Filter issues by 'is blocked by', 'blocks' and other link types

[Monica Ross]

I'd love to be able to search for issues that are "blockers" or are "blocked by" some other issue.. 

I found an old post from 2012/2013 alluding to some plug ins ( Link here ) but am wondering if this is now able to be natively used without a plug in for Jira Cloud? 

[MW Felker · Accepted solution]

Hey @Monica Ross @Brittany Wispell  @Adam Youngers  @Craig Brookhouse I think I found an elegant solution.

Link the Issue as a Blocker

Find the issue that you want to block and click the Link Issue button:

Then search for the ticket that is blocking this ticket and link it as is blocked by:

That will set the relationship. Next you will need to make a query on a scrum or kanban.

Kanban / Scrum Board Filter

Here you will need to go change the board settings. Loo in the upper right hand corner for the three dot menu when you are on a Kanban or Scrum board:

For here, select Swimlane and make sure they are based on Queries. Here is what it will look like:

Create a new query here with the following JQL filter:

issueBlocks in issueHistory()

 What this does is allows you to find any ticket that has been in the past or is currently set as a blocker. If you were to use this JQL statement in an issue search, you would see all the issues that have been or are blockers.

On the board, if you are using sprints on a Scrum board, it should only show the issues that are set as blockers in the current sprint:

[Brittany Wispell]

This looks good very elegant! Thanks for posting this answer! 

[MW Felker]

Thank you! Anyways we could update this as a more accepted answer than above? I’ve been looking for this solution for some time but pretty much told “nope sorry can’t do it” 😎 I think the above works well.

[Brittany Wispell]

I agree 100%. Thank you again for posting this answer. 

[MW Felker]

Thanks so much!!

[Brittany Wispell · Accepted solution]

Hi @Monica Ross 

I do not believe this is natively possible, after doing a couple tests in my own instance. You could use something like ScriptRunner or JQL Search Extensions for Jira.

JQL Search Extensions for Jira will be your best solution IMO for your exact needs.

ScriptRunner has a lot more to offer than just the JQL Functions that might not be needed. 

Hopefully this helps!

[Monica Ross]

thanks! 

[Adam Youngers]

I'm on a cloud based installation.  Would be great if this was natively supported.

[Craig Brookhouse]

What I have seen a team do is create as part of status definition "Blocked", and then you can run a query for status = Blocked, however that relies upon the team to change the status. 

[scottconnerly]

JQL now natively supports issueLinkType. Sometimes I use:

issueLinkType IS NOT Empty

when I’m pulling issues into my Issue Flow diagram, in order to see all the relationship types. But you can also search by specific link types like:

issueLinkType IN (blocks, “blocked by”)