Troubleshoot the timeline for team-managed spaces
This page is for software spaces
To check whether you’re in a software or business space, select More actions (•••) next to the space name in either the header or the sidebar. At the bottom of the menu that opens, your space details will be shown.
For teams using team-managed spaces, here's some common errors and what you can do to troubleshoot them from your timeline.
My timeline says “Update your board JQL to continue”. How do I fix this?
We’re making some changes to how JQL functions, which will be announced at a later date. Because of this, some timelines might break if the space isn’t explicitly defined in the board JQL.
This is an easy fix, however: a space admin needs to simply add project = "YourProjectKey" to the board JQL. After which, the space timeline will come back.
Those affected will get an error on their space timelines – even if the timeline previously worked.
Board filter exceeds work item limits
The timeline view of Jira can only show 5,000 work items at once with no more than 500 being at the parent level.
The timeline automatically excludes work items if they were:
moved to the Done status category more than a year ago
moved to the Done status category, and it has a due date from more than a year ago
To only display work items created within the last year:
From your space, select Work items and filters, then Advanced search.
In the search bar, enter this query, but replace:
NAME with the name of your space
DATE with the dates you’d like to focus on
project = NAME AND created >= DATE AND created <= DATE
Your timeline contains corrupt work items
A work item is considered corrupt if certain details, like the work type, status, status category, or rank settings are invalid. The details might have been missing when the work item was created or something might have gone wrong with a bulk import.
The timeline won’t display until the details in the corrupt work item are fixed.
To fix a corrupt work item, you must raise a support ticket. Our team will help fix the work item so you can continue using your timeline.
No parent work type in space
In order for a timeline to show, your space needs to have a work item configured as an epic work type. If this work type has been deleted from your space, the timeline won’t show.
To check whether your space has an epic work type configured:
Select , then Work items, then select Work types from the left menu.
In the Type column in the middle of the page, look for work items that are labeled as Epic.
If you don’t find one, you’ll need to configure an epic-type work item. See how to edit and create work types in Jira
Alternatively, parent work items could be excluded from your JQL query. To resolve this, your board admin needs to edit the filter query in the Board settings to include parent work items.
No values in date fields on parent work type
Parent work types must have a Start date and Due date set to display on the Timeline. If these dates are cleared out, navigate to the work item in your backlog, and reschedule it.
Accidentally converted a child work type to a parent work type
If you've mistakenly converted a standard work type to a parent work type, restore them to their original state with the following steps:
Delete the 'wrong' epic type (the one that was converted).
As part of the work type deletion process, you'll be asked to which new work type you'd like to move all your work items.
Select the new work type you created.
Rename this new work type to your old one, if you want to.
I can’t see my timeline. Instead, it says “Timelines are designed for a single space”
Commonly, teams running a company-managed space create boards with a custom JQL query to monitor work items from multiple spaces. However, the timeline view in Jira only works with work items from the backlog associated with one space. If you’re using a custom JQL filter that draws in work items from multiple boards, adjust it to only include work items from one space. Find out how to adjust your JQL filter.
Cross-space planning is only possible in your plan, which is included with Jira Premium and Enterprise. Read how plans gives an overview of the work of multiple teams and spaces.
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