Agile Tools and Filters for Jira

Agile Tools and Filters puts Jira's issue search on the board and the backlog, so narrowing a board no longer means asking an administrator for another Quick Filter. It adds a search bar above the board, saved filters at three levels, JQL filtering of the Epics and Versions panels, and shared work-in-progress limits across groups of columns. It runs on Jira Software Data Center and Server.

Agile Tools and Filters for Jira · Atlassian Marketplace listing

Filtering the board and the backlog

The search bar carries dropdowns for the fields you work with. Project, issue type, status and assignee are there by default, and any other Jira field can replace them, custom fields included. Switch to advanced mode and the same bar takes raw JQL with validation, auto-completion and wildcards; a query too complex for the dropdowns moves the bar there on its own. The last search is kept and loaded again when you reopen the board, on that browser.

• Easy board filtering using JQL, the bar in both modes and what JQL it accepts.

• Customize search bar fields, choosing which fields appear and when.

• Automatic project pre-selection, filling the project field from the board's own JQL.

Filters that outlive one session

Five kinds of filter exist, for the board, the backlog, the Epics panel, the Versions panel and Jira's Quick Filters, each at one of three levels. A private filter belongs to one person and needs nobody's permission. A board filter is visible to everyone on that board and is managed by its administrator. A global filter is set up once by a Jira administrator and reaches every board.

Filter Manager is where filters are created, reordered, exported as JSON and moved, between filter types, between boards, or between Jira instances. It can also turn an existing filter into a Jira Quick Filter, which is how you get Quick Filters without writing JQL for them.

• Filter Manager, every operation on a filter in one screen.

• Plan your work using user, team or global filters, what each level is for and who manages it.

• Migrate filters between boards, the JSON export and import path.

• Share filtered board using URL link, sending a filtered board as a link.

The Epics and Versions panels

A long Epics panel is hard to work with, which is the subject of Atlassian's JSWSERVER-6949. The panels here take a text search by project key, name or issue key, with a pipe for alternatives, and a set of predefined filters: Empty, Non-empty, Completed, Uncompleted, Estimated, Unestimated. Those combine with each other and survive a board refresh, which Quick Filters do not. You can also filter by an estimate range, or write JQL and save it for a planning session.

Two things the panels show that Jira does not: the epic's workflow status, which is a different field from Jira's Epic Status, and a warning on a resolved epic that still has open issues.

• Filter Epics & Versions on Backlog using JQL and predefined filters, panel filtering, epic warnings and the status labels.

Column Groups & WIP Limits

Jira's own column constraint counts one column at a time. A real workflow stage usually spans several, so work moves between Selected for Dev, In Dev and Code Review while the stage as a whole is never flagged. Column groups combine those columns into one stage, or into a team lane, with up to two levels of grouping on top of Jira's columns.

A group gets its own minimum and maximum through the Column Constraint control. The group's issue count is the sum of its columns and is checked against the group's limit, so a stage at six against a maximum of five is visible on the board. As with Jira's native constraints, the limit recolours the board rather than blocking a move. Groups work on Kanban and Scrum boards alike, can be switched off per board, and need Jira Software 8.1 or later.

• WIP limits on Kanban and Scrum boards, building a pull system on the board and how the limits are configured.

Acting on what you filtered

Once the board shows what you want, Agile Bulk Change passes all the visible cards to Jira's standard bulk wizard, so a bulk edit starts from the board instead of a fresh search. Printing works the same way round: Jira's Print cards always prints the whole board, while here you filter first and print what is left.

• Agile Bulk Change, bulk editing the cards a filter left on screen.

• Print all unprinted cards from the Board & Backlog, filter-then-print and the Agile Cards integration.

What an administrator controls

Settings come in three tiers that override each other in a fixed order: a Jira administrator sets the global default, a board administrator overrides it for one board, and a user's own setting wins on top of both. A board can turn the search bar off entirely, hide Jira's Quick Filter row to recover screen space, or set a minimum column width so cards stay readable. The app follows Jira's dark theme, and its interface is available in English, German, Polish and French.

• Board configuration, the switches a board administrator has.

• Disabling the search bar, turning the bar off per board or globally.

• Disabling Quick Filters, hiding the native row.

• Change card size on the board, minimum column width and horizontal scroll.

Before you install

• What are the minimal app requirements?, Jira Software 7.2 or later, with boards and backlogs.

• Is there a Jira Cloud version available?, which Jira hosting types the app supports.

• Pricing & licensing, tiers, trials and renewals.

• Do you collect my data?, anonymous usage analytics only, and how to switch them off.

• Do you support GDPR anonymization?, supported, and since which version.

Start here

• Overview, what the app adds to a board, in one page.

• User Guide, the features a board member uses day to day.

• Board Administrator Guide, configuration, filters and limits.

• FAQ, licensing, requirements, data and the questions support gets most.

• Release Notes, what changed in each version.

• Get Help, reaching support and reporting a problem.