JIRA Export to Excel: 3 Easy Methods

Exporting Jira data to Excel can often feel overwhelming and time-consuming, but it is crucial for all organizations. It enables you to build custom reports, provide your Jira data to your stakeholders, and archive data to maintain a historical record, among some of its use cases. In this guide, we will provide you with 3 easy step-by-step methods on how you can Jira export to Excel.

By the end of this guide, we will provide you with skills to export data in Excel format and seamlessly load it into a data warehouse or any destination of your choice for insightful analysis. You’ll also gain a deeper understanding of the tools and techniques, helping you refine your skills further.

Prerequisites

These are a few prerequisites you may require to help you follow this guide more easily:

• Working knowledge of JIRA.
• Working knowledge of Excel.
• A JIRA account.
• Excel/ Microsoft Office installed at the host workstation.

Use Cases for Exporting Issues from Jira

• To share information with external stakeholders: Customers often request detailed issue reports in formats like Excel or PDF. Exporting makes it simple to provide comprehensive and professional reports tailored to their needs.
• To analyze data in Excel: Many teams rely on Excel for diving deep into issue data using formulas, pivot tables, and other powerful tools. This “Excel syndrome” saves you from learning new reporting software if you already have skilled analysts on board.
• Auditing Purposes: While auditors have direct access to your Jira instance, they must be experienced users with administrator credentials. By allowing auditors to examine and evaluate the data at their own leisure, exporting raw data guarantees a more comprehensive evaluation.
• Analyzing Complican with SLA’s: Exporting data can help you combine Excel’s analytical power, enabling you to track issue transitions, identify trends and evaluate how they impact your Service Level Agreements (SLAs).
• For Migration Projects: When migrations happen, they can be complex and challenging. Exporting all your issue data straightforwardly ensures you have everything you need without losing critical information during the transition.

Methods to perform a JIRA Export to Excel

There are multiple ways in which you can export data from JIRA to Excel:

• Method 1: Performing a JIRA Export to Excel using the Export option
• Method 2: Performing a JIRA Export to Excel using JIRA Cloud plug-in
• Method 3: Performing a JIRA Export to Excel using REST API

Method 1: Performing a JIRA Export to Excel using the Export option

JIRA’s built-in data export option allows users to export data from their applications in various formats such as XML, Excel, CSV, HTML, etc.

Launch JIRA on your system and provide your credentials to log in to your account. Once you’ve logged in, select the filter option from the panel at the top of your screen. You can also start searching for the data using the search option located on the left panel.

Once you have selected the advanced search option, a new search window should open. In this window, you can use various JQL queries in the search bar, which can be found at the top of your screen, to extract results for the particular project.

You can also select the tasks, bugs, tickets, etc., manually, by choosing the “basic” option from the panel.

Once you’ve selected the desired JIRA issue, select the export option from the top right corner of your screen. 

A dialog box will now open, representing a list of formats in which you can export your data.

Choose Excel CSV as the desired format to export your data. You will now be prompted to choose either Excel online or Excel desktop as your desired way of exporting your data. Click on the Excel desktop option to download your data as an Excel CSV file.

This is one of the more commonly used method to export data from JIRA as an Excel CSV file using the built-in export option.

Limitations of this method

• Jira limits exports to a maximum of 5,000 issues to prevent performance issues, applying the same restriction to bulk operations and query-based changes.
• While Jira’s native export method supports multiple formats, such as XML, Excel, CSV, and HTML, it sometimes fails to export data accurately, omitting essential fields. This can result in the omission of critical information.

Method 2: Performing a JIRA Export to Excel using JIRA Cloud plug-in

The JIRA Cloud for Excel plug-in offers an easy and efficient way to export JIRA data directly into Excel. It not only lets you export data but also schedule regular data refreshes. Users can either use predefined filters or write custom JQL queries right from Excel to fetch the data they need. However, this plug-in is available exclusively to Office 365 subscribers and must be downloaded and installed by users with an active subscription.

This can be implemented in the following two steps:

• Step 1: Installing the JIRA Cloud for Excel plug-in
• Step 2: Exporting data from JIRA to Excel

Step 1: Installing the JIRA Cloud for Excel plug-in

Start by installing the JIRA plug-in for your Excel application. You can download the plug-in from the official Atlassian Marketplace or the official Microsoft AppSource website here. Once you’ve downloaded it, carefully follow the prompts to add it to your Excel application. You can refer to the official documentation for guidance on the easy installation of the plug-in.

Now open Excel on your system and log into Office 365 and enter your Jira credentials allowing Excel to access your data.

This is how you can install the JIRA Cloud plug-in for Excel using your Office 365 account.

Step 2: Exporting data from JIRA to Excel

Once you’ve downloaded and added the JIRA Cloud for Excel plug-in, you can easily perform the Jira Export to Excel process. 

Click on the “Get JIRA data” option from the menu bar of your Excel sheet. A new side panel will now open up on the right side of your screen, from which you can easily select the JIRA site from which you want to export data to Excel.

The JIRA Cloud plug-in allows you to perform the Jira export to Excel process in multiple ways. Two common methods can be used: either to utilize your pre-defined JIRA filter (which needs to be starred) to extract data, or to select the JQL option from your side panel to use JQL queries for data extraction.

Click on the select fields option in the side panel. A new dialog box will now open.

From the project drop-down list, select your JIRA project, and then use the search bar below to find your desired data fields. Select all your aspired fields.

Once you’ve selected them, click on save. Click on the “Get Data Option” to start importing your JIRA data to Excel.

The JIRA Cloud for Excel also allows you to use the “JIRA()” function. This function allows you to specify various fields, the number of rows, etc., from where you want to perform a JIRA Export to Excel, all with the help of a single JQL query.

Once you’ve written your JQL query, click “Enter” and you will get all your requested JIRA data imported into your Excel application.

This is how you can perform a JIRA Export to Excel using the JIRA Cloud plug-in.

Limitations of this method

• The JIRA Cloud for Excel plug-in is only available to users with an Office 365 subscription. It is therefore not readily available for every user and requires them to have the expensive Office 365 subscription beforehand; only then can it be downloaded. 
• It does not support older versions of Office, such as Microsoft Office 2016 and Pro Plus.

Method 3: Performing a JIRA Export to Excel using REST API

Following the GET method of the REST API, once you’ve logged into Jira, you’ll be able to retrieve all the issues using a specific JQL from a URL:

 Method: GET  Url: JIRA_BASE_URL/JIRA_CONTEXT/rest/api/2/search?jql="assignee=currentUser()" 

Paste this URL directly into your web browser for on-screen results. You’ll get a JSON file as output.

You can covert the JSON document into CSV format using online tools. Or you can directly convert to Excel format through different options available in Microsoft Excel according to its version.

Easily manage your data by learning how to export Jira issues to CSV. Simplify reporting and data analysis.

Conclusion

In this guide, we have walked you through various methods for exporting data from Jira to Excel. While manual approaches, such as using Jira’s built-in export options or plugins, can be effective, they often come with limitations, especially for beginners. Challenges such as data formatting issues, export limits, and repetitive tasks can make the process difficult.

You can also check our article about connecting JIRA to MariaDB.

Hevo Data, a No-code Data Pipeline helps you transfer data from a source of your choice in a fully automated and secure manner without having to write the code repeatedly. Hevo with its strong integration with Jira and various other free data sources, allows you to not only export & load data but also transform & enrich your data & make it analysis-ready in a jiffy.

Want to take Hevo for a spin? SIGN UP for a 14-day free trial and experience the feature-rich Hevo suite first hand. You can also have a look at the unbeatable pricing that will help you choose the right plan for your business needs.

FAQs