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Set a Template as Default

Set a Template as Default

Automatically import checklist templates to issues based on issue type, field values or issue transitions⚡️

👤 JIRA PERMISSION REQUIRED: grant users Administer Projects permission to set up General/Advanced settings.

Learn more about permissions here → Checklist & Templates Permissions

 

Contents 👇🏼

Overview

With Smart Checklist, you can automatically import checklist templates to issues when they are created, updated, or transitioned. This helps teams ensure consistency, reduce manual work, and enforce important process steps.

Use cases:

📝 Add Definition of Done template when Story or Task is created.

💻 Automatically apply a Code Review template when an issue transitions to In Review.

👋🏻 Add Onboarding template when the Labels contains “onboarding“ value.

This way, teams save time, avoid forgetting critical steps, and keep workflows consistent across projects ⚡️

General Conditions

  1. Go to the Smart Checklist menu and click “Manage templates“ or access templates from the Project Settings.

  2. Click on the template name to expand details.

Set Default templates for All issue types

  1. Check the checkbox "All issue types".

    image-20250926-135411.png
    Import to All issue types on the General tab

  2. Assigned to all issue types label will appear near the template name.

  3. Now, the template will be automatically imported to all newly created issues in this Project ✅

Set Default templates for specific issue types

  1. Select a specific issue type (e.g., Story, Bug) you want the template to be applied to.

    image-20250926-131856.png
    Import to a specific issue type on the General tab

  2. Assigned to label will appear near the template name.

  3. Now, the template will be automatically imported only to the specified newly
    created issues in this Project ✅

Advanced Conditions

😎 Pro Feature → How to Upgrade from Free to Pro Plan

You can configure custom triggers with additional conditions for applying templates from the Advanced tab. This is available from the Issue view and Project Settings.

 

Configure advanced conditions in several simple steps:

  1. Select a Trigger

  • None – No automatic template import.

  • Issue created – Imports the template to all newly created issues.

  • Issue transitioned – Imports the template when an issue status changes.

  • Issue updated – Imports the template when a field value changes.

  1. Add Conditions

  • Choose a field (supported: Assignee, Components, Description, Issue type, Labels, Priority, Summary, Status, Request type).

  • Select a Condition from the dropdown.

  • Enter or select a Value.

💡HINT: You can add multiple conditions for templates by combining different criteria (e.g., when the issue type is “Story” and the “Components” field is not empty).

All conditions are combined with the AND operator. The template is imported only if all conditions are met.

image-20250929-121301.png
Trigger: Issue transitioned. Condition: Components equals “development“
image-20250929-121401.png
Several conditions

  1. Save Settings 🎉

☝🏼NOTE: Templates are applied only once per issue. If an issue meets the same conditions again, the template won’t be applied.

☝🏼NOTE: When setting up default templates, please use only one method for automatic import:

  • Either configure Issue triggers with conditions in Smart Checklist (General/Advanced settings),

  • Or use a Jira Automation rule.

Using both methods at the same time for the same project/issue type may cause unstable behavior and unexpected results (e.g., checklists being imported multiple times, or only one template will be imported). To avoid problems, choose one consistent approach that best fits your workflow.

 

Summary

  • General conditions are designed for quick template import per issue type.

  • Advanced conditions are more powerful, condition-based automation.

  • Both General and Advanced conditions are done per project. The same Global template can have different conditions in different projects.