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What is the best way to extract jira backlog work items quickly?

Sowbarnika.Kuppuswamy
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July 23, 2025

I'm trying to extract the backlog items from a project & cannot find an export button on choosing all items under backlog.

When I use JQL query, the number of items in the query result do not match the backlog items listed.

Is there a quick/easy/straight forward way to extract the backlog items without having to add multiple conditions on the JQL & still do not get the full backlog items.

 

3 answers

0 votes
Lucas Modzelewski _Lumo_
Atlassian Partner
July 24, 2025

I’ve noticed that when people experiment with automations, they sometimes end up with tasks that are marked as resolved - even though they shouldn’t be. This often happens when the resolution isn’t cleared during transitions out of the “Done” category.

Maybe check if that’s the case in your project - try filtering for issues that are not in “Done”, but are still marked as resolved. That can help you uncover potential workflow issues.

0 votes
Aron Gombas _Midori_
Community Champion
July 24, 2025

@Sowbarnika.Kuppuswamy Using third party apps, you can export to Excel or PDF directly from the Backlog view:

CARCHC-board-Backlog-Jira-07-24-2025_10_11_AM.png

That functionality is added by the Better Excel Exporter and Better PDF Exporter apps.

(These paid and supported app are developed by our team. Free for 10 users!)

0 votes
Trudy Claspill
Community Champion
July 23, 2025

Hello @Sowbarnika.Kuppuswamy 

Welcome to the Atlassian community.

There is not a built-in "export Backlog" feature in Jira currently. The solution will involve using the board's base JQL, adding the Sub-filter (if present, and applicable only with Kanban boards), and adding other conditions if you want to exclude items that are outside of the Backlog list in the Backlog screen.

 

Does this concern a Scrum board or Kanban board?

Does this concern a board that is for a single project and all issues in that project, or does it use a custom filter?

If it is for all issues in a single project, is the project Team Managed or Company Managed? You can get that info when you click the ... button next to the Project Name in the navigation panel on the left.

Screenshot 2025-07-23 at 7.05.47 PM.png

Do you want only the issues shown in the Backlog portion of the list; i.e. not Epics and not Subtasks?

Sowbarnika.Kuppuswamy
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July 23, 2025

Thanks for the response, Trudy.

1. It is a scrum board

2. The ask is for a single project & the backlog work items under that project

3. It is Company-Managed project

And yes I want the work items that is being displayed under the Backlog Category.

No epics/subtasks.

Eg. My backlog displays that there are 'x' items under the list but when I write a JQL query to extract work items the numbers do not match. 

Query used: project = 'My project' AND sprint IS EMPTY and statusCategory NOT IN (Done) 

When I add conditions, the number does go closer but do not match.

Also with the conditions added, I'm not confident the list is one & the same.

With 100's of work items in multiple projects, it becomes tedious if I have to match them manually.

 

Trudy Claspill
Community Champion
July 24, 2025

Hello @Sowbarnika.Kuppuswamy 

From your board settings can you show us two items?

1. The Filter shown on the Details.

2. The Columns mapping shown under Layout.

You would need to start with the Filter from Details.

To that you would need to add criteria to exclude issues in Active and Future sprints. An issue might be in a Closed sprint but be not done, and therefore will be in the Backlog with a not-empty Sprint field:

and sprint not in futureSprints() and sprint not in openSprints()

 

You would then need to add criteria to exclude issues in the Statuses mapped to the right-most column of your board. It is possible that the statuses there might not have been set up in the Done Status Category (not green lozenges), or that Done statuses are mapped to other columns (not the right most column). If your green-lozenge statuses exist only in the right-most column then using the Status Category criteria will work. Otherwise use

and status not in (<statuses in the right-most column>)

If you have Statuses in the Unmapped Statuses area you need to add criteria to exclude issues in those statuses too.

 

You would need to add criteria to exclude Epics. Epics do not display in the Backlog list on the Backlog screen for a Scrum board. Instead they display in the Epics panel. So add

and issuetype != Epic

 

Subtasks are not counted in the issue count shown at the top of the Backlog list. If you want your JQL results to match by count, you would add criteria to exclude the subtasks.

and issuetype not in subtaskWorkTypes()

 

If you want to try to get the right JQL without a third party app, try those options and let me know if that gets you the results you want and need.

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