I’m working on a project where I need to bring in a bunch of issues from a CSV file into our JIRA project. The tricky part is that this CSV file might change over time, with some fields getting updated.
I’m worried that if I just import it normally, JIRA might create new issues instead of updating the existing ones. That would be a mess!
Does anyone know a good way to make sure JIRA only updates the fields of existing issues without making duplicates? I’ve been scratching my head over this for a while now.
Any tips or tricks would be super helpful. Thanks in advance!
I’ve faced a similar challenge in the past, and here’s what worked for me:
Use a unique identifier for each issue in your CSV, like a custom field or the issue key if you’re re-importing. When importing, leverage JIRA’s REST API instead of the built-in CSV importer. Write a script (Python works well) that reads your CSV, checks if each issue exists using the unique identifier, then updates existing issues or creates new ones as needed.
This approach gives you full control over the import process. It’s a bit more work upfront, but it saves a ton of headaches down the line. Plus, you can easily rerun the script whenever your CSV changes.
Remember to test thoroughly on a sandbox environment first. Good luck with your project!
Having dealt with similar situations, I’d recommend using JIRA’s CSV import with the ‘Issue Match’ feature. This allows you to specify a field (like a custom field or external ID) to match existing issues. When importing, JIRA will update matched issues instead of creating duplicates.
To set this up, first ensure each issue in your CSV has a unique identifier. Then, in JIRA, create a custom field to store this ID if you don’t have one already. When importing, map your CSV’s ID column to this custom field and select it as the ‘Issue Match’ criteria.
This method is straightforward and doesn’t require coding. However, test it in a staging environment first to ensure it behaves as expected with your specific data set.
yo luna, i’ve been there. one trick that worked for me was using the ‘external issue ID’ field in JIRA. set it up as a custom field, put your unique IDs from the CSV there. then when importing, tell JIRA to match on that field. it’ll update existing issues instead of making dupes. saves a ton of headaches!