Manual Adjustments allow you to move dynamic content within a structure, regardless of the Automation used to create the structure.
If you used Generators to build all or part of a structure, the content it adds to your structure cannot be moved as freely as content which has been manually added to a structure. This is because Automation uses generators to dynamically add content from Jira, and then continuously checks that content against Jira to keep both up-to-date. If you attempt to move an item in your structure in a way that does not fit within your generators' rules, you will receive an error message.
There may be times, however, when you need to move those dynamic items around freely, regardless of your generator rules. To do so, you need to enable Manual Adjustments.
Enabling Manual Adjustments
When Manual Adjustments are enabled, you can move items anywhere within your structure, regardless of the generators used to create it. For example, you can drag items into a custom folder, move tasks under a different project, or create your own custom hierarchy – just as you can if you create a structure without automation.
To enable Manual Adjustments:
Go to Structure in the top menu and select Manage Structures
Select the structure you wish to update, and under Options select Allow manual adjustments of generated content
If you cannot enable/disable manual adjustments, you may not have the appropriate permissions. Speak to your Jira administrator.
Once you have enabled Manual Adjustments, any move you make will continue to be checked against your existing generators. However, now you can have two different outcomes:
If the move fits within the generators' rules, your content will be moved just as it was previously, and that move will be reflected in Jira.
If the move does not fit with the generators' rules, your content will be moved using Manual Adjustments, but that move will not be reflected in Jira.
Mark Adjusted Content
Any manually adjusted content within your structure will be marked with the Manual Adjustment (hand) icon.
You can hide the Manual Adjustment icons by deselecting the Mark Manual Adjustments in the Toggle Panels menu.
Manual Adjustments are NOT Reflected in Jira
When Manual Adjustments is enabled, some changes may not be reflected in Jira. This is because those changes do not fit within the rules of the generator(s) you are using. You can move items all you want for the purposes of your structure, but they will remain in their original location within Jira. If you created a new structure with the exact same generators, those issues would appear just as they had before you made manual adjustments.
Special Considerations When Using Manual Adjustments
Because Manual Adjustments are applied after Automation, certain types of moves may have different results than moving items within a manually-created structure. Please be aware of the following situations that may arise when using Manual Adjustments.
Moving Grouped Content - If your structure is built using the Insert and Group generators, and you move all the issues out of a group, that group (now empty) will remain within your structure. This happens because the Group generator is run before the Manual Adjustment, so the folder remains in place, even though the issues were moved.
Moving Extended Content - If your structure is built using the Insert and Extend generators, and you move one issue under another, no link will be created between the two issues. To create a link between the two issues, copy the original issue to the new location by holding the ctrl key (alt on Mac) while dragging the issue.
For more information, see Order of Operations with Manual Adjustments
Why is Manual Adjustment Necessary?
When you use Generators to build a structure, you are not placing specific tasks into your structure. Instead, you are creating a "skeleton" for your structure. Each time you open the structure, it is filled with the current content from Jira that fits the generator(s) used to build the structure.
This means your structure will always reflect the most recent changes to Jira, and changes you make within your structure can also update Jira. It also means some restrictions need to be in place, so content isn't moved in a way that violates the Automation rules and makes it impossible to continue syncing content with Jira. Manual Adjustment makes it possible to bypass these rules, so you can customize any structure (regardless of how it's created) to fit your needs.
To learn more about how items can be moved within generated content, see Generator Scope.
Manual Adjustment works with structures built using Automation. It does not affect structures built manually or using Synchronizers.