Issue Summary

• A custom field “Test” was made Required after many issues had already been created without a value for this field.

• When users clone these older issues, the cloned issue is created without a value in the now-required Test field.

• The clone succeeds with no validation error at creation time, even though Test is now configured as a required field.

This behavior is currently considered “expected” because cloning creates an exact copy of the original issue, including its original field values (or lack thereof) as they existed when the original issue was created.

However, from an admin and user perspective, this results in clones that violate the current required field rules, and it is easy for users to unintentionally create invalid or incomplete issues at scale.

Steps to Reproduce

1. Admin configures the Test field as Required (e.g., via Field Configuration).
2. Existing issues created before this change have an empty Test field.
3. A user opens one of these older issues and clicks Clone.
4. Jira creates the cloned issue:
   • The clone exactly replicates the source issue.
   • The Test field remains empty in the clone, despite being required.
   • Jira shows no validation or prompt during cloning to enforce the required field.
5. Only when the user:
   • Edits the cloned issue and attempts to Save; or
   • Transitions the issue and triggers a workflow validator
     …does Jira enforce that Test is required and report a validation error.

This means:

• Users can create multiple cloned issues that immediately violate current “required field” rules.
• The error appears only later (on edit or transition), causing confusion and rework

Expected Results

Introduce an option so that required field validation applies at clone time based on the current field configuration, even when cloning older issues lacking values for those fields.

The request is:

1. When a user clones an issue:
   • Jira checks all currently required fields (e.g., from the active Field Configuration for the target project/issue type).
   • If a required field (such as Test) is empty in the source issue, Jira should:
     • Either:
       • Prompt the user during cloning to provide a value for the required field(s),
         or
       • Prevent clone creation until the required field is filled.
2. The clone should not be created with missing values for fields currently required.

Actual Results

The issue is cloned without any prompt with empty value for field Test.

Workaround

1. Edit-after-clone workaround
   • Allow the clone to be created.
   • When the user edits and saves the cloned issue, Jira requires Test and displays a validation error if missing.
   • The user must fill in the missing value.
2. Workflow validator workaround
   • Add a workflow Validator on the next transition (e.g., Open → In Progress) to ensure Test is populated before moving forward.
   • This blocks workflow progression until the required field is filled.
     Limitations of these workarounds:

• Clones are initially created in an invalid state (missing required fields).
• Users see the error only after cloning, not during creation.
• Workflow configuration and maintenance increase due to validators.
• Some workflows or teams prefer not to block transitions; they want clones to respect current required fields at creation.