How to keep an unused label

[ccenvcvb]

I need certain labels, not all of them, to stay in jira even if no issue is using it.

Example use case

We use a label "needs_release_note", when a jira issue needs info for release notes.

Once that info is provided we remove the label.

I want to have that label in the selection even if there are no issue using it.

It's basically the inverse of 

https://community.atlassian.com/t5/Jira-questions/unused-labels/qaq-p/402445

[Arun Unnikrishnan · Accepted solution]

@ccenvcvb Have a dummy issue (story) created and enter all the labels in it. This way you can get the labels in the dropdown while querying. 

[ccenvcvb]

Hi Arun,

Thank you for your reply. I thought of that as a work-around.

The downside is that that dummy issue will appear in all queries on those labels.

[Matt Doar (Adaptavist)]

What if you give no-one permission to view the issue that has the label to be saved? Either with a security scheme or a project permission scheme. Yes, it's a hack. But this is due to the way that Jira implemented Labels years ao

[ccenvcvb]

I'll try that, unfortunately, activating issue security appears to be no walk in the park.