Atlassian community.

Can you confirm the project type by telling us what it says in the Type column on the View All Projects page under the Projects menu?

Can you confirm that you have no unmapped Statuses in the Board Settings/ Columns page?

Can you provide a screen image of the issue/work items types from the Project Settings?

Can you provide a screen image of what you see when you are trying to find the option to show the Epics panel?

[Trudy Claspill]

@Annie Zhan 

I saw you posted an update:

For tasks, the issue only seems to occur when the backlog feature is enabled. It goes away when I disable the backlog. It happens all the time when I create Epic though.

Can you provide the requested screen images and answers to the questions asked?