How to Auto-Fill Issue Pickers Based on Existing Links

1. Why Auto-Filling?

Required Jira Role: Jira Software Administrator

Auto-filling is useful for the following reasons:

• Migration from VIP.LEAN Advanced Links to VIP.LEAN Issue Pickers: An initial population of the new Issue Pickers is necessary to restore the same state as in the old app.
• Migration from a competitor’s app to VIP.LEAN Issue Pickers.
• Installation in an existing instance with already linked work items that need to be initially populated.

2. Preconditions

Required Jira Role: Jira Software Administrator

Before executing the auto-fill, the Jira admin should complete the following tasks:

• Create the new Issue Picker using the VIP.LEAN app.
• Configure the Issue Picker, including all required parameters. A link type must be configured to enable the auto-fill feature.
• Configure contexts, if necessary, using different selection logic (e.g., based on current project and/or JQL).
• Assign the Issue Picker to the correct Edit screens of the issue types and projects where you want to auto-fill.
• Ensure that the target work items already have existing links to work items that match the Issue Picker’s JQL and context configuration.

3. Prepare the Auto-Fill Bulk Process

Required Jira Role: Jira Software Administrator

‍

Click on the Auto-Fill icon next to the Issue Picker you want to auto-fill:
‍

The app will now perform the following checks:

• Identify the custom field behind the selected Issue Picker.
• Check which Edit screens the custom field is assigned to.
• Navigate through the screen schemes and issue type screen schemes to determine which projects and issue types allow the app to edit the Issue Picker.
  ‍

The results will be displayed for your review:

‍

The Jira Admin can adapt the selection:

• Select a subset of projects to include in the auto-fill process.
• Add your own JQL filter, which will be combined with the search logic using an "AND" condition.

Then click on "Load work item candidates". The app looks for:

• Work items matching the selected project and issue type conditions.
• Work items matching the JQL filter (if entered).
• Work items where the Issue Picker field is empty (auto-fill only applies to empty fields).
• Work items linked using the correct link type to other work items that fully match the Issue Picker’s JQL and context conditions.
  ‍

4. Select the Work Items for the Auto-Fill Process

Required Jira Role: Jira Software Administrator

The app scans up to 3,000 work items to identify those eligible for auto-fill. If more than 1,000 eligible work items are found, the admin can process a maximum of 1,000 per batch.

The admin will receive a list of candidates including:

• The source work items
• The target field value that would be filled

The admin can either:

• Select all candidates
• Manually select specific work items to auto-fill

If the results need refinement:

• return to step 3
• adjust the JQL or project selection,
• and click "Load Work Item Candidates" again
  ‍

5. Execute the Auto-Fill Process

Required Jira Role: Jira Software Administrator

The admin can now push the Start button and the process starts. It can be cancelled at any time.
‍

‍

After completion, a final message will be displayed:

‍

The process window can now be closed (click "Cancel"). The Jira Admin can check the changes in the work items.
‍

6. Handling of a Major Number of Work Items

Required Jira Role: Jira Software Administrator

After a full iteration of an Auto-Fill bulk action, the popup window must be closed by clicking "Cancel."

To process the remaining work items, restart from Step 3. The next list of candidates may be:

• Empty, if all eligible work items have already been processed, or
• A new batch of eligible work items ready for processing.

Note: Previously processed work items now have their Issue Picker fields filled and are therefore no longer considered as candidates.

Similar to Atlassian’s own bulk processing limitations, the 1,000-item limit is crucial to protect the performance and stability of your Jira instance.

‍