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'Cloning' (copying) an issue allows you to quickly create a duplicate of an issue within the same project. The clone issue is a replica of the original issue, containing the same information stored in the original issue — e.g. Summary, Affects Versions, Components, etc. The clone issue can also be linked to the original issue using a 'clone' link.
A clone issue is a separate entity from the original issue. Operations on the original issue have no effect on the clone issue and vice versa. The only connection is a link (if created) between the original and the clone issue.
A clone issue retains the following information:
- Summary — with optional prefix (specified in jira-application.properties)
- Description
- Assignee
- Environment
- Priority
- Issue Type
- Security
- Reporter (note that, if you do not have the 'Modify Reporter' permission, the clone issue will be created with the same Reporter as the original issue)
- Components
- Affects Versions
- Fix For Versions
- Issue Links (optional)
- Attachments (optional)
- Project (note that, once the clone has been saved, you can move it to another project as described in Moving an Issue)
Details such as time tracking and comments are not cloned.
Creating a Clone Issue
To clone an issue,
- Open the JIRA issue which you wish to clone.
- From the 'More Actions' menu, select 'Clone'. The 'Clone Issue' screen will appear.
- You can edit the clone issue's Summary if you wish.
- If the issue contains links to other issue(s), you can select whether or not to include the links in the new clone issue.
- If the issue contains sub-tasks, you can select whether or not to create the sub-tasks in the new clone issue.
- If the issue contains attachments, you can select whether or not to include the attachments in the new clone issue.
- Click the 'Create' button.
Clone Issue Linking
The clone issue can be automatically linked to the original issue when creating the clone issue, using a pre-existing link type.
JIRA queries the jira-application.properties file for the jira.clone.linktype.name setting.
- If this property is unset, JIRA will not create a link between the original and clone issues.
- If this property is set, JIRA will use the pre-existing link type with the specified name as the link type (the default link type is 'Cloners'). If a link type with this name does not exist, a link is not created between the original and clone issues.
If linking of clone issues is required, your JIRA administrator should create the link type with the name specified in the properties file before anyone starts creating clone issues.
Clone Issue Summary Prefix
The clone issue summary can be prefixed with a string, e.g. "Clone Issue - ". This string is specified by your JIRA administrator in jira-application.properties with the jira.clone.prefix property and is prefixed to the issue summary. The default prefix is 'CLONE - '.
Cloning and Sub-Tasks
Sub-Tasks can be cloned in the same manner as other issue types.
If the original issue has associated sub-tasks, clone sub-tasks will also be created for the clone issue. However, the clone sub-task summaries will not include the prefix specified in the properties file.