Struggling to upload Sub-tasks using External System Import (CSV)

[Marta Perez]

Hi all, 

I have been struggling to upload a csv file to create subtasks and link them to existing issues. 

I have tried every single possible combination and I have read through the documentation several time, I just don't get what I am doing wrong. 

Attached you see the format I have used and I have been trying by mapping and not mapping the issue key but I always get the same error.

The sub-tasks are created but not linked. 

Hope someone can help!

Thank you in advance. 

[Dick · Accepted solution]

Hi @Marta Perez 

The key instruction in the document you refer to, is this:

• Next, confirm the file has all issues listed in order of their hierarchy.

this guarantees that a parent is created before a child (sub-task) is created.

So it's not the columns that should change, but the order in which the work items are listed in you CSV file. Parents first, then the children.

Kind regards,
Dick

[Dick]

Looking at your import csv, I think that you should include the parent issues (it appears that you have sub-tasks only)

The thing is: during the import process, Jira uses new work item ID's for newly created work items to prevent making work items with the same key. This means that your IssueID column is bypassed during this process.

The issueID's columns in your CSV are only used to couple the sub-tasks to new parents (whatever ID they might have gotten by the import process. Yes, Jira is that smart )

It means that an import process needs both parents and children, in that order, as stated before.

Kind regards,
Dick

[Marta Perez]

Hey Dick, 

Thank you for your answer. 

I was able to create the subtask and link them to existing tasks using the below configuration in the end: 

I did not map the issue key during the import, just the parent and the issue id. 

this is the saved configuration that worked: 

{
"config.version" : "2.0",
"config.project.from.csv" : "false",
"config.encoding" : "UTF-8",
"config.file.id" : "de2bb6af-0eed-442c-8e20-2fb7729e05c1",
"config.email.suffix" : "@",
"config.file.name" : "Upload Sub-Tasks1- WF123-59.csv",
"config.field.mappings" : {
"Issue Type" : {
"jira.field" : "issuetype",
"userChanged" : "true",
"manualMapping" : "false"
},
"Start date" : {
"userChanged" : "true",
"manualMapping" : "false",
"existing.custom.field" : "10015"
},
"Parent" : {
"jira.field" : "parent",
"userChanged" : "true",
"manualMapping" : "false"
},
"Summary" : {
"jira.field" : "summary",
"userChanged" : "true",
"manualMapping" : "false"
},
"Issue id" : {
"jira.field" : "issue-id",
"userChanged" : "true",
"manualMapping" : "false"
},
"Due date" : {
"jira.field" : "duedate",
"userChanged" : "true",
"manualMapping" : "false"
}
},
"config.csv.file.id" : null,
"config.value.mappings" : { },
"config.delimiter" : ";",
"config.project" : {
"project.type" : null,
"project.key" : "WF123",
"project.description" : null,
"project.url" : null,
"project.name" : "PO HSE Phase ",
"project.lead" : "712020:9ae07394-398d-45c0-8a1a-a1efde447b1f"
},
"config.date.format" : "dd/MM/yyyy"
}

At one point, I also thought that I needed to list the task to be able to add them to the subtask but the trick was adding the issue id and issue key with random numeration and it worked. 

[Dick]

Ha, your parent column did the trick here.
Glad you worked it out and shared it.
If you mark it as answered, other people with similar questions can find it easier.

Kind regards,
Dick

[Vishal Biyani]

@Marta Perez 

You import sheet needs correction I think.

Remove column F & G. Rename Column H as Parent. Assuming you want the new subtasks to be created under WF123-128 (should be standard issuetype other than Epic).

[Marta Perez]

Hello, 

If you refer to the below attempt: 

with your suggestion it works for the normal parent-child relationship and by mapping parent to parent link during the import, however it does not work for task-subtask. 

[Marta Perez]

One more detail:

When I try the to perform the upload from the issue view, I get this error: 

Do I need to rearrange the order of the columns?