How to Export Jira Issues to Any Tool (2 Methods)

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Published in Use cases on 27/02/2023.

Jira is a great tool for everyone who has to deal with software development. Whether it’s the developers themselves, their team lead, or a product manager, Jira’s become the tool of choice for managing complex software projects. But just because that’s the case doesn’t mean it’s the best tool for everyone else. Some teams work out of dedicated project management tools, others use CRMs, and some even use spreadsheets as their main work hub! So what do you do when you have to bring these teams together? Force everyone into Jira? More likely, you’ll be looking for a way to export Jira issues to whatever tool they’re using.

Here are two methods for doing that. One with a CSV file, and the other with a little help from Unito.

First method: export Jira issues as a CSV

Did you know that Jira has a built-in feature that allows you to export Jira issues in a bunch of formats? You can export them as an HTML file, an RSS feed, a Word document, and even a CSV file. That last one is crucial, because there are a ton of tools out there that can read information from CSV files, including spreadsheet tools.

So let’s say you wanted to build a database of Jira issues in a tool like Google Sheets. Here’s how you’d do it with a CSV file.

First, go to the Jira project that has the issues you need to export.

From your project, click Issues in the left-hand menu. This will give you a list of all the issues in your project. Click on Export issues.

In this dropdown, you’ll see all the formats you can use for this export. For getting your issues into a spreadsheet, it’s best to pick Export Excel CSV.

Now go to Google Sheets.

Hit + New, then hit File upload.

Find your file and upload it. Once it’s uploaded, go find your file and right-click it. 

Click Open with, followed by Google Sheets.

And just like that, all your Jira issues are in Google Sheets!

You can then use this new database for reporting on your Jira projects, communicating project status with collaborators who don’t have access to Jira, and more.

Limitations of this method

This is definitely one of the easiest ways to export Jira issues to other tools. And since CSV files are so common, you can do this with a lot of tools. But is it the best way to do it? As easy as it is, this method has some drawbacks that you need to be aware of.

• Manual exports: As easy as this method is, it’s 100% manual. That means your Jira data because out of date as soon as it’s exported. So whether you’re building a report or sharing Jira data with other collaborators, you always need to add the caveat that it’s slightly out of date.
• One-way exports: This method only covers exporting Jira issues to Google Sheets, not the other way around. Sure, you could definitely import a CSV file into Jira and populate a project with issues, but that’s a one-way process, too.
• Cleanup needed: Take a look at that spreadsheet again. Does it look anything like what you see in Jira? Sure, the information’s there, but it’s exactly skimmable. That means someone needs to go in and clean things up after every export.

If a simple export is all you need, then this method might work for you. But if you want to export Jira issues without all that manual work — and keep everything up to date — read on.

Second method: Export Jira issues with Unito

Unito is a no-code workflow management solution with some of the deepest two-way integrations for the most popular tools on the market, including Jira, Google Sheets, Asana, GitHub, Trello, and more. With a Unito flow, you can automatically export Jira issues to 30+ tools, where they’ll be turned into tasks, rows, cards, and more, depending on the tool you export them to. The best part? Whenever that data changes, it’ll be kept updated in both tools.

Here’s why Unito is the best way to export Jira issues to any tool:

• It’s automatic: Once you’ve set up a Unito flow between Jira and your other tools, your Jira issues will be exported automatically as they’re created. No need for scheduled exports.
• It can be two-way: You can use Unito to just export Jira issues to Google Sheets, just like with a CSV, but you can also use it to create Jira issues from Google Sheets. Say a product manager notices that an important bug hasn’t been added to Jira yet. With Unito, they can add the info in Google Sheets, and it’ll automatically be synced to a new issue in Jira.
• It’s automatically cleaned up: When you export Jira issues with Unito, you can decide how much you want to export, where it lands, and what’ll it look like when it gets to your spreadsheet.

Want to do this right now? Here’s how you can build your first flow in minutes.

And that’s it! Now launch your flow and watch as Jira issues are automatically exported to whichever tool you choose.