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How to sync Jira issues statuses across different projects or instances?

Written by Clara Belin-Brosseau

Managing Jira tickets across multiple projects or instances can quickly become a logistical challenge, especially when teams rely on shared workflows or need to coordinate their tasks. Keeping issue statuses updated across projects is crucial to maintaining visibility, alignment, and efficiency. In this article, we’ll explore how to sync Jira issues, particularly their statuses, using Elements Copy & Sync.


Why would you need to sync Jira issues and statuses?

Many organizations use Jira to manage both customer support and development work, often spanning multiple projects or even instances. Here are some common scenarios where syncing Jira issues and statuses becomes essential:

  • Cross-team collaboration: Teams working in different Jira projects often need to stay updated on the progress of linked issues, such as when a customer support ticket depends on a bug fix by the development team.
  • Better visibility: Keeping issue statuses synced across projects ensures that all stakeholders have a clear view of the current progress, minimizing miscommunication.
  • Efficiency and consistency: Manual updates are time-consuming and prone to errors. Automating the process saves time and ensures data accuracy.
  • Scaling across instances: Large organizations using multiple Jira instances often need to sync Jira issue data between them for smoother cross-functional collaboration.

Syncing Jira statuses, ensures alignment and helps teams avoid bottlenecks caused by outdated information.

Learn how synchronizing Jira issues can improve your project management processes


Synchronizing with Elements Copy & Sync

Elements Copy & Sync is an Atlassian marketplace app designed to automate the synchronization (two-ways)of Jira issues across projects and even instances. Here’s how it can help you synchronize fields, statuses, and other key elements.

Syncing Jira issue fields

When synchronizing issues, fields such as summary, description, assignee, comments, attachments and priority often need to be consistent across projects. With Elements Copy & Sync, you can:

  • Map fields across projects: Ensure that specific fields, like “Summary” or “Priority,” in one project match their counterparts in another.

  • Maintain real-time updates: Any changes to fields in one project are automatically reflected in the linked issues of other projects. Synchronization can be set one-way or two-ways.

Syncing statuses of Jira issues

One of the most critical aspects of syncing Jira issues is ensuring that their statuses are aligned. For example, if an issue is marked as “In Progress” in one project, the corresponding issue in another project should reflect the same status.

  • Automate status updates: With Elements Copy & Sync, status changes in the source issue are automatically replicated in the linked issues.
  • Bidirectional syncing: Status updates can be synchronized in both directions, ensuring consistency regardless of where the status was updated.
  • Customizable workflows: Map custom workflows to ensure that even unique status names or progress paths are synced correctly.

Syncing across projects and instances

Elements Copy & Sync isn’t limited to a single Jira instance. If your organization operates across multiple Jira instances, this app ensures seamless synchronization:

  • Cross-instance support: Sync Jira issues between Jira Cloud instances.
  • Unified view: Gain a unified view of progress across all Jira projects and instances, breaking down silos between teams.
  • Scalable setup: Easily manage synchronization even as your organization scales, adding more projects and instances.

With Elements Copy & Sync, syncing Jira tickets—whether fields or statuses—becomes effortless, allowing teams to stay aligned and focus on delivering value.


Elements Copy & Sync vs. Jira Automation

Jira Automation is a built-in feature that provides some capability for syncing data between projects. However, when it comes to syncing Jira issues comprehensively, particularly across instances, Elements Copy & Sync offers unique advantages.

Advantages of Elements Copy & Sync over Jira Automation

  1. Cross-Instance Synchronization: While Jira Automation is limited to a single instance, Elements Copy & Sync enables seamless synchronization between different Jira instances.
  2. Granular Customization: Elements Copy & Sync offers detailed control over which fields, statuses, and attachments are synced, ensuring flexibility to meet specific needs.
  3. User-Friendly Interface: Configuring synchronization recipes in Elements Copy & Sync is intuitive, making it easier for teams to set up sync rules without requiring extensive technical expertise.
  4. Bidirectional syncing: Unlike Jira Automation, which often requires multiple rules to achieve bidirectional synchronization, Elements Copy & Sync handles this seamlessly with fewer configurations.
  5. Support for Attachments and Comments: Elements Copy & Sync goes beyond syncing fields and statuses by also synchronizing comments and attachments, fostering better communication between teams.

When to use Jira Automation?

Jira Automation is best suited for simpler use cases within a single instance, such as:

  • Triggering notifications based on status changes.
  • Copying specific fields between tickets within the same instance.
  • Performing repetitive tasks for straightforward workflows.

However, for more complex requirements—such as cross-instance synchronization, customizable workflows, and maintaining a unified view across projects—Elements Copy & Sync is the better choice.


Conclusion

Keeping Jira tickets and their statuses synced is essential for fostering collaboration, improving visibility, and maintaining consistency across teams. Whether you’re working within a single project, across multiple projects, or even between different Jira instances, Elements Copy & Sync provides a robust solution for seamless synchronization.

Unlike basic tools like Jira Automation, Elements Copy & Sync offers advanced capabilities, such as cross-instance support, bidirectional syncing, and customizable mapping of fields and workflows. You can then ensure that teams remain aligned, tickets are accurately updated, and workflows run smoothly.

If syncing Jira issues is a critical part of your team’s operations, consider implementing Elements Copy & Sync today to take your Jira workflows to the next level.

Try it for free now.