When copying a structure, you can turn on the Clone Issues parameter and have Structure create a copy (clone) of every issue in the original structure.

How Issue Cloning Works

Each issue in the original structure is cloned by creating a new issue with the same:

• summary
• description
• field values, including custom fields

With the following exceptions:

• The Status field is not copied. The cloned issues are always created in the initial status, according to each issue's project and workflow scheme.
• If a field is not present on the Create Issue screen, its value is not copied. The cloned issues will have the default value for that field instead.
• Archived versions are removed from Affects Versions, Fix Versions, and custom fields that have versions as values.

Additionally, when cloning issues to a different project:

• If custom fields for the original issues are not available in the new project, the values of those custom fields are not copied.
• If field values of the original issues are not available in the new project, those values are removed. For example, this may happen to the Components field, or to fields that take versions as values.
• In some cases, cloning issues to a different project may not be possible. For example, when a certain field is required in the target project, but absent (or not required) in the source project. If this is the case, you will need to either change the target project restrictions or make sure every issue in the copied structure satisfies them.

Structure does its best to verify that it can clone each issue in the original structure before it begins the actual cloning. If Structure detects a potential data loss (for example, because one of the custom fields is absent in the target project), it warns you and lets you decide whether you want to continue. If no issues can be cloned (for example, if you do not have Create Issues permission for the new project), the operation stops before creating any clones.

Cloning Parameters

When Clone Issues is selected, you can specify a number of additional parameters.

Required Permissions

The following permissions are required to copy a structure with issue cloning:

• To be able to clone structure issues, you need Bulk Change global permission.
• Because the result of cloning is a new structure, you also need to be allowed to create new structures. (Configured by the Jira administrator - see Administrator's Guide.)
• You need to have Create Issue permission in the projects where the clones are created. If you specify the Create in Project option, the issues will be created only in the specified project. Otherwise, clones are created in the same projects as their respective original issues.
• Users in the Assignee field of the original issues will have to have Assignable User permission in the target project – otherwise, cloned issues cannot be assigned to that user and will be assigned by default.
• If you don't have Modify Reporter permission, you won't be able to set the value of the Reporter field in the cloned issues. Instead of the original reporter, you will be the reporter of the issue clones.
• You need to have Add Comments permission to copy comments, Link Issues permission to copy issue links or use Link Back, Create Attachments permission to copy attachments, Manage Watchers permission to copy watcher lists, and Edit Issue permission to copy Epic-Story relationships.

Executing Bulk Cloning

When you press the Start Cloning button, a background process starts on the Jira server, which performs the following:

1. Copies the original structure's hierarchy and stores it in memory
2. Checks all necessary permissions required for cloning
3. Clones all issues
4. Creates a new structure and fills it with the cloned issues

At step 2, the cloning process might discover some problems. If critical problems are discovered, an error message is shown and the process is aborted. If non-critical problems are discovered, warnings are shown and user input is required. The warnings may suggest that cloning may continue, but the resulting issues might not be exact copies. After your confirmation, the process continues.

As cloning proceeds, a progress bar is shown on the screen. When cloning is done, the Edit Structure page is opened for the resulting structure, so you can make any necessary adjustments to its name and permissions.

Checking Cloning Progress

When cloning has started, you can navigate away from the cloning progress page. To see the progress and get back to the progress screen, open the Manage Structures page and locate the original structure. It should show that the structure is being copied.

When cloning is completed, or if there are warnings or questions from the cloning process, the link will read "Waiting for input". Click the link to open the cloning progress page.

Cancelling Cloning

You can cancel the cloning process from the cloning progress page by pressing the Cancel link.

Issues that have already been created by the cloning process will be assembled into a special structure named "[Cancelled Cloning Result]". You can use Bulk Change to quickly delete the unwanted issues.

Cloning Queue

Cloning issues can place considerable load on a Jira server. To avoid overloading the server with cloning jobs, there is a limit to the number of cloning processes that can happen simultaneously. If this limit is exceeded, your cloning process will initially be in "waiting" state, pending for other cloning processes to finish.