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Integration to Microsoft Excel add-in allows you to import or export Jira issues directly into an excel spreadsheet and provide offline access to requirements data. Now you can create new and modify existing artifacts directly in the sheet and submit changes later. Issues from the whole projects or only a specific subset of their contents can be loaded as per need.

To export requirements from Microsoft Excel to Jira you must install the R4J Microsoft Excel add-in on your client machine.

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Overview

The integration of R4J and Microsoft Excel allows you to import Jira issues into an Excel spreadsheet and use the spreadsheet for various purposes, including the following:

The integration requires the installation of the R4J Microsoft Excel Add-in on your client. This page describes how to do that and how to connect to Jira and import issues into Excel. It also explains the global settings of the add-in and its limitations. Details about the various uses of the add-in are to be found in the pages referenced above.

Table of Contents

System Requirements

  • Office 2010 and above

  • .net Framework 4.6.1 or newer

Supported Protocols

Supports

  • TLS 1.0, 1.1 and 1.2 network security protocols

Supports both

Configuration of Jira connection

Steps to setup connection:

  • HTTP and HTTPS

Table of Contents

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Configure the Jira connection

  • Download and install R4J Microsoft Excel add-in.

Click

  • Go here to get the latest version.

MS

  • Microsoft Excel and check if the Jira ribbon is now available

.

  • :

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  • Image Added
Click

  • Select the Settings option under the Jira ribbon. To connect, enter

your

  • the Jira server

url

  • URL, login

username

  • user name, and password. It is possible to connect to different instances of Jira servers.

Click

  • (However, only one instance can be active at a time.)

  • Select the Test button in the Settings dialog to check if the add-in can successfully connect to

your

  • the given instance of Jira

server

  • .

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Loading

Load Jira Issues in Excel

To load Jira issues to your excel spreadsheet,

  • Select Load Data under the Jira ribbon.

  • There are 3 available options to

import

  • select Jira issues

to your excel

  • for import into an Excel spreadsheet.

by Project (default active tab), select

    • Project: Select a project from the list.

by using your Jira filters, click on

    • Saved filters: Select the Filters tab and

select

    • choose a filter from the list.

by writing your own JQL, click on

    • JQL: Select the JQL tab and enter

your

    • a JQL query.

 (You can also validate your JQL before clicking next) Click

    •  The expression can be validated before proceeding.

  • Select Next.

Configure

  • Select the Jira fields to include in the import

by including the desired fields as selected fields

  • .


  • Key, Project key, Issue

type

  • Type and Summary are

default required selected fields.Click

  • required for the import. (The choice of fields is saved for future sessions.)

  • Select Finish.

After

loading

downloading the data, the Jira issues

will be

are displayed in the

sheet. Below is an example excel loaded with JIRA issues.

Image Removed

info

worksheet - for example:

Image Added

The headers have a color scheme

which

that identifies read-only versus

editable

modifiable fields

.

:

  • Dark Gray

 - Read

  • : read only

  • Light Gray

 - Editable Panel

You can easily manage your Jira issues after loading it in Excel. Update issues in bulk or create new issues using previous Jira data.

Note that editable fields are indicated by a light gray header. Refer to the heading color schemes mentioned previously.

Updating Jira issues

  1. Load the Jira data to be updated.
    In order to modify specific fields, select the desired fields upon configuring JIRA fields for import.
  2. Modify the fields of the Jira issue you want to update.
  3. Use check to view the cells that have been changed. Modified data will have a yellow background.
  4. After double checking, click Upload Data.
  5. A Result dialog will be displayed to show the summary of the operation (including whatever errors occurred upon upload).

Creating new Jira issues

  1. Prepare an Excel sheet with following table headings:
    • Required: Key, Project Key, Issue Type, Summary
      • Further required fields depend on your project configuration
    • Optional: Requirement Path - to assign the new issue to a new or existing path in R4J.
      • Further fields as of your project need
  2. Fill the table with the Jira data for the new issues to be created.
    • Leave the key blank when creating new issues.
    • Project key is required to identify in which project the new issues will be created.
    • Summary and Issue Type are mandatory system fields in Jira.
    • If a required field is not provided on data upload, it will be presented as an error in the Results dialog log after upload.
  3. Click Upload Data.
  4. A Result dialog will be displayed to show the summary of the operation.
Info
  1. To create columns with the required and optional fields, you can use Load Data and configure Jira fields as selected fields. Required fields already selected.
  2. Issue Links to new Jira issues can be setup by using the Excel line number of the new Jira issue, the used link relation must be valid:
1

Key

Project Key

Issue Type

Summary

Issue LinksRequirement Path2SCFunctional RequirementNew functional requirementspecified by:3SandCastle Project/Component Requirements3SCSystem RequirementNew system requirementspecifies:2SandCastle Project/System Requirements

Setup a Parent-Child relation 

  1. Include the Requirement Path into the excel sheet
  2. For the child item: Repeat the path of the parent item, add the issue ID number as path element (/ID-123)
    This works also for new children items.

An valid example 

Key

Project Key

Issue Type

Summary

Requirement Path

SC-20

SC

Functional Requirement

Existing Functional Requirement of SandCastle (SC) project

Sand Castle Project/Component Requirements

SC-21

SC

Functional Requirement

Existing requirement, add as child requirement to SC-20

Sand Castle Project/Component Requirements/SC-20

SC

Functional Requirement

New requirement, add as child requirement for SC-21 (nested)

Sand Castle Project/Component Requirements/SC-21

Info

The parent item must already exist in Jira.

Add values to multi-selection fields

You can assign different values to fields like Labels, Issue Links or version fields when you split the values by new lines. Example:

Key

Project Key

Issue Type

Summary

Labels

Issue LinksFix Versions

SC-25

SC

Functional Requirement

Add Labels and Versions

important
severe

trace to:SC-15
trace from:SC-21

1.0
2.0

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Optional Settings

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Show changed values as excel comments

When this option is set, performing check on the changes of the Jira data will be put in the comments. Difference between the Jira data and the current excel data will be displayed on the comments.

Show elapsed time

This optional setting will display the elapsed time of each operation.

  • When loading Jira data, a dialog box will appear displaying the elapsed time of the whole operation.
  • When uploading Jira data, the elapsed time will be displayed at the bottom of the result dialog.

This option will display the issue key column as hyperlink. This will provide easy access to the actual Jira issue in the server.

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Limitations and Known Issues

  • Folder descriptions in the Requirement tree are not supported.
  • Comments are not supported.
  • Attachments not supported
  • OSX is not supported by the MS Excel Plugin.

    • There is currently no support for OSX planned by Microsoft.

  • Unresolved resolution field is shown as empty field as Jira does not store a value for this.
    • Workflow state can´t be changed as Jira only allow state changes via transactions

    • : editable

    Comments

    Issue comments are displayed as Excel notes.

    Settings

    The Settings dialog displays the login data for the different Jira instances that have been used. The following global options are available:

    Option

    Result

    Remember me

    Login credentials are saved for future sessions.

    Show changed values as excel comments

    Comments noting the changes made by the import are added to the affected Jira issues.

    Show issue key column as hyperlink

    The values of the Key column are formatted as hyperlinks to provide quick access to the issues on the Jira server.

    Write Debug Logs

    Debugging information is logged. Note that the debug file grows quickly!

    Maximum number of comments per issue

    The number of comments that are downloaded from the Jira server is limited to the given number.

    Limitations

    • Folder headings in the project tree are not supported.

    • MAC OSX office and Microsoft Office 365 on Office.com are not supported.

    • The value of the Resolution field of an unresolved issue is empty, following Jira’s practice.

    • The workflow Status field cannot be modified.

    • Issue comments cannot be updated or deleted.