Every custom field belongs to a custom type, which dictates its behavior, appearance, and functionality. Therefore, when you add a custom field to JIRA, you really add another instance of a custom field type.
JIRA comes with over 20 custom field types that you can use straight out of the box. Many of the custom field types are identical to the built-in fields, such as date picker, which is like the due date field. They provide you with simplicity and flexibility that are not available with their built-in counterparts. The upcoming tables break down and list all the standard JIRA custom field types and their characteristics.
These fields are the most basic field types in JIRA. They are usually simple and straightforward to use, such as text field, which allows users to input any text:
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Custom field type |
Description |
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These are input fields that allow input with a date picker and enforce valid dates. |
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These are input fields that allow input with a date and time picker and enforce valid date timestamps. |
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These are input fields that allow tags to be added to an issue. |
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These are input fields that store and validate numeric values. |
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These are radio buttons that ensure only one value can be selected. |
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These are multiple select lists where the options for the second select list is dynamically updated based on the value of the first. |
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These are multiple select lists with a configurable list of options. |
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These are single select lists with a configurable list of options. |
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These are multiple line text areas enabling entry of large text contents. |
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These are basic single link input fields that allow simple text inputs of less than 255 characters. |
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These are input fields that validate a valid URL. |
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These choose a user from the JIRA user base through either a pop-up user picker window or autocompletion. |
These fields provide specialized functions. For example, the Version Picker field lets you select a version from the current project. If you have any custom fields from third-party add-ons (see the following section), they will also be listed here:
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Custom field type |
Description |
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This chooses one or more user groups using a pop-up picker window. |
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This chooses a user group using a pop-up picker window. |
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This field type is used for Perforce integration with JIRA. |
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This field type is used for Perforce integration with JIRA. |
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This selects lists displaying the projects that are viewable to the user in the system. |
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This is a read-only text field that does not allow users to set their data. It's only possible to programmatically set the data. |
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This chooses one or more users from the user base through a pop-up picker window. |
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This chooses one or more versions from the available versions in the current project. |
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This chooses a single version from the available versions in the project. |
As you can see, JIRA provides you with a comprehensive list of custom field types. In addition, there are many custom field types developed by third-party vendors (available as plugins or add-ons) that you can add to your JIRA to enhance its functionality. These custom fields provide many specialized functionalities such as automatically calculating values and retrieving data from databases directly or connecting to an external system. Once you install the plugin, the process of adding custom fields from other vendors is mostly the same as adding custom fields shipped with JIRA.
The following list shows some examples of plugins that provide additional useful custom fields. You can find them from the Atlassian Marketplace at https://marketplace.atlassian.com:
- JIRA Enhancer Plugin: This includes a number of custom fields that will automatically display dates when key events occur for an issue. For example, when the issue was last closed.
- JIRA Toolkit Plugin: This provides a number of useful custom fields such as showing the statistics on the users that participate in a given issue and the date when the issue was last commented on.
- nFeed: This provides a suite of custom fields that let you connect to databases, remote files, and web services to retrieve data and display them in JIRA.
- 21 CFR Part 11 E-Signature: This lets users electronically sign issues in JIRA as they work on them, for example, approving an issue to be closed.
- SuggestiMate for JIRA: This provides a specialized custom field that shows similar and potentially duplicated issues when creating new issues or browsing through existing ones.