Custom field assessment and merging
Find out which fields are dead weight, then merge duplicates without losing existing values.
Custom fields are the classic Jira problem: easy to create, frightening to delete, and slow for everybody once there are thousands. Two tools handle the two halves — knowing what you have, and safely reducing it.
Custom Fields Health Assessment
What it does. Scans every custom field on the site and groups the problems it finds into categories. It changes nothing, so it is safe to run any time.
Custom Fields Health Assessment
Cleanup, consolidation, naming, searchability and option quality across every custom field.
| Category | Fields | Recommended action |
|---|---|---|
| Empty fields | 412 | Retire unused custom fields |
| Duplicate definitions | 88 | Consolidate duplicate definitions |
| Migration residue | 203 | Delete empty migrated copies |
| Naming hygiene | 156 | Standardize field naming |
| Option quality | 74 | Normalize select options and contexts |
| Searchability | 61 | Review non-searchable migrated fields |
| Redundant contexts | 39 | Normalize select options and contexts |
| Category | What it means | What to do about it |
|---|---|---|
| Empty fields | The field has no values on any issue. | Delete them. These are the safest deletions you will ever make. |
| Duplicate definitions | Several fields that mean the same thing. | Merge them with the Custom Field Merger, below. |
| Migration residue | Copies left behind by a migration, usually empty and usually tagged “(migrated)”. | Delete them, or clean the names with the migration tools. |
| Naming hygiene | ALL CAPS names, unnamed fields, inconsistent conventions. | Rename them. This is why nobody can find the right field. |
| Option quality | Select fields with a single option, or option lists that need tidying. | Normalise the options. |
| Searchability | Fields that cannot be searched properly, usually migrated fields with the wrong searcher. | Review them; a field nobody can search is not doing its job. |
| Redundant contexts | Several contexts on one field where one would do. | Consolidate the contexts. |
The assessment produces prioritised recommendations and exports as CSV or PDF. Send the PDF to whoever has to approve a cleanup: it makes the case without them opening an admin screen. Take the CSV if you want to sort and filter it yourself.
Custom Field Merger
What it does. Merges duplicate fields into one. Doing this by hand means copying values issue by issue, then hunting down every screen that references the old field. This tool does both halves.
Custom Field Merger
Merge duplicate custom fields by generating CSV import files and replacing screen references.
| Field | ID | Issues | Screens | Role | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Affected Service | customfield_10233 | 8,412 | 6 | TARGET | |
| Service affected | customfield_11042 | 1,187 | 3 | Source | |
| Affected service (migrated) | customfield_11890 | 204 | 1 | Source |
1,391 rows generated · batch size 4,0004 screens to update- 1Auto-Analyze finds mergeable groups automatically, or use Manual Select to choose the fields yourself.
- 2Pick the target field — the one that survives — and confirm the source fields.
- 3Generate CSV. The tool produces a CSV of the issue values plus a config file, split into batches — 4,000 rows each by default, adjustable between 2,000 and 7,000. Download All as ZIP takes every batch at once.
- 4In Jira, go to Settings → System → External System Import, choose Select CSV as the import source, and point it at the CSV together with the generated config file. Repeat for each batch.
- 5Preview screens shows every screen and tab that references the source fields. Replace on screens swaps them for the target field.
- 6Move source fields to trash once the values and screens are done.
Field Screens Migrator
What it does. The screen half of a merge, on its own. You pick a field to remove from screens and a field to put in its place, and it does the swap everywhere the first one appears — same tab, same position.
Use it when the values do not need to move: a field being retired that was never filled in, a rename that turned into a replacement, or the tail end of a merge you did by hand. If the values matter, use the Custom Field Merger, which does this step as part of a longer sequence.
- 1Pick Field to remove from screens and Field to put in its place.
- 2Optionally tick Also mark which screens are used by workflow transitions — a transition screen is the one where an unexpected change is noticed last.
- 3Preview Screens. It lists every screen tab the source field sits on, and says for each whether the target is already there. The preview changes nothing.
- 4Apply. Where the target is already present, only the source is removed; where it is not, it is added in the source's slot.
- 5If the source field is now on no screen at all, the tool offers to move it to trash — restorable from the Custom fields admin page for 60 days.