Add, configure and control your issue types

Pro

Issue Types unlock a whole new way of adding, editing, and moving work forward in Plane. The default issue type called Issue is great for starting with Plane, but as you advance in your project management journey, you find the need for names and properties unique to the type of work you are doing.

For example, your Marketing team may need an issue type called Content with the properties, Channel, SEO done?, and Reviewer — properties that aren't available on the default Issues. Your Engineering team, on the other hand, may want an issue type called Bugs with the properties Version and Environment to have more upfront info per bug reported.

Issue Types make these and infinite other use cases possible.

Create issue types

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The Issue Types feature cannot be disabled once enabled for a Plane project.

Role: Project Admins

1. Click the … icon next to your project name on the sidebar and click Settings.
2. Select Issue Types on the right pane.
3. Click the Enable button to start creating issue types for your project.
4. The default type is called Issue. Click the Add Issue Type button to create a new issue type.
5. In the Create issue type modal, type name, and description, and choose a background color and an icon to represent the issue type. Click the Create issue type button.
6. Switch on the toggle button to allow users to select the issue type when creating issues and sub-issues.

Examples of issue types

• IT development teams
  Bug Improvement Epic Story

• IT support teams
  Incident Change Service request New feature

• Product management
  Product launches User research Feature development Market analysis

• Production units (automobile)
  Production planning, Material procurement, Quality control, Inventory management

• Design agencies
  Revision requests Design drafting Client presentation Quality assurance

• NGOs
  Grant writing Volunteer coordination Beneficiary management

Add custom properties

Role: Project Admins

Adding custom properties to the default issue type Issue and other newly created issue types is possible.

1. Under the issue type, click Add New Property to create custom fields.
2. Specify values for Title, Description and Property type of the new property.
3. Select the Mandatory property checkbox if it's a required field. Select the Active checkbox to make the property visible in issues.
4. Click Create to add the property to the issue type.

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Before you delete properties, switch off the Active toggle button to avoid data loss.

Property types

Here's a list of all the property types and attributes that Plane provides for creating custom fields:

Property type	Attributes	Notes
Text	Single line, Paragraph, Read-only	The Read-only attribute cannot be marked as mandatory. Enter text in the Read only data box for this option.
Number	Default value	An optional default value can be given to this property type.
Dropdown	Single select, Multi select, Add options	Specify the values for the dropdown under Add options.
Boolean	True/False	Default value is false. This attribute cannot be marked as mandatory.
Date	Date Format	Consistent date format across all properties.
Member picker	Single Select, Multi select	Displays a list of all project members.

Examples of custom properties

• Product launch
  Launch date Geography Budget Approval status Stakeholder

• Bug
  Affected version Resolved version Environment Steps to reproduce Approval status Customer impact

• Final design approval
  Final design files Approval checklist Client approval date Responsible person

Use issue types

Once the project Admin sets up the issue types any project member can use them when creating issues or sub-issues.

• In the Create new issue modal, the user can choose the desired issue type from the list at the top left corner. By default, the issue type Issue is selected displaying both system-defined and custom properties.
• Changing the issue type will update the modal to display the relevant properties for that type.
• The system ensures that all properties marked as mandatory are filled before creating the issue.

When viewing issues, the issue type is displayed with an icon near the title for easy identification. Any custom properties added will also appear in the list of properties, and changes to these values are tracked in the issue's activity trail.

Switch issue types

You can easily switch the issue's type at any time. Just follow these steps:

1. Open the issue you’d like to update.
2. Hover over to the right of the issue ID and click Switch issue type. Alternatively, you can click Edit from the issue's ellipsis (•••) menu to open the Update issue modal directly.
3. Choose the new issue type from the dropdown next to your project name.
4. Click Update to save your changes.

Bulk update issue types

You can change the issue types for several issues at once. Here’s how:

1. Switch to the Spreadsheet layout in the Issues page.
2. Select the issues you want to update.
3. At the bottom of your screen, open the Issue type dropdown and pick the new issue type.
4. Click Update to apply the changes.

Disable issue types

You can temporarily pause the creation of new issues for a specific issue type without affecting existing ones.

1. Head to the Issue types screen in your project's settings.
2. Toggle off the switch next to the issue type you want to disable.