Managing sheets

Creating and deleting sheets

In every Project in Jira there is at least one Sheet, which by default shows all Issues of the Project. You can change this Sheet and you can create as many more Sheets as you like. Sheets are used for all sorts of purposes, such as project, portfolio, and asset management, roadmap prioritisation, backlog maintenance, sprint planning, requests triage, task tracking, managing time sheets, etc. Whatever it is you do in Jira today, you might be able to do it quicker in a Sheet. Depending on the use case you will want to set up multiple Sheets with different sheet scopes, table columns, sorting etc.

Creating new sheets

To create a new Sheet, open the Sheets menu by clicking on the Sheets button at the upper left corner of any existing Sheet, and choose Create sheet.

Alternatively, open the More menu at the top right of any existing Sheet, choose Create.

Copying sheets

You can create a new Sheet by duplicating an existing one. Open the More menu at the top right of the Sheet you would like to copy, and choose Copy.

In the dialog that appears, choose the Project where you would like the new Sheet to be located in. v2.5.1

In the next step, you’ll probably want to enter a new title for the new Sheet. Save it by clicking the Save button at the top right.

Creating sheets from a filter

You can also create a new Sheet from an existing Jira Filter (opens new window) accessible to you, or from a search result saved as a new Filter. Simply create a new Sheet and when defining its scope, choose the relevant Filter.

This will tie the Sheet to the associated Filter's search query, but not to the Filter's column layout, as Jira Advanced issue search ("Issue navigator") and JXL offer different sets of columns. Add and arrange columns in your Sheet to your liking and save it by clicking the Save button at the top right.

Moving sheets

You can move a Sheet from one Project to another. Open the More menu at the top right of the Sheet you would like to move, and choose Copy.

In the dialog that appears, choose the Project where you would like the Sheet to be located in. v2.5.1

In the next step, save the Sheet in its new location by clicking the Save button at the top right. Optionally, navigate back to the origin Project and delete the old Sheet there by opening the More menu at the top right of the Sheet again and choosing Delete.

Deleting sheets

To delete a Sheet, open the More menu at the top right of the Sheet you would like to delete and choose Delete.

Sharing sheets

To invite others to work in a Sheet with you, click the Share sheet icon at the top right of the Sheet you would like to share. In the dialog that opens click Copy link, then paste the copied address into a message and send it to your recipients.

If you'd like to share a link to the Sheet in a particular state of features and view preferences, consider (creating and) choosing a View in the menu at the top of the dialog.

Editing sheets

Sheets, like Boards and Queues, are named entities that can be edited, i.e. configured. To edit a Sheet (as opposed to the Issues inside the Sheet), click the Edit sheet icon at the top right of the Sheet you would like to change. Once you’re in the sheet editing view, you can change its title, scope, and table columns:

Sheet title

You need to edit a Sheet for this (click Edit sheet icon at the top right of a Sheet).

Change a Sheet’s title by clicking on the title field at the upper left corner of the page, and entering a new title. Click the Save button at the top right to commit your changes.

Sheets can be organised in folders within Projects. When editing a title, you can type two forward slashes // to create and nest the Sheet in a folder. For example, a title "Folder 1 // Folder 2 // Sheet A" will nest the Sheet in a folder "Folder 1", sub-folder "Folder 2", and title it "Sheet A". v3.0.5

Sheet description v3.1.1

You can optionally add a description to your Sheets to provide others with context, e.g. what the Sheet contains, who its audience is, how it should be used as part of your business processes, etc.

To view or add a sheet description, open the sheet details dialog by clicking the View sheet details icon on the right of the sheet title. Click the bottom section of the sheet details dialog to add or edit a description.

Sheet scope

You need to edit a Sheet for this (click Edit sheet icon at the top right of a Sheet).

Change a Sheet’s scope using the scope composer bar above the table. Choose between JQL and Filter. In JQL mode, you can edit or enter a new query statement (Jira Query Language (opens new window)). In Filter mode, you can pick one of the Filters (opens new window) available to you in your Jira site. v2.8.0

To see the changes reflected in the table below, click the Apply button or press ⌘ Cmd ↲ Enter (macOS) or ⌃ Ctrl ↲ Enter (Windows, Linux, etc.) for a JQL query.

No worries if you are inexperienced with JQL, as the scope composer bar offers educational hints and a powerful auto-complete suggestions experience that guides you to your desired scope in no time. Click the Save button at the top right to commit your changes.

Adding columns

You need to edit a Sheet for this (click Edit sheet icon at the top right of a Sheet).

To add a column to the table of a Sheet, hover with the cursor over the position in the table where you want to create the column (i.e. over a column border), and click the line or the Add icon that appears above the table. In the Add column dialog that appears next, choose from Jira system Fields, your own Custom fields should you have any (feature coming soon), and further issue-related data, to add as a column to your table. Click the Save button at the top right to commit your changes.

Keep in mind

While you can add any column to any Sheet in JXL, many table cells will only be available and editable for individual Issue types if you have configured Jira accordingly. You need to have the appropriate Field added to the Issue type’s Screen in your Jira settings, specifically to the Edit operation Screen, or in absence of that to the Default Screen (Manage issue screens (opens new window)). The Field must also not be hidden in Field configurations. In Team-managed projects in Jira Cloud, the Field has to be added to the Issue type in Project settings (Customize an issue type's fields (opens new window)).

Removing columns

You need to edit a Sheet for this (click Edit sheet icon at the top right of a Sheet).

To remove a column from the table of a Sheet, hover with the cursor over the relevant column, and click the Remove icon that appears above the table. Click the Save button at the top right to commit your changes.

Re-arranging columns

You need to edit a Sheet for this (click Edit sheet icon at the top right of a Sheet).

To re-arrange the order of columns in the table of a Sheet, click the handle bar above the relevant column header cell, drag it horizontally to the desired new position, and drop it there. Click the Save button at the top right to commit your changes.

Renaming columns v1.2.5

To rename a column heading in the table of a Sheet, hover with the cursor over the header of the desired column, a More column preferences icon appears. Click it, choose Rename column, and in the dialog that opens type in your new column heading. Click the Save button to commit your changes.

Alternatively, edit a sheet (click the Edit sheet icon at the top right of a Sheet), hover with the cursor over the header of the desired column, an Edit column icon appears. Click it and in the dialog that opens type in your new column heading. Apply the change and click the Save button at the top right to commit your changes.

Cell content

For some columns you can choose between different Cell content. For example, in Linked issues columns you can configure which Issue link descriptions to include.

To do so, hover with the cursor over the header of the desired column, a More column preferences icon appears. Click it, choose Edit cell content, and in the dialog that opens choose Cell content. Click the Save button to commit your changes.

Alternatively, edit a sheet (click the Edit sheet icon at the top right of a Sheet), hover with the cursor over the header of the desired column, an Edit column icon appears. Click it and in the dialog that opens choose Cell content. Apply the change and click the Save button at the top right to commit your changes.

Cell format

For some columns you can choose between different Cell formats. For example, in time tracking columns you can configure how time values are displayed.

To do so, hover with the cursor over the header of the desired column, a More column preferences icon appears. Click it, choose Edit cell format, and in the dialog that opens choose a Cell format. Click the Save button to commit your changes.

Alternatively, edit a sheet (click the Edit sheet icon at the top right of a Sheet), hover with the cursor over the header of the desired column, an Edit column icon appears. Click it and in the dialog that opens choose a Cell format. Apply the change and click the Save button at the top right to commit your changes.

Date and time format

Date and datetime Fields' values are formatted according to each individual User's locale preference in Jira. Unfortunately, Atlassian has tied the locale to the language preference, so the only way to affect this is by setting your Language.

In Jira Cloud, this personal setting can be found here in the Account preferences (opens new window) of the Atlassian account profile.

In Jira Data Center and Server, this personal setting can be found by clicking on your user avatar User profile in the Jira navigation header bar, choosing Profile, and scrolling down to Preferences.

Not all locales' formats are supported. For the ones not currently supported, JXL falls back to English (US).

Stay tuned

We are working on making it possible to set date and datetime Fields' format for all Users to the format globally configured in the System section of Jira settings.

Making columns read-only v1.3.0

To make cells of a column (that normally would be editable) read-only in a Sheet, edit it by clicking the Edit sheet icon at the top right of the Sheet, and hover with the cursor over the header of the desired column, an Edit column icon appears. Click it and in the dialog that opens activate the Read-only column switch. Apply the change and click the Save button at the top right to commit your changes.

Exporting sheets

To export a Sheet to a XLSX, CSV or TSV file, open the More menu at the upper right corner of the Sheet, and choose Export. In the dialog that opens, select a file format and click the Export button.

You can activate the Ignore view preferences and features checkbox in the dialog to ensure all Issues in the sheet scope will be exported (disregarding potentially currently active column filtering and sheet search), in the original sort order of the sheet scope (disregarding potentially currently active column sorting).

Adapting sheets v1.2.1

You can use any Sheet as a master Sheet to open it with an adapted scope and title using URL parameters. This is helpful for example when you need to integrate Sheets into processes with dynamically changing Issue scopes and when you need to programmatically open these Sheets.

{SHEET-URL}?jql={ADAPTED-JQL-QUERY}&title={ADAPTED-TITLE}

Replace {SHEET-URL} with the URL of the Sheet you would like to use as the master Sheet for the adapted Sheet. Any ordinary Sheet can be used as a master Sheet and you can create various Sheets with different table column layouts for that purpose.

Replace {ADAPTED-JQL-QUERY} with a JQL statement (Jira Query Language (opens new window)) and, optionally, {ADAPTED-TITLE} with a title for your adapted Sheet. Both parameters need to be URL-encoded (percent-encoded). Example:

{SHEET-URL}?jql=project%20%3D%20"ABC"&title=My%20adapted%20sheet