Recycle Bin for Jira
Restore deleted Jira issues, with their comments, links and subtasks. Runs on Atlassian.
Getting started
- Install the app from the Atlassian Marketplace. From then on, every issue is snapshotted when it is created or changed.
- Optional: open Jira settings ⚙ › Apps › Recycle Bin › Protect existing issues and run it once (with any JQL) to snapshot issues that existed before the installation.
- When an issue is deleted, it appears in Jira settings › Apps › Recycle Bin (Jira administrators) and in the Recycle bin item of the project sidebar (project administrators).
- Click View & restore, check the snapshot, then Restore issue. The restored issue gets a new key and an information comment listing what was restored.
What is restored
| Restored | Not restored |
|---|---|
| Summary, description, issue type, priority, labels, components, versions, due date, assignee, reporter, custom fields on the create screen (select lists, users, numbers, dates, text, cascading selects, teams, open sprints) | Attachments (their names are listed on the restored issue) |
| Status, through an available transition, and resolution when the transition allows it | History, worklogs, votes, watchers |
| Comments in their original order, with the original author and date, visibility restrictions kept | Fields no longer on the create screen (reported, never silently lost) |
| Issue links, to live issues or to issues restored earlier | |
| Subtasks deleted together with their parent, re-attached to the restored parent |
Settings
- Retention: deleted issues stay restorable for 7 to 365 days (90 by default).
- Projects to ignore: no snapshots are taken for these projects.
- Comments: comment capture can be turned off.
- Project administrators: allowed to restore issues of their own project by default; a Jira administrator can turn it off.
- Only Jira administrators can restore into another project (useful when the original project was deleted).
FAQ
An issue I deleted is not listed.
Deletions are recorded from the moment the app is installed; issues deleted before that cannot be recovered by any app. Also check Settings › Projects to ignore.
The restored issue only has a summary.
It was deleted before the app took a snapshot (it had not changed since installation). Run Protect existing issues once to snapshot older issues ahead of time.
Why a new issue key?
Jira never reuses keys. The note posted on the restored issue mentions the old key, so text ~ "OLD-123" finds it.
Some fields were not restored.
The restore note lists them with the reason, usually because the field is no longer on the project's create screen or the option no longer exists. The original values stay visible in the recycle bin detail view. Add the field to the create screen to have it restored automatically next time.
Attachments?
Not restored in this version; their file names are listed on the restored issue.
Does data leave Atlassian?
No. The app is Runs on Atlassian: storage and compute are hosted by Atlassian, with no external calls. See the privacy policy.