Is it possible to configure issue cloning in Jira Cloud?

[Kara Nadarajah]

We need to be able to clone issues but we do not want the assignee to be cloned, we want the assignee of the new ticket to be 'Unassigned'. 

Is this possible? I haven't been able to find an answer to this thus far...

[John Funk · Accepted solution]

Hi Kara,

You could setup a manual Automation For Jira rule and then you could clone what you want. 

[Kara Nadarajah]

Thanks, looking at the automation, I'm not sure how I would do this, 'Issue cloned' is not one of the available triggers?

[John Funk]

Start with a Manual trigger (assuming you don't want to clone automatically based on some other trigger type :-)

Then put in any additional conditions if you want. 

Then New Action - Clone issue. 

[Kara Nadarajah]

Thanks, when I choose the fields to set, do I only need to specify those I want a different value for?

Or do I need to specify every field and what the value should be, whether that be cloned or something different?

For example, from the drop down I can select 'Assignee' and then I can choose 'Unassigned' for my particular use case.

I can select other fields such as description and linked issues, but I don't want to change these and do actually want them 'cloned'

[John Funk]

If you choose the Clone option, then you just need to set the values of the fields that you want to change. The others will come on over from the trigger issue. 

[Kara Nadarajah]

Thank you so much, i'll give this a go! I have no idea how you learn all this, I've spent ages Googling and reading the Atlassian documentation and I never really find it helpful.

[John Funk]

You are welcome! I spend a lot of time building these and then submitting support tickets, reading, watching webinars, etc. The Automation For Jira folks are extremely helpful. Here's a little more information that you might not have:

There are two types of automation:

• Global: In the Free version, you get 100 executions per product, per month
• Project: In all versions, you get unlimited executions per month

Automation Basics: https://www.atlassian.com/software/jira/guides/expand-jira/automation

You can do this via global rules to apply to all projects also. You'll need to be a Jira Admin/Site Admin, go to Jira Settings > System > Automation Rules (left-hand menu).

For more on using Automation For Jira see these help pages.

Also, here's a link to the latest Webinar:

https://community.atlassian.com/t5/Jira-Software-discussions/3-Jira-automation-rules-we-will-cover-in-our-advanced-webinar/m-p/1398109#M2801%3Futm_source=atlcomm&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=immediate_general_discussion&utm_content=topic

The link in that post to the 79 questions and answers is also very helpful.  :-)

[Kara Nadarajah]

Thank you, i'll be sure to look through all of this 😊

[Kara Nadarajah]

Hi John,

I've just looked at the ticket type where I added the automation and now I can see this, does that mean in order to clone the ticket, the user would have to click 'Run'?

Then the ticket would be cloned and the user unassigned?

I was hoping it would happen when the user clicked the 3 dot menu and selected 'Clone'.

Thanks

[John Funk]

You can certainly do it automatically when the ticket is cloned. You would change the trigger type to Issue Created instead of Manual.

Be sure to add any conditions if you don't want the Assignee cleared for all created issues. 

[Kara Nadarajah]

This is why I am confused, I would expect the actual trigger to be

'When: Issue Cloned'

Then: 'Clone issue into X project'

Set assignee 'Unassigned'

Now based on the above I have changed it to:

When: Issue Created

Then : Clone issue into X project'

Set assignee 'Unassigned'

I interpret this as 'any time an issue is created in the project, clone it and set assignee as unassigned', when I only want it to happen when someone clicks the clone button.

Am I interpreting this incorrectly?

[John Funk]

There is no trigger type for Issue Cloned. 

Try this then:

Issue Created (is this for just one project or several projects)

Add a Condition: JQL Condition

Use summary ~ CLONE for the JQL (assuming when you clone the issue that you leave the CLONE - text in the front of the Summary)

Then clear the assignee.

Would that work?

[Kara Nadarajah]

It's just for one specific project.

So:

When: Issue Created

summary ~ CLONE (and summary contains the word clone, i guess i should also add the project so project=xx AND summary ~ CLONE)

Then : Clone issue into X project'

Set assignee 'Unassigned'

Hopefully this will work?

[John Funk]

Ah, it sounds like you are using the built in Automation tool and not specifically Automation for Jira. Can you confirm that? Did you follow this path:  You'll need to be a Jira Admin/Site Admin, go to Jira Settings > System > Automation Rules (left-hand menu)?

[Kara Nadarajah]

Similar, I was accessing it via the project settings, it seems to take me to the same location though..

[John Funk]

Can you share a screenshot of the rule?

And just to verify - you are a Jira Systems Administrator?

[Kara Nadarajah]

This is what I had originally set up, I've not changed it yet based on the subsequent discussion

[John Funk]

Okay, cool - thanks for sharing!

First, it's overkill to have all of those groups in the Manually triggered as all users who could do anything are in the jira-users group. So you if just used that group it would catch everyone, which also begs the question, why even limit it? But that's just a side issue.  ;-)

So that should work - does it not? What does the Audit log say after you have run it?