Introduction

Any Jira user can create boards in Jira, and because of this, you may end up with numerous boards in your projects, leading to potential confusion. Sometimes, these boards are created accidentally, and other times, they are generated unknowingly by people unaware that a similar board already exists. When multiple boards are created across various projects over several months or years, you may need to do some Jira board cleanup.  

This article will guide you through some common scenarios and provide helpful tips for safely deleting your boards in Jira, ensuring you do not inadvertently remove something essential for your team or break Jira.

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Why is it important to follow these tips?

Deleting boards in Jira involves a certain level of risk. If you're not completely certain about the technical aspects of the process, there is a potential for causing disruptions to your production teams. Therefore, it's crucial to exercise caution and not blindly delete boards. These tips are intended to provide guidance and safety measures, ensuring you can confidently delete boards without disrupting your team's workflow.

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Common scenarios

Before we get too far into discussing how to delete boards, let us first explore a few common scenarios that lead to a high number of boards.  After all, simply deleting boards will be a temporary solution if your team continues creating many boards.  Being aware of why you end up with duplicate boards is important to prevent the problem from occurring in the first place.  

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Duplicate default filter

Since anyone can create boards, a user may inadvertently create multiple boards with the same filter. Every time a new board is created, it defaults to the standard filter, which dictates that all issues within that project will automatically appear on that specific board. Consequently, team members who are not experienced may simply be creating boards, expecting different issues to show up, but in frustration, continue to try again until they get their desired result.  However, these redundant boards remain, making them prime candidates for deletion during your initial clean-up.

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Unknown Private Boards

The second scenario occurs when you intentionally create a new board because of a business need. Still, the user creating the board is unaware that a board already exists because the existing board is set to private.  This leads to duplicate boards that serve the same purpose, frequently with the same filter.  In general, anyone creating a board should ensure that the board is public so that the rest of the organization is aware that the board exists.  Private boards are tricky and confusing because not even Jira admins can see these boards.  It should be a best practice in your organization to ensure that anyone who creates a board makes it public so that anyone with access to the project can access it.  This can be tricky as, by default, when you create a new board, it is set to private because it inherits the permissions of the board filter, which are automatically set to private.  As an admin, if you ever become aware of a private board, discuss it with the board admin and review the board/filter permission settings.

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Inefficient, Single Purpose Boards

A third scenario is where someone initially creates a board for a specific purpose, such as delivering a specific release. This is not a good practice, but since anyone can create boards, it is not a rule you can enforce.  The board serves its purpose for the project's duration, but after the project is complete, it remains and is never deleted. This same behavior recurs over the years, leading to many short-lived but abandoned boards cluttering your Jira.

Filter Edit Permissions
Finally, there is a scenario where the creator of the board no longer works at the company, but someone wants to change the filter criteria.  Consequently, the team, no longer having administrative control over the board, often opts to create a new board with a different configuration. They then begin using this new board, leaving the original board forgotten. This cycle of actions can result in accumulating a surplus of essentially unused boards, yet they remain visible.

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‍Pre-requisites

Before you begin deleting any boards, it is essential to consider certain prerequisites. First and foremost, you must have site-level or Jira-level administration privileges. Without these permissions, you won't be able to delete boards.

Additionally, it's crucial to ensure that the issues contained within the boards you intend to delete exist in a different board. Deleting a board will not delete any associated issues, as those issues will remain in the Jira project.  However, viewing issues when they are not on a board is not as intuitive.  Therefore, you want to make sure that the issues will be visible on a board that is not being deleted.  You certainly wouldn't want to accidentally remove a board actively in use. Therefore, always verify that a team actively utilizes all issues within a specific board in an active board.

Deleting boards with sprint data can be particularly challenging since an issue can belong to multiple boards and sprints. To minimize the risk of disrupting sprint data, deleting a board between sprints is advisable. Avoid deleting boards during active sprints, as this will delete an active sprint the team might use. Make sure you close all sprints before deleting a board and do so between the time one sprint concludes and the next one begins.

Lastly, effective communication is essential. Notify all team members about this impending change. Some team members may have bookmarked specific boards or habitually access a particular board without realizing it's not the right one. Remember that boards with the same filters can appear identical to end users. Therefore, it's important to communicate this change via email or within the Jira platform to inform everyone that certain boards will be deleted soon.  Do not forget to mention that issues are never deleted when deleting a board. They might be harder to find if the issues do not belong to an active board.

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Important considerations

When you delete a board, it will be permanently lost unless you have a backup solution in place. There will be no way to recover it once it's deleted. With this in mind, taking certain precautions before proceeding with the deletion is advisable. Specifically, I recommend creating a personal backup for yourself. To achieve this, I suggest thoroughly reviewing each section of the board, including the columns, swim lanes, and quick filters.

Take screenshots of all the configurations within these sections. This proactive step will serve two purposes. Firstly, it will enable you to recreate the board should the need arise. Secondly, if you intend to apply these configurations to an existing board, having this documentation will provide you with the evidence necessary to complete that task.  Alternatively, you can use a 3rd party solution like Salto’s configuration manager to back up your board configurations.

Finally, consider that certain boards are created to address sensitive issues. While security and access are typically managed at the project level, you can conceal a board based on the permissions of a filter. As a result, some boards may not be visible to you. Therefore, it's essential to remember that you may not have access to every single board. You might need to conduct some investigative work and reach out to other administrators in a project to inquire whether any boards may not be visible to you but still exist. Ultimately, if you cannot see a board, you may be unable to delete it.

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Tip #1 - Delete a Jira Board, not the Jira Project

Why do we want to delete boards and not projects?

The simple answer is that projects are intended to have a long lifespan. Whether working on a one-year or multi-year effort, a Jira project is designed to help you stay organized around that product. Typically, projects are either product/project-centric or team-based. However, a Jira project should not be tied to a specific sprint or release; that's where boards come into play.

Boards can be thought of as subsets of Jira projects and are primarily designed to enable teams to stay organized. From an administrative perspective, only administrators can create company-managed projects. In contrast, anyone across Jira can create boards, leading to a project having multiple boards. On the other hand, projects have more restrictions and regulations regarding who can create them, making them less likely to become superfluous.

Because of this, there's a higher probability of accidental board creation. This is when you'll want to clean up boards rather than projects. If you receive a request to delete a project, communicate with the user, as they may just want you to delete a specific Jira board and not the actual project itself.

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‍Tip #2 - Review the Board Filter Issues

The next tip is to review all the issues on the board before you consider deleting anything. One key thing to look for is the last time an issue was created and reflected on this board. If it has been months, if not years, there's a high probability that this board is no longer necessary. Therefore, examine the creation date and the last updated date, as both provide valuable indicators to help you determine whether the board is still active.

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Of course, you can always reach out and talk to the owner of the filter. However, remember that the individual may or may not still work for your company, so you might not always have that option. If you can't communicate with the original owner, conduct some investigative work and check those dates.

Another helpful action you can take is to compare the filters of the board you intend to delete with the filters of other boards within the same project. When you begin this comparison, it will become evident if there are duplicates, as the filter queries will be identical. If you find yourself in a situation where these filter queries match exactly, it signifies that the board is a duplicate. In such cases, you only need to retain one board, so you only need to worry about deleting between active sprints.  If the boards are Kanbans, then there is no risk.

Lastly, ensure that you review and remove any privately set filters, as they cannot be shared with others, which contradicts the purpose of having the board. This is a critical oversight, as when you create a new filter, it automatically defaults to being private. Therefore, you must audit your private filters to ensure they are not in use on a board. This process is more challenging and should only be undertaken as a last resort.

If you are committed to deleting and organizing your boards, you must search for these private filters. Additionally, you may need to communicate with various colleagues in your company, as anyone can create filters that are private by default. You must invest extra effort in identifying these private filters and boards.  As a site/org administrator, you can view all the filters by going to the system settings in Jira.

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Tip #3 - Cleaning up orphaned Filters

When you begin deleting your boards, you will encounter a new issue: orphaned filters. Depending on the reason for deleting the boards, these filters may be duplicates. Regardless, you will accumulate a collection of unused filters. Therefore, your next step should be to clean up these filters. It may seem like a bit of a chicken-and-egg situation. Still, fortunately, if you took screenshots of your board configurations before you started deleting boards, you will know precisely which filters have become orphaned. Keep this in mind while deleting boards, and remember to go back and remove these orphaned filters afterward.

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Steps for Deleting a Jira Board

Once you have considered all the tips we just covered, it's time to delete the board.

Step 1: To access your Jira board, edit the URL. Remove all content following the '/jira' part and replace it with '/board.' As a result, the top section of the URL should display as follows: 'https://yourjira.atlassian.net/jira/boards,' where 'yourjira' represents the name of your specific site.

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Step 2: This will display all the boards available in your Jira. The next step is to locate the board you intend to delete.

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Step 3: To delete the board you wish to remove, click on the ellipses (...), and you will have the option to select 'delete.' Please be aware that once you confirm the deletion, it is irreversible, and the board will be permanently removed unless you have a backup solution for Jira.

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Once you've completed these steps, your board has now been deleted. You must follow these steps for any other board you wish to delete.

A final tip: each board has a unique board filter.  Before you hit the delete button, make sure the board IDs match.  Some boards may have the same name, so looking at the board ID is the only way to confirm you are deleting the correct board.  

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Suppose you are unsure or nervous about deleting boards. In that case, I recommend you look into a configuration management solution like Salto to give you peace of mind that you can undo your changes.

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Summary 

You possess all the essential tips required to delete a board without causing significant disruption for you and your teams. I trust that these tips have proven beneficial!