Optimize fields in your project
What is field optimization?
Having too many fields can slow down Jira. As a Jira administrator, you can reduce the number of fields available in your projects by removing unneeded field associations from field configuration schemes.
How to remove unused fields?
You may remove fields one by one using the field configuration page. This is good for when you want to have control over which fields exactly get removed. Alternatively, you can use the field optimizer to identify and remove unused fields in bulk.
How does Jira decide if a field is or unused unused?
A field is considered used if it meets at least one of the following criteria:
Has a value on a work item updated in the past two years
Is associated to a screen
Is a system field
Is created by a Connect or Forge app
If it meets none of these criteria, the field is considered unused and highlighted for removal by the field optimizer.
How to access the field optimizer?
Select Work items.
Under FIELDS, select Field configuration schemes to view all your field configuration schemes.
Click on your field configuration scheme name to enter the Configure field configuration scheme page.
Click the Optimize scheme button.
You should see a page with three possible actions.
Some of these actions may not be available, depending on your data.
How to remove unused fields from the current scheme
This option is not available if your scheme is already optimal, meaning all associated fields are used. If there are no unused fields, then there is nothing to remove.
You may still be able to split this scheme into smaller ones and remove more fields that way.
Look at the date of the last scan. If there have been any configuration changes between the last scan and now, the field usage report may be out of date. Click Update if you wish to generate a new report. It may take up to several hours to generate a report for large projects.
In the Remove unused fields from this field configuration scheme section, click the Review actions button.
Review the count of Used fields, count of Fields about to be removed, and the reduction percentage.
Click Remove fields.
Jira will now remove the unused fields. This operation should complete immediately and you can use your scheme straight away.
What does removing unused fields do exactly?
This action will modify the current scheme
The fields remain available in other schemes
You can associate the removed fields again
The removal will delete data attached to the association, meaning: field description, field renderer, and if a field is required or not. If you re-attach the field again, these settings will revert to their defaults.
The removal will not delete data on work items. The field values will remain inaccessible while the field is not associated. If you re-associate the field, field values on work items will appear again.
How to create a scheme variant
This option is not available if this scheme is only used by a single project.
Look at the date of the last scan. If there have been any configuration changes between the last scan and now, the field usage report may be out of date. Click Update if you wish to calculate a new report. It may take up to several hours to generate a report for large projects.
In the Create scheme variant section, select the project that you would like to isolate in its own scheme.
Click the Review actions button.
Review the count of Used fields, the count of Fields about to be removed, and the reduction percentage.
Click Remove fields.
Jira will now remove the unused fields. This operation should complete immediately and you can use your scheme straight away.
What does a new scheme variant do exactly?
This action will create a fresh new copy of the field configuration scheme, including copies of all field configuration inside of it
It will associate only used fields to the new scheme
It will use this new scheme in the project you selected
The previous scheme will remain unaffected
If you wish to undo this action, change the field configuration scheme back to the old one in project settings.
How to redefine your configuration schemes for all projects
This option is not available if this scheme is only used by a single project. It is also not available if your projects are already using optimal grouping.
Look at the date of the last scan. If there have been any configuration changes between the last scan and now, the field usage report may be out of date. Click Update if you wish to calculate a new report. It may take up to several hours to generate a report for large projects.
In the Redefine your configuration schemes section, click the Redefine configuration schemes button.
Review the count of Projects that will be optimized, the count of New schemes that are going to be created, and the field reduction percentage.
Click Create new schemes.
Jira will now create several new schemes. This operation may take several minutes to complete.
What does redefining do exactly?
This action is very similar to Creating a scheme variant described above
It also creates copies, and associates only used fields
It also leaves the previous scheme unmodified
If you wish to undo this action, change the field configuration scheme back to the old one in project settings.
There are two main differences:
Redefine will optimize every project.
Redefine may group several projects under the same scheme.
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