Exporting issues in JIRA

You can create a backup of your Jira Cloud site if you want to import cloud data into a server installation or another site, or if you want to maintain occasional offline backups. Note that the Atlassian Cloud service takes backups for your instance every 24 hours for purposes of application recovery (not for rolling back application data).

You can backup and export the following data from your Jira Cloud site:

• Issues
• Users and user group settings
• Issue attachments, user avatars, and project logos (if selected)

How to create a backup

You can manually generate a new backup in Jira Cloud, which you can then import into Jira Cloud or Server. Jira only stores one backup file at a time, so any existing existing backup will be overwritten by a new one.

48 hour delay for backups including attachments

You can perform data-only backups—excluding attachments, avatars, and logos—one after the other, without a delay. When you're creating a backup that includes attachments, avatars, and logos, though, you need to wait 48 hours from the when you last created a backup.

To generate a backup:

1. Choose the Jira icon (, , , or ) > Settings > System
2. In the Import and Export section, click Backup manager.
3. Check the additional files option if you want to include issue attachments, user avatars, and project logos in the export.
4. Select the type of backup:

• • If you will restore the data to a cloud instance, select Create backup for cloud
  • If you will to restore the data to a server instance, select Create backup for server

After the backup is complete, click the file link to download the backup.

Troubleshooting: If you can't find the Backup Manager...

How to structure the export file

Once you have generated and unzipped a backup file, you should have an output similar to the following:

JIRA-backup-20161021
├── activeobjects.xml
├── entities.xml
├── data
│   ├── attachments
│   └── avatars
└── logos

Note that database data is stored in both activeobjects.xml and entities.xml. Issue attachments, user avatars, and project logos are stored in corresponding directories. If you don't want to import attachments, avatars, or logos to your new Jira Cloud site, you can remove the corresponding directory and then zip the modified directory tree before importing.

How to import backup data into Jira Cloud

1. Structure your export file as mentioned above.
2. Follow the instructions on importing issues.
3. After the import, log into your new Jira Cloud site with the same admin account you used to log into your original site. Cross-application links (links to a source file page from a Jira issue) will point back to the corresponding source location after the import.

How to import backup data into Jira Server

1. Structure your export file as mentioned above.
2. Follow the instructions on the Migrating from Jira Cloud to Jira Server page.
3. After the import, log into your Jira Server instance with the sysadmin username and corresponding password. Make sure to change your password after you log in. Cross-application links (links to a source file page from a Jira issue) will point back to the corresponding source location after the import.

Note that the sysadmin user is created automatically during the backup process. This user is created to allow you to log in with the necessary Jira System Administrator permission (a server-specific permission not available in the cloud) after restoring data in Jira.