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How to Create a Filter in Jira

By Jessica Greene · February 27, 2019
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If you have tons of issues in your Jira projects, it's easy for tasks to slip through the cracks. Jira filters help you sort your issues to quickly find your most important tasks. In this tutorial, we'll show you how to create a filter in Jira.

What Are Jira Filters?

Filters in Jira are used to sort and segment issues by criteria you set. For example, you can use filters to narrow a list of issues down to see only those that are assigned to you, only those of a certain issue type (story, bug, epic, etc.), only those assigned a specific priority, only open issues, and more.

There are more than two dozen criteria you can use to filter your Jira issues, and you can also filter by multiple criteria to view only issues that match very specific conditions.

How to Create a Filter in Jira

Creating a filter in Jira starts by conducting a search. Click the magnifying glass icon in Jira's left navigation menu.

search in Jira

In the panel that opens, click Advanced search for issues just below the search bar.

advanced search in Jira

Use the dropdown fields to sort your issues by project (1), issue type (2), status (3), and/or assignee (4). Use the text field (5) to search for issues that contain specific words or phrases. Or click the More dropdown (6) to sort by more than two dozen other criteria like epic name, due date, sprint, or priority. Then, click the measuring glass icon to conduct your search.

filter criteria in Jira

Check your search results to make sure the issues that display are the issues you want to filter for. Then, click the Save as to convert your search criteria into a filter.

save a Jira search as a filter

Give your filter a name and click Submit. You've now created your first filter in Jira.

create a filter in Jira

How to Access Your Filters in Jira

After you've created the filters you need, you can access them by clicking the Issues and filters tab in the left navigation menu.

find Jira filters

Filters you've created appear under the STARRED section of the left navigation menu.

apply Jira filters

Just click on any filter to display all issues that match that filter's criteria.

Or you can click View all filters at the bottom of the left navigation menu to open a list of all of the filters you've created.

view all Jira filters

How to Edit Your Jira Filters

If you want to share your filters with others, favorite (star) or unfavorite (de-star) them, or make changes to your filters' names, you can do so from the View all filters screen.

Like you did above, click Issues and filters in the left navigation menu, scroll down, and click View all filters.

Next, click the three horizontal dots icon next to the filter you want to edit, then click Edit filter details. From this menu, you can also make copies of your filters or delete them if you no longer need them.

edit Jira filters

Make the necessary changes in the Edit Current Filter screen, then click Save to apply your changes.

Jira edit filter form

How to Subscribe to a Filter in Jira

Subscribing to a filter in Jira lets you get periodic email updates of issues that match your filter criteria. To subscribe to a filter:

As above, click Issues and filters in the left navigation menu, and then scroll down and click View all filters. Next, click the three horizontal dots icon next to the filter you want to edit, then click Manage subscriptions.

subscribe to Jira filters

Click the Add subscription button.

add a filter subscription in Jira

Fill out the overlay form to select email recipients, choose how often recipients receive email updates, and select the time the emails are sent. Then, click Subscribe to create the subscription.

Jira filter subscription form

You can also use these Zaps (automated workflows by Zapier) to get notifications of new Jira issues in Gmail, Outlook, or Slack:

Get Slack notifications for new Jira issues

  • Jira Software Server logo
  • Slack logo
Jira Software Server + Slack
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    Need to easily keep track of new Jira issues to address them as quickly as possible? With this integration, you can. Once set up, you'll be notified in Slack every time a new Jira issue is created. You can choose to be notified in private via @slackbot, or in a designated Slack channel.

    Send Gmail email alerts for new JIRA issues

    • Jira Software Server logo
    • Gmail logo
    Jira Software Server + Gmail
    More details
      Want an easy way to send customized email notifications when there are new issues in your JIRA account, Zapier can do that for you from your Gmail account. Just connect JIRA to Gmail with this integration, and you'll get an email whenever a new JIRA issue is created. You'll always know what's going on, without watching JIRA constantly.

      Send email alerts for new JIRA issues via Office 365

      • Jira Software Server logo
      • Microsoft Office 365 logo
      Jira Software Server + Microsoft Office 365
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        Do certain non-JIRA users need to stay up to date on issues your project might have? Use this JIRA Office 365 integration to automatically send an email from Office 365 for new issues that happen in a JIRA project.

        Or if your team works in Jira but you use a different to-do app, use these Zaps to send Jira issues to your preferred project management app:

        Create Trello cards from new Jira issues

        • Jira Software Server logo
        • Trello logo
        Jira Software Server + Trello
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          Creating issues in Jira that need to be on your to-do list? Zapier can help. This integration connects Jira to Trello to automatically create new Trello cards for you as soon as a new Jira issue is created in your account.

          Add new JIRA issues to Asana as tasks

          • Jira Software Server logo
          • Asana logo
          Jira Software Server + Asana
          More details
            Make sure your JIRA issues are taken care of by adding them to an Asana task list. This integration automatically creates a new Asana task each time a JIRA issue is added.

            Create items on monday.com boards from new JIRA issues

            • Jira Software Server logo
            • monday.com logo
            Jira Software Server + monday.com
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              Need to have JIRA issues created as items in a specific board on monday.com? Forget about manually updating your work in two places. Let Zapier help instead. As soon as a new issue is generated in JIRA, this integration will automatically add it to a specified monday.com board.

              Save new JIRA issues to Todoist as new tasks

              • Jira Software Server logo
              • Todoist logo
              Jira Software Server + Todoist
              More details
                Want your JIRA issues to easily be added to a personal todo list? Use this JIRA Todoist integration to add JIRA issues to Todoist as new tasks automatically.

                Browse all of our Jira integrations to connect Jira to 1,000+ apps.


                Jira provides teams with a great way to collect and centralize all of their tasks, but a long list of everything everyone needs to do gets unruly quickly. With filters, you can create more customized lists of issues that help you stay on top of the tasks that are important for you.

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