Moving one Jira project to another Cloud site with Data transfer
Updated 2026-10-11 · by Hieu Tran, written with AI agents and checked against the sources below
If both sides are on Atlassian Cloud, you don't need an export file: Atlassian Administration → Data management → Data transfer → Create copy plan copies the projects you select, with their attachments and configuration, from one site to another. It's available on all Cloud plans to organization and app admins. It doesn't copy everything, and it doesn't warn you about everything it skips.
No self-serve tool yet. If you need one project or space exported now, tell us through early access: we'll do it for you while we build the app.
Before you start
You need to be an organization admin or app admin on the source organization.
Give the destination the same Jira products and the same Marketplace apps as the source.
Keep plans small: Atlassian recommends several plans with a few projects each, to stay within soft limits. A plan expires 14 days after you create it.
Decide which users to bring: all, only users tied to the selected projects, or users in the groups those projects reference, with or without their group memberships.
What doesn't come across
Jira automation rules: Atlassian lists them as not copied. Rebuild them on the destination.
Marketplace app data (test cases, time tracking, custom app fields): ask each app's vendor for their own migration path.
Some configuration: an Atlassian ticket lists items such as certain workflow functions, notification schemes and project avatars as not compatible, without a warning beforehand.
Cross-project boards and filters are optional; choose whether to copy them.
Check the result
Compare issue counts per issue type, and attachments, in both sites (a JQL count on each side).
Open a few old issues: comments, history, links and attachments.
List the automation rules and app data you have to recreate, and do it before users switch.
When you need a file instead
Data transfer only goes Cloud to Cloud. Handing a project to a client who isn't on Atlassian, archiving it before deletion, or keeping an offline copy still needs an export. Jira's own site backup is all or nothing; for one project, the options are a CSV export of the issues plus attachments downloaded separately, or a Marketplace backup app.
No self-serve tool yet. If you need one project or space exported now, tell us through early access: we'll do it for you while we build the app.
Why did you last need to move or hand over a single Jira project (a client leaving, a merger, a site split), and how did you do it?
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