Configscope

Jira custom field cleanup calculator

You are over the field limit and need to delete something. This works out how far safe deletions get you, and whether cleanup alone will be enough. Runs in your browser — nothing is sent anywhere.

Enter your numbers below.

Your space

Custom fields in this spacethe number you are trying to bring down
The limit700 per space unless Atlassian has changed it

Deletion candidates

Count each field once. A field that is both unscreened and empty belongs in tier A only — do not also count it in B or C, or the total will lie to you.

TierCount
A — safeon no screen and holding no data in any work item
B — likelyholds data, but nothing has written to it in 12+ months
C — review firstduplicates by name, or suspected obsolete but still in use
Blockedlocked or managed by an installed app — you cannot delete these

Result

If you deleteFields leftAgainst the limit
Fill in the numbers above.

Before you delete a single field

Deleting a custom field in Jira destroys its data, and there is no undo. A field that looks dead often has one dashboard or one automation rule quietly depending on it. Check every one of these first:

  1. Filters and saved JQL. Search your saved filters for the field name. A deleted field breaks every query that references it.
  2. Dashboards and gadgets. Gadgets built on a broken filter fail silently — nobody reports it, the numbers just go wrong.
  3. Automation rules. Conditions and actions referencing a deleted field stop the rule, often without an obvious error.
  4. Workflow conditions, validators and post-functions. The nastiest case: a validator on a deleted field can block transitions entirely.
  5. Screens and contexts. A field can be off the default screen but live on a project-specific one you forgot about.
  6. Apps and integrations. Anything syncing to an external system may map to the field by ID.
  7. Scheduled reports and exports. These break quietly and are noticed a month later.

Safer order: remove the field from all screens first, wait a sprint, see what breaks, and only then delete. A field that is off every screen counts against nothing you care about visually, but still counts against the limit — so this buys you time, not headroom.

When cleanup is not enough

If deleting everything deletable still leaves you over, the problem is structural rather than hygienic. The usual answers are splitting the space, consolidating near-duplicate fields into one with a shared context, or moving per-team fields into contexts on a single field instead of separate fields per team.