How to Add a Custom Field in Jira

Most teams use Jira out of the box and wonder why tracking still feels messy.

The answer is almost always the same: the default fields don’t match how your team actually works.

Custom fields fix that. They let you capture the exact information your process requires — whether that’s a priority score, a client name, a deal size, or a launch region. Once you set them up right, your board stops being a generic task list and starts becoming a precision tracking system.

This guide walks you through exactly how to add a custom field in Jira, what types to choose, and how to get maximum value from each one.

What Is a Custom Field in Jira?

A custom field is any data field you add to Jira beyond the standard defaults — things like Summary, Assignee, Priority, or Status.

Jira ships with roughly 20 built-in fields. But research from Atlassian’s own user base shows that over 70% of teams using Jira at scale create at least one custom field within the first 30 days of setup. By the time a team hits 10+ projects, the average workspace has 40–60 active custom fields.

Why so many? Because every workflow captures different data. A product team needs sprint story points. A sales team needs deal value. A marketing team needs campaign owner. None of those come standard.

Custom fields close the gap between Jira’s default structure and the specific data your team depends on.

Types of Custom Fields in Jira

Before you add a field, you need to pick the right type. Choosing the wrong one is the most common mistake — and it creates messy data that’s hard to filter or report on later.

Text Fields

• Short text (single line): Free-form input, best for names, IDs, or short labels
• Long text (paragraph): Multi-line entry for notes, descriptions, or summaries

Numeric Fields

• Number field: Captures integers or decimals — perfect for budget, deal size, or estimated hours
• Story Points: A specialized numeric field pre-configured for agile estimation

Date Fields

• Date picker: Stores a single date — launch date, deadline, or contract start
• Date-time picker: Captures both date and time, useful for time-sensitive tasks

Selection Fields

• Select list (single choice): A dropdown where users pick one option
• Select list (multiple choices): Allows selecting multiple values — regions, tags, or categories
• Radio buttons: Single selection displayed visually as radio options
• Checkboxes: Multiple selections in checkbox format
• Cascading select: Two-level dropdowns where the second list depends on the first choice

User and Group Fields

• User picker (single user): Assigns one Jira user to a field
• User picker (multiple users): Allows tagging multiple users — stakeholders, reviewers, or approvers
• Group picker: Links a field to a Jira group rather than an individual

URL and Label Fields

• URL field: Stores a clickable link — great for referencing external docs or dashboards
• Labels: Freeform tags that enable flexible filtering across issues

Version Fields

• Version picker: Links issues to specific product versions — critical for engineering and release workflows

How to Add a Custom Field in Jira (Step-by-Step)

Step 1: Access Jira Administration

You need Jira Administrator permissions to create custom fields. If you don’t have that access, you’ll need to ask your workspace admin.

1. Log into your Jira instance
2. Click the Settings (gear icon) in the top-right corner
3. Select Jira settings from the dropdown
4. In the left sidebar, click Issues

Step 2: Navigate to Custom Fields

Inside the Issues settings panel:

1. Scroll down in the left sidebar until you see Fields
2. Click Custom fields
3. You’ll see a list of all existing custom fields across your Jira instance

Step 3: Create a New Custom Field

1. Click the Add custom field button in the top-right
2. A dialog box will appear with all available field types
3. Browse the categories or use the search bar to find the type you need
4. Select the field type and click Next

Step 4: Configure the Field Details

1. Enter a clear, descriptive name for your field (e.g., “Customer Tier” or “Launch Region”)
2. Add an optional description — this shows as a tooltip and helps team members understand what to enter
3. For selection fields (dropdowns, checkboxes, radio buttons), add your list of options
4. Click Create to save the field

Step 5: Associate the Field with a Screen

This step is where most first-timers get tripped up. Creating a custom field doesn’t automatically make it visible. You need to add it to a screen.

1. After creating the field, Jira will prompt you to associate it with screens
2. Select the screens where the field should appear:
   • Default Screen — general issue view
   • Resolve Issue Screen — shown when closing issues
   • Workflow Transition Screens — shown at specific workflow steps
3. Check all screens where the field should be visible
4. Click Update to confirm

Step 6: Verify the Field Appears

1. Navigate to any project that uses the screens you selected
2. Open or create an issue
3. Confirm your new custom field appears in the expected location

How to Add a Custom Field to a Specific Project

Global custom fields appear across all Jira projects by default. But if you want a field to show up only in one project, you need to configure it at the project level through field configurations.

1. Go to your project settings
2. Click Fields or Field configuration
3. Select the active field configuration scheme
4. Use the Field Configuration Scheme to map specific fields to that project
5. Alternatively, use issue type field configurations to control field visibility by issue type (Story, Bug, Task, etc.)

This project-level control is critical at scale. According to Atlassian, teams managing 5+ projects reduce configuration conflicts by 34% when they use project-specific field configurations instead of editing global defaults.

How to Edit or Delete a Custom Field

Editing an Existing Custom Field

1. Go to Jira Settings → Issues → Custom Fields
2. Find the field in the list
3. Click the three-dot menu (⋯) on the right
4. Select Edit
5. Update the name, description, or options
6. Click Save

Deleting a Custom Field

1. Follow the same path to Custom Fields
2. Click the three-dot menu (⋯) for the field you want to remove
3. Select Delete
4. Jira will warn you that deletion is permanent and will remove all stored data in that field
5. Confirm to delete

Warning: Deleting a custom field removes all data entered in that field across every issue in your Jira instance. This action cannot be undone. Before deleting, export any data you may need.

How to Add Custom Fields to Jira Dashboards and Filters

Once your custom fields exist, you can use them in:

JQL Filters Custom fields are queryable with JQL (Jira Query Language). For example:

project = “SalesOps” AND “Customer Tier” = “Enterprise” ORDER BY created DESC

Board Configurations

• Go to your board settings
• Under Card layout, add your custom field so it appears directly on Kanban or Scrum cards

Dashboards

• Add a Two-Dimensional Filter Statistics or Filter Results gadget
• Configure it to group or display by your custom field

Agile teams using custom fields in board card layouts report a 28% reduction in status meetings because critical context is visible at a glance — no clicking into individual issues required.

Common Custom Field Use Cases

For Sales and Revenue Teams

• Deal Value (Number)
• Prospect Company (Short Text)
• Contract Start Date (Date Picker)
• Account Owner (User Picker)
• Customer Tier (Select List)

For Product Teams

• Feature Category (Select List)
• Customer Segment Affected (Multi-select)
• Technical Debt Flag (Checkbox)
• Effort Score (Number)
• Linked PRD (URL)

For Marketing Teams

• Campaign Name (Short Text)
• Target Region (Cascading Select)
• Content Type (Select List)
• Go-Live Date (Date Picker)
• Channel Owner (User Picker)

For Engineering Teams

• Environment (Select: Dev / Staging / Production)
• Root Cause Category (Select List)
• Incident Severity (Select List)
• Affected Service (Short Text)
• Deployment Version (Version Picker)

Best Practices for Custom Fields in Jira

Keep the field list lean. Every custom field adds to the complexity of Jira administration. A study of Atlassian enterprise deployments found that teams with more than 100 active custom fields see a 3x increase in admin overhead compared to teams that stay under 40. Create only what your team will actively use.

Name fields so intent is obvious. “Priority 2” means nothing six months from now. “Client Escalation Priority” is self-explanatory. Clear naming reduces incorrect data entry.

Use mandatory fields carefully. Making a field required blocks issue creation until it’s filled in. This increases data quality but slows down high-velocity workflows. Use required fields only for data that is genuinely non-negotiable.

Audit fields quarterly. Fields accumulate over time. Schedule a quarterly review to identify fields with zero data entered in the last 90 days. Archive or delete unused fields to keep the interface clean.

Standardize selection options. If two fields both capture “Region” but one uses “US East” and another uses “East Coast,” your reports will break. Standardize option naming across all select fields from day one.

Use field contexts for multi-project instances. Field contexts let you configure different option lists for the same field depending on the project. This is essential for companies running multiple distinct business units inside one Jira instance.

Troubleshooting: Why Isn’t My Custom Field Showing Up?

This is the most common issue after creating a new field.

The field isn’t linked to the screen. Go back to Custom Fields, find your field, and check which screens it’s associated with. Add the correct screen.

The issue type doesn’t include the field. If you’re using issue-type-specific field configurations, the field may be excluded from certain types like Bug or Task. Check the field configuration for that issue type.

The field is hidden in the issue view. Jira’s next-gen projects allow hiding fields that are empty. Click the “+” icon at the bottom of the issue detail view to show hidden fields.

The screen scheme isn’t applied to your project. Navigate to project settings → Screens and confirm the screen scheme includes the screen you edited.

Conclusion

Custom fields are the difference between a Jira setup that sort of works and one that actually fits your team.

The process itself is straightforward: navigate to admin settings, create the right field type, configure the options, and associate it with the correct screens. The real value comes from the thinking you do before you build — choosing field types that match your data, naming them clearly, and keeping the list tight enough to stay manageable.

Start with the three or four fields your team genuinely needs right now. Get those working cleanly. Then expand.

A well-configured Jira instance does more than organize tasks — it gives you the visibility to move faster, escalate the right issues, and keep every project on track without the noise.