Custom Label Field Not Showing Labels

[Jodie Parsons]

Our tester has asked if I could update the Severity fields and Priority fields to show more options other than than the 'Sev-0, Sev-01, Sev-02 Sev-03' and 'Must, Should, Could, Won't' but as I understand it, these fields are locked down and I'm not able to modify them in any way...?

So I tried to see what I could do. I came across the the additional label field and changed the title to show 'Severity' and also included the possible options to choose from. Please see attachment.

However once this has been saved and I go back into my Jira ticket, the labels aren't coming up to choose from and it's making me add them as new labels. 

Does anyone know why this is or are there any other suggestions what we could do to have two fields (1 for Severity and 1 for Priority) where we can tailor and add a bit more than the standard Jira options? Hope this makes sense... ?

Thanks in advance

Jodie 

[Trudy Claspill · Accepted solution]

Hello @Jodie Parsons 

You appear to be working with a Team Managed project.

First question - do you want the users to be able to select multiple values at once for Severity such that an issue could show both Critical and Medium in that field? Or do you want them to be able to select only one value?

I suspect you want them to be able to select only one value, and in that case you need a custom Dropdown field rather than a Labels field.

A Dropdown field presents the user with options to choose from. They can choose only from the provided options. They can't add new options.

A Labels field is a field where multiple values can be added, and anybody can create a new value for that field.

When you add default labels into a custom Labels field for such a project you are telling Jira that when a new issue is created you want to add all those labels to the issue automatically. You are not providing the user with options from which to select a value. What is available to select in a Labels field is any value that already exists in the Labels field in any other issue.

[Jodie Parsons]

Thanks Trudy! I wasn't sure how to do a custom field but I noticed a drop down field I could adapt so now I've added two of those and was able to edit to add my own drop down options. Thanks for your help!