Whether you use Jira Cloud or on-premise Jira: learn how to sync, update, and create Jira issues via the Jira Pack.
Once you’ve installed the Jira Pack or Jira Data Center Pack in your Coda doc, you can get started with the issues table. This table allows you to sync Jira issues into Coda, and even update them directly in the table. With two-way sync, updates to the issues table in Coda will be reflected in Jira - keeping your data in-sync and up-to-date.
This article explains how to set up a Jira issues table, how to update issues from, and even how to create new issues - all from your Coda doc.
This article applies to both the Jira Pack (for Jira Cloud) and the Jira Data Center Pack (for Jira on-premise).
Within this article, you’ll find...
Sync in Jira issues
To sync Jira issues into Coda, you’ll use the issues table from the Jira Pack. But before you can add that table, you first need to install and connect to the Pack. Check out this article to learn how.
Once you’ve installed and connected to the Jira Pack, just follow these steps to create the Issues table:
-
On a new line in the canvas of your doc, type /issues. From the list of options, choose Issues (under the Table header).
Alternatively, you can click Insert in the upper corner of your doc, search the Pack name (Jira or Jira Data Center), find the Issues table, and click and drag it into your doc.
Note that if you haven’t yet connected the Pack to your Jira account, you’ll be prompted to do so. Follow the instructions here to get connected.
The Set up your table dialog box will pop up and you can select the columns you wish to sync. Then click Create issues table.
Customize your sync as needed, by adding criteria to selectively filter issues into your table (more on this below). It’s common to select a specific project, under the Project dropdown, before syncing. If you leave the criteria blank, it will sync in all issues. Click Sync now.
That’s it - you should now see a table of Jira issues with your selected columns. Read on to learn about customizing your sync.
Customize your sync table
You can customize your issues table via the sync options at any time. For instance, maybe you want to filter out some of the Jira data and just keep a subset of the relevant issues in your table.
To open these options, hover over the table and click on the down arrow (v icon) in the upper right corner, then select Settings. Here you’ll see some standard Pack settings:
Refresh rate: Choose whether you want the data in your table to be refreshed manually, daily, or hourly
Two-way sync: Enable two-way sync to make edits directly in Coda and push those edits back to Jira. Read more below.
You’ll also see Jira-specific fields that you can use to filter which issues you sync into your table. You can use any of the visible criteria, or explore other criteria options by clicking the Add Criteria button. Each option should have more info available when you hover over the ? next to it. Here are some commonly used criteria:
Project: Use this drop-down list to choose up to one project per Jira sync. When you do, only issues associated with this project will be synced into your table.
JQL query: Use the Jira Query Language (JQL) to filter down your table. Read more here.
Fields: Rather than filtering the issues you sync in, use this criteria to specify which fields you want to see for each issue. Any fields you add here - plus the standard set of Jira issue fields - will be synced in for each issue in your table.
Once you’ve added the new criteria, click Sync now to resync your table accordingly.
Choose which columns to show
When you first created your issues table, you selected which columns to include in your sync. You can then hide or unhide those columns as you see fit.
If you want to change which columns or fields are included in your sync, just follow these steps:
In the upper right corner of your table, click on the down arrow (v icon) next to Refresh, and select Settings.
Click into the Advanced tab
Select Sync more properties
You’ll see a popup of all possible fields you can sync in
Check or uncheck properties as needed
Click Update and sync to finalize
Sync in custom fields
You may have some custom fields in your Jira instance that you want to include in your issues table. To do so, just follow these steps:
In the upper right corner of your table, click on the down arrow (v icon) next to Refresh, and select Settings.
Click +Add criteria
Select Fields from the options
Under the Fields (optional) section, click on the text field and select the additional fields you wish to add. You can also start typing the name of the field in the text field. If you don’t see the field you have in mind, please click on Select all
Once you have select the custom fields you wish to sync, go to the Advanced tab
Make sure the Add newly found columns setting is turned on
Click on Sync more properties button and make sure all the custom fields you wish to sync have been selected.
Click the Update and sync button
That’s it - your custom fields should now be included in your issues table.
Update Jira issues via two-way sync
When you enable two-way sync in your Jira issues table, you can make edits directly to your table in Coda, and have those edits reflected in Jira. You can choose to either have these edits pushed automatically or require a manual button push.
To enable two-way sync, follow these steps:
In the upper right corner of your table, click on the down arrow (v icon) next to Refresh. Select Settings.
-
Switch on the two-way sync toggle.
An account that connects to Jira is required for two-way sync. This is known as the write account, and this is the account that will be used to push edits back to the 3rd party tool. Your account may be automatically set up, or you may be prompted to set one up. Read more about setting up accounts for two-way sync here.
Under the Send edits automatically option, you can choose how edits made in Coda will be sent to the source tool. If this setting is toggled off, then edits in Coda will only be pushed to the source tool when someone clicks the Send edits button or at the next table refresh. If this setting is toggled on, edits made in Coda will be reflected in the source data as soon as you’re done editing.
Now your two-way sync is ready to go! To make edits in your sync table, just click into a cell and start typing.
If you’ve selected automatic updates in your two-way sync settings, the updates will be pushed as soon as you click out of a cell.
If you’ve opted to have updates sent manually, you’ll need to push the Send edits button in the upper right corner of your table - or wait for the next table refresh - to push these edits back to the source table.
To learn more about two-way sync in Pack tables, head over to this article.
You can also update Jira issues using the Update issue button that’s included in the Jira Pack. But for almost all instances, we generally recommend using two-way sync (as described above) instead. To learn more about setting up an Update issue button, check out this article.
Note that some fields may not be directly editable via Coda, as determined by Jira and their API. Learn more here.
Create Jira issues from Coda
You can create brand new issues in your Jira projects from Coda by using a button - the Create issue button. For instance, maybe you have a table of tasks in Coda, and you want to add these as issues in one of your Jira projects.
You can add this button to a table or to the canvas of your document following these steps:
First, make sure you’ve installed and connected to the Jira Pack
-
To add a button to the canvas:
Type /jira on any blank line in your doc’s canvas
From the drop-down menu, select Create issue (under the Buttons header)
-
To add a button to a table:
Right-click on the header of your selected column, hover over column type, and type Jira into the search bar
Choose Create issue from the options
In the button options, customize your mode preference for your account (private vs. shared), project name, issue type, and summary
If you wish to allow other people to use the Create issue button, you will need to set the Mode for your account to Shared. If you leave the Mode as Private, then each person who wants to use the button will first need to connect their own Jira account.
You can customize additional issue fields to include in creating a new issue by clicking on the Add more button
FAQs
How often is the data in my issues table updated?
When you customize your sync table, you can choose whether the data refreshes manually, hourly, daily. You can also always push the Refresh button in the upper right corner of the table, regardless of what setting you’ve chosen.
How can I extract subfields from Jira chips?
In order to extract subfields from your Jira chips, you’ll need to use ParseJSON(). Here’s a community post that discusses an example.
Which Jira fields are editable from Coda?
You can find a full list of which Jira fields are editable from Coda (versus which are only readable) here.
My Jira sync table is pulling in too many columns. Is there a way to cut down on the number of columns?
Yes - in the Jira Pack settings, you can disable Add newly found columns. Then delete the unnecessary columns from your sync, and re-sync the table.
Instead of syncing into Coda, can I just import my Jira data directly into Coda?
If you want to migrate some data off Jira and start using Coda instead, you’ll first need to export your data from Jira. Then, you can use Coda’s CSV importer to bring your info in a Coda doc.
How can I use JQL to sync issues with more specificity?
You can learn about that in depth here.
Some of my custom fields aren't coming through. Why is that?
If you have custom fields that share the same name this can introduce problems with Coda when using a next-gen project. If that might be the case here changing the name of the field can solve this issue. Check out the section above for more info on pulling in custom fields.
How and when do I use the Update issue button?
Prior to two-way sync, the primary means for updating issues from Coda was the Update issue button. While we now generally recommend using two-way sync to update issues in Jira, this original button is still available and usable. You can read more about it here.