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 overflow 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 overflow menu at the top right of the Sheet you would like to copy, and choose Copy. In the next step, you’ll probably want to enter a new name for the new Sheet. Save it by clicking the Save button at the top right.

Creating sheets from a filter

Stay tuned

This feature is not released yet.

Deleting sheets

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

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

Editing sheets

You need to edit a Sheet for this (click Edit sheet icon at 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.

Sheet scope

Editing sheets

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

Change a Sheet’s scope by clicking on the JQL (Jira Query Language (opens new window)) composer bar above the table, and editing or entering a new query statement. To see the changes reflected in the table below, click the Apply button or press ⌘ Cmd ↲ Enter (macOS) or ^ Ctrl ↲ Enter (Windows, Linux, etc.) while in the composer bar.

No worries if you are inexperienced with JQL, as the JQL 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

Editing sheets

You need to edit a Sheet for this (click Edit sheet icon at 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

Editing sheets

You need to edit a Sheet for this (click Edit sheet icon at 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

Editing sheets

You need to edit a Sheet for this (click Edit sheet icon at 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 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.

Choosing column display format

For some Field types you can choose between different Display formats. To do so, hover with the cursor over the header of the desired column, a More column preferences icon appears. Click it, choose Edit display format, and in the dialog that opens choose a Display format. Click the Save button to commit your changes.

Alternatively, edit a sheet (click the Edit sheet icon at 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 Display format. Apply the change and click the Save button at the top right to commit your changes.

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 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 overflow 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