You can set certain fields as required or mandatory for certain issues. This is a very useful feature as it ensures that critical information can be captured when users create issues. For example, for our support system, it makes sense to have our users enter in the system that is misbehaving in a field and make that field compulsory to help our support engineers.

You have already seen required fields in action. System fields, such as Summary and Issue Type, are compulsory in Jira (and you cannot change that). When you do not specify a value for a required field, Jira will display an error message underneath the field, telling you that the value is required.

When you add a new field into Jira, such as custom fields, it is optional by default, meaning users do not need to specify a value. You can then change the setting to make those fields required:

1. Browse to the View Field Configuration page for the field configuration you wish to use
2. Click on the Required/Optional link for the field you wish to set as the mandatory requirement

You will notice that once a field is set to required, there will be a small required text label in red next to the field name. When you create or edit an issue, the field will have a red (*) character next to its name. This is Jira's way of indicating that a field is mandatory.