How to Quickly Sync Jira Issues to Trello Cards With 2-Way Updates

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Published in Apps on 10/03/2022, last updated 18/04/2023.

If you’re planning to sync Jira issues with Trello cards in an automated 2-way sync, you’ve come to the right place. Many software development teams rely on Jira for its flexibility, time-keeping capability, live performance updates and the transparency it provides to users. Trello, meanwhile, is a more versatile option for a wider range of departments. From marketing to product, consultants and agencies, or anyone who generally wants a modular project management solution – Trello tends to be top of mind. But what if your team uses both? Then you’ve come to the right place.

Unito offers a simple 2-way Trello-Jira integration to help teams collaborate between tools and this guide will show you how it’s done. Similar steps and principles will apply to many other Unito integrations with Jira, including Asana, ClickUp, monday.com or Wrike.

This flow has two goals:

• Automatically create new Jira issues based on specific Trello cards and/or vice versa.
• Keep our cards and issues in a two-way, real-time sync that updates as teams work on tickets and tasks. This ensures everyone has oversight on the latest development work in real-time without needing to switch between Trello and Jira. 

Why automate a sync between Jira issues and Trello cards?

The main reason to consider this integration is to save time. You can automate the creation of Jira issues based on activity in Trello, or vice versa to save yourself from copy-pasting between a Trello board and Jira epic. It also saves teammates who aren’t as comfortable in Jira from having to use unfamiliar software. Instead, they can simply work on specific Trello cards synced to Jira, and then watch as their output syncs effortlessly into Jira automatically.

Then, there’s data security: if you collaborate with external teams remotely, you can avoid sharing permissions or providing full account access by syncing specific Jira issues to their Trello board. These are just a few ideas to help you decide what you want to do after integrating Trello-Jira with Unito.

Watch a Trello – Jira flow by Unito in action:

Before we connect Jira and Trello to Unito:

• The Jira account connected to Unito must have administrator access with global permissions.
• You’ll need to configure Jira for Unito access before building your flow, if you have not previously done so.
• Trello users have the option to add Unito as a Power-Up to an existing Trello board if you prefer building Unito flows from your Trello interface.

Step 1.  Connect Trello and Jira to Unito

Navigate to the Unito App and select +Create Flow. On the next screen, select Start Here to connect Trello and Jira. Choose the accounts you want connected to Unito. In this walkthrough, we’ll select Trello on the left-hand side, and then Jira on the right. You’ll need to specify which account for each tool you wish to connect through Unito, as well as the Trello board and Jira project you need to sync.

See below for an example:

When you’re ready, click Confirm.

Step 2. Set your Trello-Jira flow direction

Your data can sync either from only one tool to the other, or bidirectionally. Since our goal is to sync project information with a Trello-Jira integration, we’ll choose a bidirectional, or two-way flow. See below for an example.

Click Confirm when you’ve chosen a flow direction. 

Step 3. Set up rules for Trello-Jira and Jira-Trello

Now we can set up rules to determine which trigger events will send data between our tools. Select Add a new trigger to establish your rules for each directional flow.

NOTE: These triggers are intended to help you keep only the most relevant information in sync to avoid oversharing unnecessary details. There can be a lot of variability here that will depend on your particular needs and tool setup. You can apply custom labels to your issues or cards to be even more precise about what kind of data is shared.

In this case, we want our flow to only create issues in Jira when a new card is created in Trello with a yellow label:

For our Jira-Trello sync, we’ll set rules to create a new card in Trello whenever we create a Bug issue in Jira that also includes a label from Trello. See below for an example:

Find out more about setting rules.

Step 4. Set up field mappings to sync issues and cards

While rules are intended to set triggers for when data should be synced, field mappings determines what information is synced between your cards and issues. When you first open this screen, you’ll be presented with two options. If you select Auto-map, Unito will prepopulate a list of suggested field mappings which you can then adjust. If you know exactly how you want your fields mapped, Start from scratch.

Learn more about field mappings between Trello and Jira.

Click + Add mapping to add additional fields to be synced. To do so, click Select a field for each tool, and find the appropriate field to map. After you’ve chosen a field in one tool, Unito will suggest compatible matches in the second tool when you click on the other drop-down menu. See below for an example:

Selecting the gear icon beside a field will allow you to customize the values or statuses within those fields to further customize your flow. In our demo, we have told the system to mark Trello cards as non-archived whenever their matching Jira issue is set as “to do” or “done” and vice versa, since this field is set to flow both ways. See below for an example:

Click Confirm when you’re satisfied with your field mappings to proceed.

Find out more about setting field mappings.

Step 5. Save and close

And that’s it! You’ve just synced Trello and Jira in a 2-way integration. Congratulations!

If you’ve followed the steps above, your flow will now: 

• Create an issue in Jira when a new card is added in Trello and assigned a specific label.
• Create a card in Trello when a new issue is created in Jira that meets certain criteria related to your Trello labels. 
• Allow your teams to collaborate between Trello and Jira without having to switch tools, manually copy-paste project details, or request information from the other team about shared work.

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out and let us know.

Ready for a more advanced Trello – Jira workflow?

Here’s a framework you can use to a build a more advanced workflow between Trello and Jira. A workflow is what we call an integration with multiple Unito flows that all work in tandem. Check it out below:

What’s next after you sync Trello and Jira with Unito?

• Learn how to duplicate this flow to suit other use cases you may have in mind.
• Read more about Unito’s Trello Jira integration.
• Learn how to sync Trello cards between multiple boards with Unito.
• Build an automated ticket escalation queue from Jira Service Management to Jira Cloud.