How To Make A Field Mandatory In Jira

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Atlassian’s Jira is a powerful tool for project management and issue tracking. One of its many features is the ability to create customized fields for your projects. However, you may find that some fields are so important that they need to be filled in every time — effectively, they need to be mandatory. This post will walk you through the steps of making a field mandatory in Jira.

Understanding Field Configurations

The key to making a field mandatory in Jira is understanding field configurations. A field configuration in Jira describes the behavior of all fields in a given project or issue type.

To make a field mandatory, you will need to locate and edit the relevant field configuration. This can be done by following these steps:

  1. Log into your Jira as an administrator.
  2. Click on “Issues” in the top menu.
  3. Select “Fields” from the drop-down menu.
  4. Click on “Field Configurations.”

Making a Field Mandatory

Once you are in the field configurations screen, follow these steps to make a field mandatory:

  1. Locate the Field Configuration that corresponds to the project and issue type where you want to make a field mandatory.
  2. Click on the “Actions” button to the right of the field configuration, and select “Edit.”
  3. In the “Edit Field Configuration” screen, locate the field you want to make mandatory.
  4. Click on the “Required” link to the right of the field name. The link should now read “Optional.”
  5. Click the “Update” button at the bottom of the screen to save your changes.
  <!--HTML representation of above steps-->
  <a href="https://your-jira-instance.com/secure/admin/ViewFieldLayouts.jspa">Field Configurations</a>
  <a href="https://your-jira-instance.com/secure/admin/ConfigureFieldLayout.jspa">Edit</a>
  <a href="https://your-jira-instance.com/secure/admin/ConfigureFieldLayout.jspa?id=10000">Required</a>
  <input type="button" value="Update">

And that’s it! You’ve made a field mandatory in Jira. Now, whenever a user creates or edits an issue in the project and issue type you’ve specified, they will be required to fill in the field you’ve selected.

Final Thoughts

Making a field mandatory can greatly improve the consistency and completeness of your issue data, but it is also important to consider user workload and necessary fields to avoid cluttering your issue forms. Remember, the goal is to make issue creation and tracking as efficient and informative as possible.