Display LinkType as Column in JQL Query result
Asked by Paul Rinnert:

Hey all,

I have a JQL query, that returns all issues linked to a specific issue:

```
issue in linkedIssues("ID-1")
```

I want to display all issues that are linked to issue ID-1 in a Confluence JQL table.

Is there a way to display the type of relation (i.e., link type) with which the issues are connected to ID-1?

I would like something similar to

```
? ?| Key? | Summary | LinkType

1  | ID-2 | text1   | "relates-to"

2  | ID-3 | text2   | "blocks"
```

linkedIssues() documentation ([JQL functions \| Jira Cloud \| Atlassian Support)](https://support.atlassian.com/jira-software-cloud/docs/jql-functions/#Advancedsearching-functionsreference-linkedIssueslinkedIssues) allows to filter for LinkType, so the information is somewhat accessible.

I do not want to have separate tables for each LinkType as this increases maintenance cost and is more error prone.

I hope someone can help me!


Answers:
author: Hannes Obweger - JXL for Jira
body: Hi [@Paul Rinnert](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/4082323)

for a native solution, the only thing that I can think of is to use [Jira Automation](https://www.atlassian.com/software/jira/features/automation) to,

1. run a rule whenever an issue link is added to your issues,
2. in this rule, read the issues' issue links, and extract the issue link descriptions, and
3. write the issue link descriptions into a custom field (probably of type *single-line text* or *multi-line text*).

You can then add the custom field to your search result. I haven't done this myself, so I can't comment on the details, but I'm relatively confident it would work.

Alternatively, if you're open to solutions from the Atlassian Marketplace, you'll have more options. I'll add more information below.

Hope this helps,

Best,

Hannes

comments: author: Hannes Obweger - JXL for Jira
body: To expand on my last point: If you're open to solutions from the Atlassian Marketplace, this would be easy to do using the app that my team and I are working on, [JXL for Jira](https://marketplace.atlassian.com/apps/1224710?hosting=cloud&tab=overview&utm_source=atlassian-community&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=2754870).

JXL is a full-fledged spreadsheet/table view for your issues that allows viewing, inline-editing, sorting, and filtering by all your issue fields, much like you'd do in e.g. Excel or Google Sheets. It also comes with a number of so-called *smart columns* that aren't natively available, including an issue's *issue link descriptions* (along with many other issue-link-related columns).

This is how it looks in action:

![issue-link-descriptions.gif](https://community.atlassian.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/335689i2A33A5A06210F8F8/image-size/large?v=v2&px=999 "issue-link-descriptions.gif")

As you can see above, you can easily sort and filter by your smart columns, and also use them across JXL's advanced features, such as support for (configurable) *issue hierarchies* , *issue grouping* by any issue field(s), *sum-ups* , or *conditional formatting*. Of course, you can also export your data to CSV or Excel/Google Sheets in just one click.

This all *just works* - there's no scripting or automation whatsoever required.

Any questions just let me know!


author: Paul Rinnert
body: Thank you Hannes for your reply. I would have liked to solve it without additional marketplace apps as this would increase our project costs significantly. Its a pity that there seems to be no Atlassian native solution for it.

I agree that your automation approach should work, Ill have a look at this.


Tags: cloud

jira-cloud