Jira Issue Navigator handbook: Search, sort & customize your issues (2026 edition)

Tired of drowning in a sea of Jira issues?

The Jira Issue Navigator is your lifeline. This powerful tool lets you search, sort, and customize your issues with just a few clicks.

In this guide, you’ll learn how to:

Plus, get tips on using Jira’s different issue views – from the classic list view to agile boards and queues.

Ready to take control of your Jira issues? Let’s dive in.

Updated January 8, 2026

When you first access the Jira Issue Navigator through the project sidebar, you’ll see a full list of issues within your Jira instance. This list includes issues from all projects you have access to. 

The Issue Navigator provides a powerful search bar at the top. You can quickly filter and find specific issues based on various criteria such as project, assignee, status, labels, and more.

To the left of the search bar, you’ll find the Default filters menu. This menu allows you to switch between different predefined views. It includes “My Open Issues,” “Recently Viewed,” and “All Issues.” 

These filters give you quick access to commonly used issue filters. They can save you time and effort in searching for relevant issues.

One of the key features of the Jira Issue Navigator is the ability to customize the columns displayed for each issue. 

By default, the Issue Navigator shows a set of standard columns like:

However, you can easily modify these columns to suit your specific needs.

To customize the columns:

1. Click on the Configure columns dropdown menu. You can find it above the issue list.

2. Select the desired columns you want to display or remove.

3. Click anywhere on the screen to confirm your selection and update the columns.

4. Rearrange the order of the columns by dragging and dropping them.

In addition to the standard issue fields, you can also add custom fields as columns in the Jira Issue Navigator. Custom fields are additional fields that can be configured in Jira to capture specific information relevant to your projects or organization. Once added, these custom fields will appear in the columns displayed, providing tailored insights for your team.

To add custom fields as columns:

1. Click the Configure columns dropdown menu.

2. Type or search for the Custom field(s) you want to include as columns.

3. Tick the Custom field(s) to include them as columns.

4. Click anywhere on the screen to confirm your selection and update the columns.

Jira’s custom fields enable teams to capture specific information tailored to their unique workflows. By adding these fields to your issue navigator or board views, you can track project-specific data like client details, budget estimations, or sprint goals, ensuring all critical information is accessible at a glance.

The Jira Issue Navigator not only gives you a high-level overview of issues but also lets you dive into the details of individual issues. To view the details of a specific issue, including any custom field values, simply click on the issue key or summary in the issue list.

Clicking on an issue will open the issue details page, where you can find comprehensive information about the issue, including:

The issue details page helps you gain a complete understanding of its context, progress, and associated activities.

TL;DR

You can see your issues in:

We will show you the same issues in different views so you can see them in action.

Technically speaking, tickets created by customers in the Customer Portal aren’t different from Jira issues. While in Jira Software we use boards to manage issues, Service Management agents keep track of ongoing requests with queues.

Integrated into Service Management projects, queues can be customized to filter tickets that meet specific criteria. 

For example, Service Management teams can have active queues for all opened requests, critical bugs in a selected product, or tickets with SLA in danger of a breach.

The Service Management agents can easily switch between filters and view issues as a list. The interface is similar to the Issue Navigator. 

Filters can be changed, updated, and shared with other team members to keep everyone in the loop. Search criteria can be field- or JQL-based, allowing you to add specific filters and display issues from different projects, products, and Customer Portals.

The downside is that queues are only available in Service Management projects. No matter what you type in JQL, the JSM project is predefined, so you’ll get the search results only from it.

However, with our Queues for Jira Service Management app, it’s possible to have a queue with the tickets coming from multiple projects of different types. The same as the native queues, our app is based on JQL, but the difference is that you can display everything you want. Then in one queue, you can see the service desk tickets and issues from business and software projects.

Considering the fact that our app doesn’t have any restrictions regarding the project types, it looks like the Issue Navigator moved to the queue.

Now let’s take a look at our support team queue.

In the Escalations queue, the agents can see which tickets have to be handled first. In the To handle queue, there are the tickets waiting for support. 

Another queue, Ready to close, gathers all the tickets already fixed by the developers. This way, the support agents know they need to inform the customers that the features they were waiting for are ready. 

The support agents can also see the development teams’ queues gathered in four categories. When they unfold one of them (All Stars, Cloud Apps, RTM Team, and JSD Team on our screen), they see:

Once the tickets are analyzed by the product owners or developers, they come back to the support team’s queue. Then the agents inform the customers what will be the next steps regarding their requests.

The support agent can smoothly cooperate with the product owners or developers. The apps let them be always up to date with the statuses of the customers’ requests and the actions that the other teams perform regarding them. The agents can also create and share with their teammates a custom filter with issues from the same reporter or organization. 

The product owners can not only see the support ticket waiting for their analysis but also every type of issue they need to follow in their work.

To access the queue view, navigate to the Queues section in the project sidebar of your Jira Service Management project. From there, you can select a specific queue to view its issues and take action as needed.

The list view is the default view in Jira’s Issue Navigator. The list view is ideal for scanning through issues quickly, displaying them in a structured, tabular format for easy comparison.

Using it, you can quickly scan through multiple issues and their key details, such as issue type, priority, status, and assignee.

To make the most of the list view, customize the columns to display the issue fields that are most relevant to your workflow. This can include custom fields specific to your project or organization. 

By tailoring the columns, you can make sure that the information you need is readily available at a glance.

From the list view, you can click on any issue to access its detailed information and manage its attributes. The detail view provides an in-depth look at an issue, including its description, comments, attachments, and history. 

You can also include a custom field in the detail view to ensure all relevant data is accessible.

The detail view is particularly useful when troubleshooting complex issues or collaborating with team members. You can review the issue’s entire lifecycle, from creation to resolution, and gain insights into the discussions and decisions made along the way.

To access the detail view, navigate to the Issue Navigator via the project sidebar and click on an issue’s summary or key in the list view.

From there, you can edit the issue’s details, add comments, or update its status as needed.

For teams practicing agile methodologies like Kanban or Scrum, the agile board view is a game-changer. This view visualizes issues as cards on a board, with columns representing different stages of the workflow.

The agile board view enables you to:

To access the agile board view, navigate to your project’s board from the project sidebar. You can customize the board’s columns and swimlanes to match your team’s unique workflow. For detailed instructions on configuring the board view, refer to the Atlassian documentation.

TL;DR

When you need to find a specific issue in Jira, the quickest way is to use the search bar at the top of the screen. Simply enter keywords related to the issue you’re looking for, such as the issue key, summary, or description. 

Jira will search through issue summaries, descriptions, and comments to generate accurate search results based on your input.

For example, if you’re looking for an issue related to a specific feature, you can enter the feature name in the search bar. Jira will return a list of issues that contain the keyword in their summary, description, or comments. 

This is a great way to quickly find issues without having to navigate through multiple projects or boards.

If you know the specific issue key you’re looking for, you can enter it directly into the search bar. 

Issue keys are unique identifiers assigned to each issue in Jira, and they follow the format of the project key followed by a hyphen and a number (e.g., SUP-123).

By searching for the exact issue key, you can quickly access the desired issue without sifting through search results.

While basic search is great for simple queries, there may be times when you need to search for issues based on more complex criteria. This is where advanced search comes in handy. 

To access the advanced search feature, click on the Advanced link next to the search bar.

Advanced search lets you use Jira Query Language (JQL) to construct a detailed JQL query tailored to your exact needs.

JQL is a powerful tool that enables you to combine multiple search criteria using logical operators like AND, OR, and NOT. This means you can define search criteria to locate issues that meet specific conditions. Examples include issues assigned to a particular user, issues with a certain priority level, or issues that are overdue.

To use JQL effectively, you need to understand its basic syntax. Here are a few key elements:

By combining these elements, you can create complex search queries that help you find exactly what you’re looking for. 

For example, to search for all high-priority issues assigned to a specific user that are currently open, you could use the following JQL query:

priority = High AND assignee = “John Smith” AND status = Open

Once you’ve created a search query that you find particularly useful, you can save it as a filter for quick access in the future. 

Saved filters appear in the Filters dropdown menu next to the search bar. Using them, you can run the query with a single click.

1. Run your desired JQL query or a basic search to refine your issue list.

2. Click on the Save filter button above the search results.

3. Give your filter a name and description. Then, choose whether to share the filter with other users or keep it private.

5. Click Save to create the filter.

Saved filters are not only a time-saver for you, but they can also be shared with your team members to ensure everyone is working with the same set of issues. This promotes collaboration and helps maintain consistency across the team.

By mastering Jira’s search capabilities, you can quickly find the issues you need, create complex queries to surface important information, and save time by sharing useful filters with your team. 

TL;DR

You can create a custom filter in Jira using both the basic and advanced (JQL) search methods:

If you are in the advanced (JQL) mode, click on Basic next to the search bar.

When in the basic search mode, use the dropdown menus and fields to specify your search criteria quickly and effectively.

If you need more complex criteria, click on Advanced next to the search bar.

Then, input your JQL query to fine-tune your search. For example:

  assignee = currentUser() AND status = “In Progress”

Here are some common filter criteria you can use:

Jira’s filter subscription feature keeps you informed about issues that matter to you. By subscribing to a filter, you’ll receive notifications whenever an issue matching the filter criteria is updated. Here’s how to manage your filter subscriptions:

1. After creating a custom filter, click on the Filter details link next to the filter name.

2. In the filter details view, click on the Add subscription button to start receiving notifications for issues matching the filter.

3. Then, add subscription details and click Subscribe.

Jira’s Issue Navigator allows you to sort issues by clicking on the column headers. This simple yet powerful feature enables you to arrange issues based on priority, assignee, due date, or any other relevant field.

To sort issues, navigate to the Issue Navigator and locate the column header for the field you want to sort by. Click on the header once to sort issues in ascending order. Clicking the header again will reverse the sorting order to descending. A small arrow icon will appear next to the column header, indicating the current sorting direction.

Let’s say you want to focus on high-priority issues first. 

In the Issue Navigator, click on the Priority column header. This will sort issues from highest to lowest priority. Clicking the header again will reverse the order, displaying low-priority issues first.

Sorting issues becomes even more powerful when combined with filters and custom views. After applying a filter to narrow down your issue list, you can sort the remaining issues to prioritize them further.

For example, you might create a filter to display only issues assigned to your team that are due within the next week. Then, sort those issues by priority to ensure the most critical tasks are addressed first.

Similarly, custom views can be created with specific column configurations and sorting criteria. This allows you to save frequently used sorting options and quickly access them whenever needed.

Jira Query Language (JQL) can be used to create more complex sorting criteria. For instance, you can use JQL to sort issues by project, component, or specific labels. This advanced sorting capability helps you tailor your issue management to your team’s specific needs.

To use JQL for sorting, navigate to the Issue Navigator and enter your JQL query in the search bar. The search results will be sorted based on your query criteria.

For example, ORDER BY priority DESC, created ASC sorts the results first by priority in descending order and then by the creation date in ascending order.

You can also display Jira issues in Confluence using the JIRA Issues macro. This macro allows you to embed single JIRA issues or a list of issues in a Confluence page, making it easy to share issue information with your team. Issues embedded from the list view in Jira provide a clear and concise snapshot for Confluence pages.

Jira’s bulk change feature is a game-changer for managing multiple issues simultaneously. Whether you need to reassign tasks, update statuses, or add labels, this tool lets you make consistent updates across selected issues in just a few clicks. Save time and ensure accuracy by leveraging bulk change for repetitive tasks or large-scale updates.

By selecting multiple issues in the Issue Navigator, users can perform actions such as updating the assignee, changing the status, or adding labels to all selected issues at once. This feature saves time and ensures consistency when dealing with a large number of issues.

To perform bulk actions, navigate to the Issue Navigator and select the desired issues using filters.

Then, choose the appropriate action from the “Tools” menu (three dots in the top right corner), such as Bulk change.

From there, you can specify the fields you want to update and the new values for those fields. Jira will apply the changes to all selected issues, streamlining the issue management process.

For example, tick edit issues, which will allow you to edit field values of the chosen issues.

Let’s say you want to change their priority.

When using bulk issue operations, it’s essential to:

Jira offers a range of keyboard shortcuts that allow users to navigate and interact with issues efficiently. By memorizing and utilizing these shortcuts, users can save time and increase their productivity when working with the Issue Navigator.

Some commonly used keyboard shortcuts include:

To view a complete list of available keyboard shortcuts, press the “?” key while in the Issue Navigator. Jira will display a cheat sheet with all the shortcuts, making it easy to reference and learn them.

Exporting issue data from the Issue Navigator is a valuable feature for analyzing issues, creating reports, or sharing information with stakeholders. 

Jira ticketing system supports exporting issues in a few different formats. You can then easily work with the data in external tools.

To export issues:

1. Go to the Issue Navigator and apply any necessary filters.

2. Click on the Export issues button in the top-right corner.

3. Choose the desired format.

4. Click on the desired format to download the file.

The Jira Issue Navigator is your go-to tool for finding, sorting, and managing issues in your projects. With advanced search options, customizable filters, and versatile views, you can streamline your workflow and stay on top of your tasks.

Remember these key points:

By mastering the Jira Issue Navigator, you’ll spend less time hunting for information and more time tackling important work.

What’s one way you could use the Jira Issue Navigator to improve your team’s collaboration and productivity this week?

Please note that the names of buttons and options in Jira may vary depending on the version and configuration of your Jira instance. 

The steps and terminology provided in this guide are based on a typical Jira setup and may differ slightly in your environment. Always refer to your organization’s Jira documentation or talk to your Jira administrator for specific instructions tailored to your instance.