How to show Custom Field on Issues Screen for Epics

[Matt Richards]

Please forgive the basic question...

I've created a custom field from the Issue screen on one of my Epics. I expected that this would have shown it for all Epics, but apparently not. It seems as though I need to add it to the default view of Epics in the Issues list. 

I'ave found the Custom field in the settings. It's "Available Context" is "Issue Type: Epic." It's "Screens" value is "SIX: Scrum Default Issue Screen". This would suggest to me that it would be shown on all Issues who's type is Epic, and yet it's not. I seem to have to manually add it to each Epic. I have tried adding it to all other screens, but on refresh it does not show.

How do we get this field displayed by default? 

[Alexey Matveev · Accepted solution]

If you mean, that you can not see the field on the view screen, then you can see a custom field on a view screen, only if the field has a value, otherwise it will be hidden. Try to use the Where is my field functionality.

[Matt Richards]

Thanks for the response. How does one get a custom field to show on the view screen by default, with no value? 

We can't add the field to every issue manually. We need it to show up by default.

[Alexey Matveev]

You can not change the behaviour. It is an internal Jira behaviour. You would need to write your own custom field plugin and return an empty string if the value is null.

[Matt Richards]

Thanks for your quick response. I suppose then we are doing something wrong, as the need for this seems somewhat obvious to us.

We want to size each of our Epics using "t-shirt sizing" (Small, Medium, Large, etc.). Each Epic is sized in this way, and it seems odd that we'd have to add the custom field to view each time. 

Is there some standard field in Jira that is displayed by default that is supposed to be used for Epic sizing?

[Alexey Matveev]

What do you mean by "we'd have to add the custom field to view each time"? You need to push the edit button and enter a value.

[Matt Richards]

Unfortunately that is not the case, hence why we started this ticket. The field is not shown on the view of the Epic. We have to click "Admin > Add Field" then search for the field by name and click "Add Field."

[Matt Richards]

Here you will see the view of the Epic (with field not shown) and the "Where is my field?" modal, which if I read it correctly, seems to suggest that it is shown. 

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

Jira hides (most) fields that have no data to reduce clutter.  It's always done that.

It's annoying for those of us who use inline edit in the view screen - I don't think they thought through inline editing too well when it was introduced in 4.something, and the problem with empty fields persists.  If it had been me designing it, I'd have a button or link that pops up all the available empty fields so at least I could get to them without having the clutter of the edit screen where I only want to edit one thing.

You'll need to edit the issue to get a value into "sizing", then it will appear on the issue view.

[Matt Richards]

Thanks @Nic Brough -Adaptavist- and @Alexey Matveev for your guidance. I suppose we now understand that the behavior we are seeing is as intended, despite the fact that is feels misguided. 

It certainly seems pretty strange that Atlassian would enable inline editing but not allow someone to modify the view (perhaps I don't understand, but we thought we HAD modified the view...). Really poor implementation. 

[John OLeary]

If I'm understanding the ask right then this is a simple fix. You need to do the below as a JIRA Admin(I use server but should be the same for Cloud):

1. Create/Recreate the T-shirt sizing Custom field as a Select List(single choice) and add in the S, M, L values etc.
2. Also add a "N/A" or "Not yet defined" value or whatever you like and make that the default.
3. Save and add the Custom Field to your Issue Type.
4. Write a Filter that returns all the Issues you want this set for and Perform a Bulk Update of these Tickets and set them to "N/A" or whatever value you chose from step 1.
5. Upon Bulk completion this field will now have a value and be visible on all Tickets changed in 4. Done. :-)

[Angelo Giannitto]

Having the same challenge - have been a long time user in previous roles. Trying to introduce JIRA for a new client so first time playing "Admin" and add a custom field that I want to show on the view issue screen in a custom position.

Reading the comments above seems this is not possible. However, to at least have it show up in the tabbed items (which doesn't show fields unless there are values), try setting a default value for the field.

At least then it will force it to appear and you can edit in-line from that point.

Field I am adding is for "Acceptance Criteria" as there doesn't seem to be a default JIRA field for this (unless I have missed something). 

I set the default to "TBD" so when an issue (Story) is created it will force it to appear in the view issue screen.

Hope this helps....

[Inna Ginzburg]

Thank you very much. I had exactly  the same issue with "Acceptance Criteria" and QA Tester fields.

[Reva Tolliver]

I have the same issue with the priority field.