Admin but cannot delete task on board
Asked by Alexander Valentine:

I have admin permission and trying to delete a lot of old task from former employees who are no longer with the company.   

I've been made an admin but when I go to delete the task it says I do not have permission and I need to reach out to the account permissions. I have and he's made the changes so i can, but Jira does still not allow me to erase task.


Answers:
author: Alexander Valentine
body: None of this has helped at all. I even had the admin remove and readd me and I cannot delete old task! Please, why is this so difficult?


author: Mohanraj Thangamuthu
body: Hello, Go to project settings \>\> Permissions \>\> Check for delete issue permission. Check if the permission is given to any specific user or project role.

![Screenshot 2023-07-26 at 11.24.15 AM.png](https://community.atlassian.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/271190i6D0FCA67C959C687/image-size/large?v=v2&px=999 "Screenshot 2023-07-26 at 11.24.15 AM.png")


author: Trudy Claspill
body: Hello [@Alexander Valentine](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/5276705)

Welcome to the Atlassian Community.

Are you working with Jira Cloud or Jira Server/Data Center?

If the Jira system is saying that you don't have permissions to delete the issue, then it is probable that the permission have not been updated correctly.

We would need information about what changes were made to be able to provide any specific guidance. Being made an Admin of a project is not necessarily adequate.

comments: author: Alexander Valentine
body: We're using Jira Cloud.


author: Alexander Valentine
body: I am an admin on all the projects, on jira and confluence too and also an Atlassian admin on the account. So all three permission levels have me as admin..


author: Trudy Claspill
body: Have the Admin role or permission does not inherently give you the Delete Issue permission. You need to have the Delete Issue permission for a specific project to be able to delete the issues in it.

Are you trying to delete an issue in a Team Managed project or a Company Managed project? That information will display for each project in the **View all Projects** page and at the bottom of the panel on the left when you are interacting with a specific project.

If you have Jira Admin permissions then you have the capability to give yourself the Delete Issue permission.

Deleting issues is permanent and irreversible (if you don't have a backup or a plugin for preserving deleted issues). Before deleting an issue be very, VERY sure that you will never need that issue for anything and its removal doesn't adversely impact any reports or other functionality.


author: Alexander Valentine
body: We use the free version. Does that matter in this case?


author: Trudy Claspill
body: I also use the free version. With it you are not supposed to be able to change permissions allocated in projects, but it is possible that somehow they were changed.

The default permissions would allow any logged in user to delete issues in projects in the Free plan.

So, you need to examine the permission allocations in the affected projects.


author: Alexander Valentine
body: Having no luck

Not sure what else to do.


author: Trudy Claspill
body: You have said that you have been made a full Jira Administrator. Let us check that.

Do you see a gear icon in the upper right corner near your avatar? If so, click on it and provide us with a screen image of what you see.

If you don't see a gear icon, then you are not a Jira Administrator.

If you do see the gear icon, then select the System option.

![Screen Shot 2023-07-31 at 8.50.06 AM.png](https://community.atlassian.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/272219iB545B2AE7A20FBF7/image-dimensions/275x176?v=v2 "Screen Shot 2023-07-31 at 8.50.06 AM.png")

After selecting that click on Permission Helper in the panel on the left.

![Screen Shot 2023-07-31 at 8.51.20 AM.png](https://community.atlassian.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/272220i819B2FA0307A086A/image-size/large?v=v2&px=999 "Screen Shot 2023-07-31 at 8.51.20 AM.png")

In the new screen, select yourself for the User, enter the key for an issue you are trying to delete, and select the Delete Issue permission. Then click Submit.

![Screen Shot 2023-07-31 at 8.53.14 AM.png](https://community.atlassian.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/272221i2E815ADB6CF03FFD/image-dimensions/337x292?v=v2 "Screen Shot 2023-07-31 at 8.53.14 AM.png")

Provide us with a screen image of the results. If there is an added message below the green check marks that says "show failed conditions" click on that and include the additional messages in the screen image.

![Screen Shot 2023-07-31 at 8.55.13 AM.png](https://community.atlassian.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/272222i5D6013421CEF716E/image-size/large?v=v2&px=999 "Screen Shot 2023-07-31 at 8.55.13 AM.png")


author: Trudy Claspill
body: You have stated that you were made a full Jira Admin. Let us check that.

Do you see a gear icon near your avatar in the upper right corner? If you do not, then you are not a Jira Admin.

If you do see it, click on it and share with us a screen image of what you see.

Click on the System option in that list, if you have that option.

![Screen Shot 2023-07-31 at 8.50.06 AM.png](https://community.atlassian.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/272227i77CEEE55615CA2A2/image-dimensions/314x201?v=v2 "Screen Shot 2023-07-31 at 8.50.06 AM.png")

Then click on the Permission Helper option in the panel on the left.

![Screen Shot 2023-07-31 at 8.51.20 AM.png](https://community.atlassian.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/272228i23E289E5FF3F7686/image-dimensions/139x187?v=v2 "Screen Shot 2023-07-31 at 8.51.20 AM.png")

Then select yourself as User, type in the key for an issue that you are trying to delete, and select the Delete permission. Then click Submit.

![Screen Shot 2023-07-31 at 8.53.14 AM.png](https://community.atlassian.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/272229iDBC300B8DBCD20B6/image-dimensions/377x327?v=v2 "Screen Shot 2023-07-31 at 8.53.14 AM.png")

Share with us a screen image of the results. If you see a message below the green check marks that says "show failed conditions" click on that also and include in the screen image the additional messages show.

![Screen Shot 2023-07-31 at 8.55.13 AM.png](https://community.atlassian.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/272230i49E59F123DB9FC81/image-size/large?v=v2&px=999 "Screen Shot 2023-07-31 at 8.55.13 AM.png")