how to mention a JIRA issue in the description or comment of another issue? (2024)

Atlassian Team

Hello everyone,

Jira Cloud changed a lot since this question was created, so I would like to update this thread to add the current behavior when adding a link to another issue on the description and comments.

The new issue view uses Markdown editor and in order to mention another ticket, you can simply type the issue key and press space or enter/return for the text to be updated with the link. You can also paste the link to the description or comment that will automatically be converted to the link showing the issue type, issue key, summary, and status.

If you are still using the old view that uses Wiki Markup, then it's necessary to type the issue key and save the comment/description for it to show the issue type, issue key, and status or use [IT-123|https://xxxxxx.atlassian.net/browse/IT-123].

Hope this clarifies!

If you have any other questions or if you are facing issues, since the original question is from 2018, please, raise a new question so we can better investigate what is happening.

Regards,
Angélica

I am glad that typing the issue key in the new Markdown editor creates a link. However, it only works if you type in upper case. IT-123 will convert; it-123 will not. It's a minor annoyance, but in the old Markup editor, either case will be converted into a link to the referenced issue.

Also, the new Markdown editor only seems to be available when viewing an issue. Creating a new issue and transitioning an issue through the workflow still use the old Markup editor. A bigger annoyance in that issue keys that appear as links in the old Markup editor do not become links in the new Markdown view. It is a shame that the new view is not backwards compatible.

It should be noted that in the new editor you need whitespace before the key. Putting it in braces doesn't work.

This won't expand (JIRA-123<space>

But this will ( JIRA-123<space>

HelloAngélica,

When I type an issue (ex: GET-117) nothing happens, no link appears. I have done this by opening the issue page, same result. I am using Jira Cloud.

Any ideas?

Thanks,

Michael

Atlassian Team

Hello@Michael Simmons,

Thank you for reaching out to Community!

When we need to mention a ticket on a comment, it’s necessary to type the issue key and press space or enter. If we just type and save the comment, it won’t convert the issue key to a link.

Also, when the ticket doesn’t exist, it will show only plain text.

Kind regards,
Angélica

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Hi @AN , should this also work in the OSX Jira App?

I am able to link a ticket in a description, but I haven't been able to do it in a comment.

The only way that has worked for me is pasting the whole url. Is it possible by just typing the ticket key?

Edit:

Actually, now that I checked again, I don't think linking from a ticket description is consistent. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Doesn't matter if I add an space or return after the ticket key

Atlassian Team

Hello@Ignacio Martínez,

Thank you for reaching out to Community!

On the Jira Cloud for Mac, the behavior is different and it’s only converted when adding the entire URL of the ticket.

There is a feature request suggesting this improvement:

• When adding an issue key on a comment in Jira Cloud for Mac, it should be automatically converted to a clickable link the same as the Web version

Please, click on vote and also watch to receive updates about the feature.

Kind regards,
Angélica

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Hi@Angélica Luz,

The ticket conversion is nice, but I have a product name that happens to match a Jira Ticket name so every time I mention the product name it autoconverts to a link to the Jira ticket. How do I escape the text so that it does not auto-convert to a link?

@Scott Snowden, Try this for text in the Description:

For the new issue view:

Enter your Jira Ticket name (e.g. TKT-1234) followed by a period and space and the rest of your text. Then go back and delete the period.

For the old issue view, you can enter the ticket like this:

TKT\-1234

The backslash (\) escapes the dash (-) and prevents Jira from converting it into a link.

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As far as I can tell, none of the options work on Jira Desktop or in the browser. I've tried adding a space, hitting enter and even pasting the URL. None of them auto link. Using latest version of the desktop app.

Additionally, there is no WYSIWYG option to link to a ticket. This seems like such basic functionality I'm blown away Jira doesn't support it. Github has supported this for nearly a decade from my recollection.

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Well, that works, but it's not as nice as the old view which automatically translated Jira issue numbers into links. Doing it this way, the issue number, summary, and status all appear in the text. If I switch to the old issue view, I only have to enter the issue number and save and the wiki markup editor converts it to an issue link with just the number and status, and when you mouse-over the link you can see the summary.

In the new editor, if after pressing enter to get the issue link you then edit the link to remove the summary, it treats it as an external link; that is, you don't get the status or the summary on mouse-over.

Leave it to Atlassian to take 1 step forward and two back on the UI.

Follow up...

But, if you enter it via the old view, you only get the issue link IN THE OLD VIEW! The new view shows the issue number as text without a link or status. So it appears to be an issue with the new page renderer not recognizing the issue number and creating the link.

I don't think any of those work for you, there are only 2 ways that worked for me, and both related to actual links.

I put all my attempts in the video in case someone will find it easier that way to learn (there are no ads or anything) :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USj7HKy1u6w

Community Leader

Hello,

usually, simply writing the issue key without anything else (no # or []) should be enough. Have you tried that ?

Cheers,

— Alexis

Community Leader

Could you check what the renderer of the comment field is.

* Admin -> Field Configurations -> The field configuration of your project -> Find Comments

It should be wiki renderer:

Cheers,

-- Alexis

Hi,

I have what you have pictured there. I had found that seeting in f another post as well, but it's still not parsing issues in comments and descriptions.

It would appear there is in fact a bug with the software:

https://jira.atlassian.com/browse/JRACLOUD-69230

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For online it works with just typing projectname and dash with the number like PROJ-34

and then hitting enter

It seems to parse it then and puts as a link

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