A configuration backup is a file of one board’s settings: its source, flow definition, calendar and board layout, and its plan settings once they were saved. You download it, keep it, and restore it later after a preview of what it would change.

Open backup and restore #

• On a board: open Configure, then Backup and restore.
• For every board: open Administration, then Configuration backup and restore. The table Boards and their configuration backups lists each Board with its State (the same states as in the Boards directory, The Boards directory). Select Open backup and restore on a row. A list cut short points you to Boards. The card’s (i), About configuration backups, says why backups are per board. With no board to list, the card reads “You can see no board”, and Create board leads to the wizard where you may create one.

A backup holds configuration only. It holds no work item, no history and no access grant. A restore never widens who may configure the board. The site keeps no copy of a backup, so it has no row in Reports (Reports and exports).

Download a backup #

Under Backup file, select Download backup. While the file is prepared, the button shows a spinner and its tooltip reads “Preparing the backup…”. A line under the button then names the saved file, how many settings it holds and when it was exported. Keep the file: the app does not store backups for you. A backup is also the way to keep a board’s settings before Delete all app data (Data retention and deletion).

Restore from a backup #

1. Under Restore from a backup, select Choose a backup file. Select Remove this file to choose another.

The check starts at once, and “Checking what this file would change…” shows. A file the app refuses shows “This file was not read”, the reason, and “Nothing was sent to the server, and nothing on this board has changed.”

1. Read What this restore would change. Each row compares This board, In the file and After restoring, and says Can it be restored. A row’s (i) tells what the check found.

The first column, Configuration, names the kind, and its checkbox picks it for the restore. This board and In the file show the version each holds, such as “Version 3”. This board reads “Default settings” for plan settings the board never saved, and In the file reads “Not in this file” for a kind the file lacks. After restoring shows the version the restore would create, or “None” when the kind cannot be restored.

The verdict is “Can be restored”, “Not in this file”, “Changed since it was exported”, “Not a configuration of this kind”, “A kind this version does not restore”, “Not a configuration this board would accept” or “Cannot be restored”. “Can be restored” is green; every other verdict is amber. Only a kind that can be restored can be chosen.

1. Read How this file matches this site. Its columns In the file, On this site and Result list the statuses, fields, link types and resolutions the file names. “Matched” and “Same site” are green, “Name differs” and “Type differs” amber, and “Not on this site” red. A long list reads “Only the first 100 are listed, and those that differ come first.”
2. Choose the kinds to restore: Source, Flow definition, Calendar, Board layout and Plan settings. Board layout needs Flow definition too when the file’s own definition was the one checked.
3. Select Restore…. While it is held, its tooltip says why, for example “Choose at least one configuration kind.”
4. In “Restore this configuration?”, read what each kind becomes, then select Restore configuration. Where the board’s governance asks for one, enter a Reason for the change in the dialog first. A kind that governance locks holds Restore…, and its tooltip says why (Governance and reasons for a change).

A restore takes the file as it is. If the file has fewer parts than the board, restoring it takes those parts away:

• no blockers: the board’s blockers go back to Jira’s defaults (the Flagged field, the “is blocked by” link and no blocked status);
• no excluded resolutions: the work items the board leaves out count as delivered again;
• no card fields or color rules: the board’s card fields and color rules go;
• no swimlanes: the board’s swimlanes go;
• no default view, or one this board cannot use: Work opens with the built-in view again;
• fewer plan containers: the containers the file lacks are removed, and a work item placed in one keeps its placement.

The row’s (i) names each part it would remove.

If the file came from another board, the preview says so. If a layout would leave policies, rules or views with no column, or leave policies limiting no swimlane, the dialog lists them first.

A restore never overwrites. Each kind it applies becomes a new version, so a saved result that names an earlier version still opens. This cannot be undone.

A preview is valid for a limited time, named under the table. After that, select Preview again or choose the file again. A preview also holds only while the board’s flow definition and calendar stay as they were: once either is saved, Restore configuration restores nothing and asks you to preview again.

After the restore #

The page reads “Restored”, or “Partly restored” with each kind that was not. A kind is left out when another save changed it while the restore ran. When the restore changes what the board counts, its data is rebuilt and the board’s Overview follows the job. A restore of plan settings alone starts no rebuild. Select Start over to restore another file.

If the outcome is unknown, the page says the restore may or may not have been applied and does not send it again. Select Read this board again to see which versions the board holds.

If something looks off #

• “This file is not a backup from this app.”: choose a file downloaded with Download backup.
• “This backup comes from a newer version of the app.”: restore it once this site runs that version.
• “This file is larger than a backup from this app can be”: choose a backup downloaded from this app.
• “This file could not be read from disk.”: choose the file again.
• “This file was changed after it was exported.”: download a new backup, because an edited file is refused.
• “Someone else changed this first” after Restore configuration: the board’s flow definition or calendar was saved after your preview, so nothing was restored. Select Preview again.
• “The preview expired”: the preview ran out, or was taken before the app was last updated. Select Preview again.
• “Not in this file”: the backup holds no settings of that kind, so the board keeps its own.
• “Not a configuration this board would accept”: open the row’s (i), which names the fault, then fix it in Jira or on the board, or leave that kind out of the restore. For example, Jira does not accept the source query as you, a saved filter cannot be used, a function such as currentUser() answers differently for each person, a flag field or blocking link type is gone from Jira, a flow definition classifies no status as active or as done, or a plan field holds another kind of value on this site.
• “Nothing in this file can be restored onto this board. Each configuration kind says why below.”: read each row’s verdict and its (i); the file may come from another board or an older layout.
• “This browser cannot save a file, so a backup cannot be downloaded here.”: download the backup in another browser.
• “The In Progress column shows a status another column also shows.”: the file’s layout does not fit this board, so leave the board layout out of the restore.
• “This installation has no active license, so nothing here can be changed.”: downloading and restoring wait until the site’s license is active again (Pricing and Licensing).
• “Waiting for Atlassian to confirm this site’s license, so nothing here can be changed.”: wait; the app reads the license again within an hour.
• “Its spaces were exported from another Jira site, so choose them again on this one in Source & scope.”: restore the other kinds, then set the source by hand (Source and scope).

Who may open it #

Downloading and restoring need the Board owner role on the board. Anyone else with a role on the board can read the section. The Administration list is open to Jira administrators only.