Search for and filter issues in Jira

Creating issues is important, but you need to be able to find and manage the work the issues represent. In this step, we’ll find out how to use different search techniques to find issues, share search results, and report on issues.

Create some more issues 

Before you start, you’re going to need a few more issues. Create a few more issues in your project using the sample data below.

Want to create issues in bulk?

If you’re familiar with the CSV format, you can create a CSV file to import issues in bulk. This can be handy if you’re handling a lot of data.

Do a simple board search

You can find issues easily using the search and filter function on the board.

  1. Go to Board in the project sidebar
  2. Enter a search term or use one of the filters to show only the work you’re interested in

Search for issues 

For more complex searches across multiple projects, use the issue search function. In this example, we’ll search for all unresolved issues assigned to you. 

  1. Select Filters and click a filter or choose Advanced issue search.
  2. Set Assignee to “Current User” at the top of the search page
    The search results refresh when you select new criteria.
  3. Choose More > Resolution and check “Unresolved”.

The search results will show the issues that are unresolved and assigned to you.

If you’re thinking it’d be handy to be able to rerun this search, we’ve got you covered! Choose My open issues in the sidebar on the left. Keep this screen open for the next step.

Save your search 

If you run a search with the same criteria frequently, save time by saving it as a filter and starring it for quick access. This lets you run the search again with a single click rather than selecting the same criteria every time. For example, you may use a filter to review your open tasks for the day.

In this step, we’ll search for all tasks assigned to Kate in the Dragon Design Tees project, and save this search as a filter.

  1. Select Filters and click a filter or choose Advanced issue search.
  2. Set Project = Dragon Design Tees and Assignee = kate as the criteria (you should see at least one issue)
  3. Select Save as at the top of the page and enter Kate Dragon Design issues as the Filter Name
  4. Click Submit to save the filter
  5. Click the star icon to keep the filter handy

Your starred filter will appear at the top of the Filters menu in the navigation, and in the sidebar of the advanced search screen. Click it to run the search. Now let’s look at some of the ways you can use your new issue filter.

Share your search results

Shared filters can help to get your team on the same page. You could share a filter with your team that shows the unresolved stories for a development iteration, or the critical issues in a support backlog.

Here are two ways that you can share search results:

Email the search results

Run the desired filter, then choose share . Enter the users that you want to share the filter with and they’ll be emailed a link to your filter (provided you have email notifications set up).

Share the search results via a dashboard

A dashboard can give you and your team an overview of important things in Jira. You already have a system dashboard, and you can set up more for different use-cases. You can show a filter’s results on a dashboard and share it with other users.

  1. Choose Dashboards > View all dashboards.
  2. Choose ••• > Create Dashboard.
  3. Name your dashboard Dragon Design Tees.
  4. Choose “Any logged-in user” under Shared with and click +Add to share it with everyone.
  5. Leave the other fields and choose Create.
  6. Choose add a new gadget to open the gadget directory.
    You may need to click More gadgets available to see the full list of gadgets.
  7. Enter “filter results” in the search box and click Add gadget.
  8. Select Kate Dragon Design issues in the Saved filter field and click Save.

Other users can now add this dashboard by choosing it as a favorite.

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