How to rename an unlocked custom field

This article explains how to rename an unlocked custom field using the Power Admin app.

\uD83D\uDCD8 Problem Statement

Even though you unlocked the “Ranking”(used as an example) custom field from the database, you will not be able to rename the same field in Power Admin as it still shows as ‘Locked’.

Error screenshots 

The custom field page shows that the Rank custom field is unlocked from the database.

The Power Admin page shows the same Rank custom field as locked.

Environment

Cause

The KB article https://confluence.atlassian.com/jirakb/unlock-a-locked-jira-software-custom-field-779158866.html used to ‘unlock’ the fields suggests changing the managed field in the managedconfigurationitem table from ‘true’ to ‘false’ for the field that needs to be unlocked. However, some applications (including Power Admin) still treat the field as locked since they use the actual access_level specified in another field in the same table.

Solution

1. Always back up your data before performing any modifications to the database. If possible, test any alter, insert, update, or delete SQL commands on a staging server first.

2. To unlock the field to change with Power Admin, follow the steps listed in the KB article (https://confluence.atlassian.com/jirakb/unlock-a-locked-jira-software-custom-field-779158866.html)

3. Also, change the value of the access_level field to ‘ADMIN’.
   UPDATE managedconfigurationitem set ACCESS_LEVEL='ADMIN' where item_id in ('customfieldID');

4. Make the required changes to the fields.

5. Lock the fields that were unlocked by setting the managed column to true. For example, the below will lock the Ranking custom field.

    UPDATE managedconfigurationitem set managed='true' where item_id in (<customfield_id>);
    UPDATE managedconfigurationitem set ACCESS_LEVEL='LOCKED' where item_id in ('customfieldID');