Cloning issues to other projects

[Kasja Maksymiak]

We have a template in Project A that contains a parent issue and several child work items (steps for taking an app to production).

Right now, the only way other teams can use this template is by cloning, but the cloned child items always end up in Project A instead of being created directly in the requesting team’s project (Project B, C, etc.).

My question is: is there a way in Jira Cloud for other teams to duplicate/copy this template (including all child work items) directly into their own projects, without intervention from me and without installing additional apps?

If not, could you please confirm if this is only possible via automation per project or through Marketplace apps like Deep Clone or Issue Templates?

Thanks a lot for your help!

[Luka Hummel - codefortynine]

Hi @Kasja Maksymiak and welcome to the community!

You’re right to suspect that Jira Cloud doesn’t provide a native, self-service way for other teams to copy a parent issue together with all its child work items into their own projects in one go. You can approximate it with automations, but that still needs setup and maintenance on each project.

If you’re open to a Marketplace solution, here’s how teams can do this themselves with our app Deep Clone for Jira—no admin intervention each time:

• Clone the whole parent-child structure (Epic/Tree Clone): From the template’s parent (e.g., the epic), click More actions (•••) > Deep Clone, pick Epic/Tree Clone, set Target project to the team’s project (B, C, …), and start the clone. Child issues are created directly in the target project while keeping the hierarchy intact.
• Bulk Clone from your template project: Use Apps > Deep Clone > Bulk Clone, select the set of template issues, choose the team’s Target project, and run the clone. This is great if the template spans multiple epics, or you want to copy a larger set of issues at once.

Make it self-service, so teams can run it on their own:

• Grant users the global permission Deep Clone for Jira – Single/Epic Clone (or the corresponding project permission). They’ll then see Deep Clone in the issue’s action menu and can trigger clones themselves.
• Create reusable Presets (e.g., a “Copy App-to-Production Template” preset) so teams get a pre-configured clone dialog with your options (fields to include, link behavior, etc.).

[Clara Belin-Brosseau_Elements]

Hi @Kasja Maksymiak

I'll let other users answer on the native way to do it but I'm not quite sure it is easily doable.

I just wanted to suggest a marketplace app as an alternative. I work for Elements Copy & Sync and it was designed to help Jira users perform cloning tasks.

Basically, you'll be able to clone parent and child issues in the project of the user and most importantly, it can be automated with Automation or a Post-function for example. 

This will give autonomy to your teams and will save time while cloning issues.

The app is for free during 30 days (and it stays free under 10 users), so don't hesitate to give it a try!