On the Backlog, how can it auto-assign new tasks using "Create issue"?

[Brian Sandler]

When viewing issues on the backlog for a single user, it would be extremely helpful for new issues created using the "Create issue" button to be automatically assigned to the single selected user. How can I achieve this behavior to quickly add tasks for a user (or is there an alternative view that does this)?

Currently newly created issues just disappear from view, making it super inconvenient to have to go to another page. The Mac app (RIP) used to handle the assignment automatically and was amazing. The Mac app also let me create issues directly in a sprint, which I can't figure out how to do from the web's Backlog page.

Thank you for your help!

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist- · Accepted solution]

Welcome to the Atlassian Community!

In the project settings, you can set up an automatic assignee, but it is done in two places!

First, go into the main "project details" and look at the bottom of the page - there is a default assignee option there where you can set "unassigned" or "project lead" (the project lead is chosen in the field above!)

Second, the one with a bit more flexibility - go to "components".  You'll need to have one or more components defined to see it work, but each component can have a "lead" set, and you can set each component to set the assignee to unassigned, accept the project default (the one set in the project settings), project lead, or the component lead. 

A problem with that is that you can put multiple components in.  Jira takes the assignee from the "first" component, but I can never remember whether "first" is the first one you select to add to the issue or the first on the list of components in the admin screen.

There is another option as well - you can use the Automation rules to select an assignee automatically.

[Brian Sandler]

Thanks Nic! None of these auto-assign to the currently selected user. All I'd like to do is quickly add multiple issues for a specific user.

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

It can't do that, Jira doesn't really have a concept of "user selected by something".  The closest you can get is "current user", which would be yourself.

[Brian Sandler]

Aw, that's a bummer. Thank you.

[Josh Costella · Accepted solution]

Hi @Brian Sandler 

In the backlog view, there is a Create Issue button in the bottom left of the sprint view. 

In terms of assigning, if I understand correctly, you want it to assign to the user who created the ticket? 

If so, if you are able to edit the workflow, you can add a post-function on the Create transition. 

[Brian Sandler]

Thanks Josh! That's the button I'm using, however I'd like to be able to have the newly created issue assigned to the user I'm currently looking at (if I'm filtering by just 1 user). The Mac app used to let me do this.

The "assign to me" post-function is useful for creating issues for myself, but doesn't work when I'm trying to create a few issues at once for a coworker.

Thank you,

Brian

[Josh Costella]

So, if you click on an issue in the backlog view and click A on your keyboard, the assign menu will appear for the Assignee field. It's an extra click or two but still relatively quick.

[Josh Costella]

I understand what you are going for. It's a little more work but when you are adding an item inline, you can click the 3 dots in the bottom right corner next to where it says Cancel. That brings up the create screen which should have the assignee field on it. 

And in the create screen, if you check the Create Another check box next to the create button at the bottom of the screen, it will maintain the assignee to the next ticket.

[Brian Sandler]

Thanks, that's a great feature to know about! The thing is when I create a new issue while filtering by user the newly created issue disappears. 

What is the recommended way to add multiple issues for another user?

[Josh Costella]

In the backlog view, you can also just type C on your keyboard and the create window will appear. You can obviously assign the ticket there as well. 

If you assign using the shortcut and the traditional create screen, and check the create another box, then the tickets will show up in your filtered view. 

[Brian Sandler]

Okay, thank you. I'll do this for now, but it's a bit clunkier than the table view.

It's certainly more convenient than clicking through everything, but it disregards the currently selected user in the filter. 

[Lana Getz]

@Josh Costella What @Brian Sandler is describing seems to be possible out-of-the-box in a team-managed project: when the board is filtered by a user, the Create Issue inline action automatically assigns the new task to the currently selected user (or the last selected user if the board is filtered by more than one). 

In my case, I expected the same functionality in a company-managed project, but it doesn't seem to be available. Is there a possible workaround for the company-managed project to achieve the same result?