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Jira guides for beginners

Plain-language answers to the questions people ask when they start working in Jira: reading tickets and boards, writing good tickets, sprints, statuses and more.

Statuses and workflows

What statuses, transitions and resolutions mean, and how work moves from start to Done.

How to change status in Jira: board, ticket and bulk

Every way to change a ticket's status: drag, Status menu, keyboard and bulk, plus why a status can be missing.

Jira Done vs Closed vs Resolved: the difference

What Done, Resolved and Closed each mean, where they come from, and which one to use on your board.

Jira status vs resolution: what each one means

Status says where work is, resolution says why it ended. How the two differ and why an empty resolution breaks filters.

Jira workflow explained: statuses and transitions

What a workflow is, how statuses and transitions work, and why Jira refuses some moves on the board.

Tickets and work types

Choosing the right work type and writing tickets other people can act on.

How to clone a ticket in Jira: steps and what gets copied

How to clone a ticket, what the clone copies and what you must include, and when a fresh ticket is the better choice.

How to create a ticket in Jira, step by step

The Create dialog step by step: space, type, summary, description, the fields that matter and what to do after.

How to delete a ticket in Jira (and when to archive instead)

How to delete a ticket, the permission it needs, and when archiving or closing as Duplicate or Won't Do is better.

How to link tickets in Jira: blocks, relates to and duplicates

How to link tickets, which link type to use, and how to follow a chain of blockers to the real hold-up.

How to write a good Jira ticket (with examples)

What a ticket someone else can act on needs: type, a standalone summary, the facts, done criteria and honest priority.

Jira components vs labels: which one to use

How components and labels differ in setup, scope and auto-assignment, and when to use each one.

Story vs task vs bug in Jira: which one to pick

Bug, story or task? A one-question test and Atlassian's definitions, with examples.

Jira subtasks explained: when and how to use them

What a subtask is, where it sits in Jira's hierarchy, how to create one and when a separate ticket is the better choice.

What is an epic in Jira?

What an epic is, how work links to it with the parent field, and how epics differ from stories and sprints.

Everyday how-tos

Step-by-step answers for the things you do in Jira every week.

How to export Jira to Excel: steps and limits

How to export a Jira search to Excel or CSV, which option to choose, and how to handle the 10,000 item limit and garbled text.

Boards, sprints and backlogs

How boards, sprints and backlogs fit together, and what to check when work goes missing.

How to sort a Jira backlog by priority

Why the backlog is ordered by rank, not priority, how to put it in priority order, and the board filter trap.

Jira backlog vs sprint: what goes where

The difference between the backlog and a sprint, where new tickets land, and how work moves between them.

Jira epic not showing on the board? Why and fixes

Why epics are not cards on many boards, where they show instead, and what to check when an epic is missing.

Jira scrum vs kanban board: what's the difference?

How scrum and kanban boards differ in Jira: sprints, backlog, column limits and what happens to finished work.

Jira swimlanes explained: epics, assignees and queries

What swimlanes are, the five ways to group a board, the Everything Else lane, and how to choose.

Jira ticket not showing on the board? 7 checks

Seven checks, in order, for a ticket that exists but is not on the board: sprint, filters, board filter, unmapped status and more.

What is a sprint in Jira? Start to finish

What a sprint is, how long it lasts, and how a team plans, starts and completes one in Jira.

Jira basics

Start here: what Jira is, the words your team uses and the everyday skills.