Problem Definition

When linking work items from the issue view (Link work item / Link issue), users commonly type only the numeric part of the issue key (for example 123 instead of ZZZ-123), Nothing that Linked work items are designed to be globally linkable, but the target issue key is most often in the same project space as the current work item.

Current behavior:

1. Open a work item in project ZZZ, for example ZZZ-500.
2. Select Link work item and type 123 in the search field.
3. ZZZ-123 briefly appears in the results list.
4. The results then refresh and are replaced by matching work items from all projects, which appear to be ordered alphabetically by project key (for example ABC-123, DEF-123, GHI-123, and so on).
5. Because ZZZ sorts last alphabetically, the intended work item (ZZZ-123) is pushed to the bottom of the list or out of the visible results entirely.

The current project is not taken into account when ranking results, so the experience gets worse the later the current project key falls in the alphabet.

Entering the full key (ZZZ-123) returns the correct result, but users must type the project prefix and dash every time, which is slow when linking many times per day.

Suggested Solution

When the search input in the Link issue picker is numeric only:

• Rank work items from the current project whose issue number matches the input first (exact match <CURRENT-KEY>-<number> at the top).
• Then show matching work items from other projects below them.
• Keep the initial same-project result from being replaced when broader results load.

This would match how Quick Search already handles bare issue numbers using the selected project context (see JRACLOUD-68290).

Why This Is Important

• Most links are between work items in the same project, so a bare number almost always refers to a same-project work item.
• Users report hitting this many times per day.
• Ordering results alphabetically by project key consistently disadvantages projects whose keys fall later in the alphabet.
• Cross-project number matching (JRACLOUD-40557) is still useful, but without project-aware ranking it hides the most likely target.

Workaround

• Enter the full issue key, including the project prefix (for example ZZZ-123).
• Alternatively, search by a distinctive word from the target work item's summary.