In January 2026, Atlassian added a new feature that automatically displays attached files as a cover image in the work item view, as publicly announced in "Add cover images to your work items".

However, no option to disable this feature at the global/project level was provided, as confirmed in a comment from that same article, leaving as the only choice to manually remove the cover from each work item individually.

Work item cover images are always available and can’t be turned off at a user, project, or site level, but you’re fully in control of each item. You can add/ change/ remove the cover via the More actions → Select cover flow on either the work item or the board card, and you can also hide covers on a specific board via Board view settings if you prefer a more compact board layout.

Since some teams have expressed negative feedback about this feature, it would be great if Atlassian could provide a toggle at the project/global level to disable it.

Workaround

Since there is no project/global toggle to disable this feature, the only way to remove the image from the work item view is to manually remove the cover from each item that has it.

Detailed Steps

1. Access the work item that has the cover you want removed.
2. Open the actions menu (...)
3. Choose Select cover.
4. Pick Remove cover.