Reference document: View in Side Panel

This is intended to improve navigation speed, but it can feel cramped, especially on smaller screens.

Please provide an option for admins to enable/disable this for their sites.

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Update from Atlassian: 17 June 2026

Hi all,
 
First off, we're sorry. We removed something that mattered to your daily workflows- the ability to open a work item with enough space to see the necessary context, and to quickly step through your list of work items, before we'd shipped a proper replacement. That's on us, and the timing took some of you by surprise.

Here's what we're doing about it
We've paused the rollout for new users while we build two changes that address the needs you've shared with us.

1. A work item modal. From the preview panel, you'll be able to open a work item in a modal that gives you more room to see the context you need, without navigating away from the List or Global Search views.
2. Navigation arrows. In both the preview panel and the modal, you'll be able to move through work items one by one, without losing your place in the List or Global Search views. These work alongside the existing J and K keyboard shortcuts.

We know these two changes are especially important for those of you processing large queues every day, such as QA, support, bug triage, production review, and approvals, where reading the full context and stepping quickly from one item to the next is the whole job. These changes are the first steps toward closing the gap with what the previous Detail and List views gave you. 

On the request for a toggle to turn this off
Many of you have asked for a setting, at the user or admin level, to disable the preview panel and return to the previous behaviour. I'll be straight with you: this is about controlling the way you work in Jira, and you should have that. But rather than a toggle, we're building that control into the experience itself, so it will work the way you do, and you won't have to put in the effort of toggling a setting. We'll be watching closely how these changes land, and if they don't get us there, we can revisit our approach.

How we'll handle changes like this going forward
Beyond fixing this specific gap, we owe you better notice when something this fundamental to your workflow changes. Changes that affect how you work day-to-day belong in our seasonal releases, a cadence that gives you plenty of notice so you and your teams can prepare. This change should have gone through that process. We moved quickly to close a feature gap between the old and new Lists rather than have you wait, but a change this significant warranted that notice. Going forward, changes like this will be part of our seasonal releases.

Please keep the feedback coming, here and via the in-product feedback options. We're reading everything, taking it seriously, and incorporating it into the product decisions we make every day.

I'll provide updates on this ticket as the two changes progress.

Thanks again,
Amanda.
 

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Update from Atlassian: 30 June 2026

Hi all,

Since my last update, the clearest messages I'm getting from you are:

• concern that the modal opening from a button in the Preview Panel will still require extra clicks, and
• that what a lot of you actually want is the choice itself back, not just more room.

You now get to choose how you view your work in the List, in a modal or the Preview Panel (rolling out in phases now). 

• It looks and works the same way as the modals on other Jira views (for example, the Board)
• The modal shows both work item columns side-by-side, rather than stacking them, which happened in the Preview Panel on small screens (e.g. 14") and at narrow widths, and created a cumbersome experience
• To open the modal the first time, there's a button in the top right of the Preview Panel. Your choice persists across Jira views within the same session, so once you've opened a work item in the modal, clicking another opens it in the modal too across the List, Global Search and other views in that same session.

We're still working on making that choice persist across separate Jira sessions. Once cross-session persistence lands, your choice becomes your default, and you won't be doubling up on clicks each time. We wanted to first roll out the modal to give you the choice of how you view your work items, and the persistence piece is coming soon.

Navigation arrows are rolling out too. You'll find them in the top right of the work item in both the Preview Panel and the modal, and the J and K shortcuts still work.

Regarding the toggle and the Detail view, I've read every comment, and what I'm picking up is that a toggle isn't the goal on its own; it's a path to get back to a way of working that the Detail view supported well, where the work item is front and centre, you can move through your list without friction, and jump straight to any work item rather than only stepping through them up and down. 

Here's where we're at now:

Rather than a toggle to manage, we've enabled choice in the experience through persistence, as mentioned above, so the way you choose to view work items on the List is what sets your default.

On the Detail view workflow, I've heard the concern that the modal and arrows may not enable the same workflows the Detail view did. We're still working through that piece, putting time into ensuring we get it right for you.

If you'd still like to temporarily opt your Jira site out of these changes while we get there, the form is still here. I'll keep updating this thread as things progress.

Thanks again, 

Amanda.