Study guide
10.3 Global Settings: Time Tracking, Issue Linking, Attachments & Application Links
Atlassian Certified Professional - Jira Administration for Cloud ACP-120
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1 Chapter 1: Exam Overview, Blueprint & Jira Cloud Fundamentals
1.1 ACP-120 Exam Structure, Blueprint & Testing Strategy 1.2 Jira Cloud Architecture, Products & Admin Hierarchy
2 Chapter 2: Organizations, Managed Accounts & Global Access
2.1 Atlassian Organizations, Domain Verification & Managed Accounts 2.2 Atlassian Guard, SAML SSO, SCIM & Authentication Policies 2.3 Site Access, Product Access Tiers & Global Permissions 2.4 User Directory Architecture: Groups vs. Project Roles
3 Chapter 3: Project Permissions & Issue-Level Security Schemes
3.1 Permission Scheme Mechanics & Critical Project Permissions 3.2 Permission Troubleshooting, Additive Permissions & Permission Helper 3.3 Issue Security Schemes, Security Levels & Access Containment
4 Chapter 4: Project Configuration, Types, Versions & Boards
4.1 Company-Managed vs. Team-Managed Project Architecture 4.2 Project Templates, Project Keys & Project Categories 4.3 Project Components, Component Leads & Default Assignees 4.4 Versions, Fix Versions, Release Lifecycles & Project Archiving 4.5 Scrum and Kanban Board Configuration, Board Filters & Columns
5 Chapter 5: Issue Types, Custom Fields, Screens & Schemes
5.1 Standard vs. Sub-task Issue Types & Issue Type Schemes 5.2 Custom Field Types, Global vs. Project Contexts & Options 5.3 Field Configurations, Renderers, Hiding & Required Fields 5.4 Screens, Screen Schemes & Issue Type Screen Schemes
6 Chapter 6: Workflows — Company-Managed and Team-Managed
6.1 Statuses, Status Categories, Direct & All-to-One Global Transitions 6.2 Transition Rules: Conditions vs. Validators 6.3 Post Functions, Execution Order & Resolution Management 6.4 Workflow Schemes, Editing Active Workflows & Status Migration 6.5 Team-Managed Workflows, Statuses & Workflow Rules
7 Chapter 7: Jira Cloud Automation
7.1 Automation Engine, Rule Architecture & Event Triggers 7.2 Automation Conditions, Smart Values & String/Date Expressions 7.3 Branch Rules, Related Issues, Sub-tasks & Parent Epics 7.4 Rule Scopes, Automation Usage, Audit Logs & Error Handling
8 Chapter 8: Notifications, Events, Personal Settings & Mail Handlers
8.1 Jira Events, System Events & Notification Schemes 8.2 Notification Recipients, Custom User Fields & Deduplication 8.3 Team-Managed Notifications, Personal Settings & Troubleshooting Missing Email 8.4 Mail Handlers: Creating Issues and Comments from Email
9 Chapter 9: JQL, Filters, Dashboards & Bulk Operations
9.1 JQL Fundamentals, Clauses, Operators & History (WAS / CHANGED) 9.2 Advanced JQL Functions & Dynamic Date Searches 9.3 Filter Permissions, Shared Filters & Filter Subscriptions 9.4 Dashboard Layouts, the Default Dashboard, Sharing & Essential Gadgets 9.5 Bulk Operations: Edit, Move, Transition, Delete & Watch
10 Chapter 10: System Administration
10.1 Global UI Features: User Defaults, Look and Feel, Announcement Banner & Default Dashboard 10.2 Statuses, Resolutions, Priorities & Sub-tasks: Global Configuration 10.3 Global Settings: Time Tracking, Issue Linking, Attachments & Application Links 10.4 System Backup, Restore & Data Import
10.3 Global Settings: Time Tracking, Issue Linking, Attachments & Application Links
Key Takeaways Explain This Topic AI
Time tracking is enabled by default and can be disabled and re-enabled without losing data; working hours per day and days per week set how 1d and 1w convert to hours.
Time tracking settings include time display format (Pretty, Days, Hours) and default unit (Minute, Hour, Day, Week), and logging work also needs the Work On Issues permission.
Issue linking must be enabled globally, and users need Link Issues; cross-project links need Link Issues in both projects.
The default maximum attachment size is 1 GB per file (admins can change it), with up to 2,000 attachments per issue.
Application links connect Jira to products outside the site, such as Data Center instances; Cloud products on the same site connect automatically.
Last updated: September 2026
10.3 Global Settings: Time Tracking, Issue Linking, Attachments & Application Links
Quick Summary: Blueprint objective 7.2 covers four site-wide features that Jira admins configure: time tracking (enabling it, and how days and weeks convert to hours), issue linking (link types plus the Link Issues permission), attachments (enablement and size limits), and application links (connecting Jira to other Atlassian products and instances). Each has a global switch and a project-level permission that must both allow the action.
Global Time Tracking Configuration
Time tracking lets teams estimate work and log the time they spend. It's enabled by default , and you don't lose existing data if you disable and later re-enable it. Jira admins configure it in Settings > Issues (Work items) > Time tracking (under Issue features ). +--------------------------------------------------------------------------+
- | GLOBAL TIME TRACKING CONFIGURATION |
- +--------------------------------------------------------------------------+
- | SETTING | DEFAULT VALUE | OPERATIONAL IMPACT |
- |-----------------------------+---------------+----------------------------|
- | Working hours per day | 8 | Defines '1d' conversion |
- | Working days per week | 5 | Defines '1w' conversion |
- | Time display format | Pretty | Pretty, Days, or Hours |
- | Default unit | Minute | Minute, Hour, Day, or Week |
- | Copy comment to work desc. | Configurable | Copies worklog comments |
- +--------------------------------------------------------------------------+
- Conversion Mathematics: Days and Weeks
Jira does not treat a day as 24 astronomical hours or a week as 7 calendar days. Instead, it converts durations based on the administrator's configured work parameters:
Working Hours per Day: By default, Jira sets this to 8 hours . If a developer logs 1d , Jira registers 8 hours of work. If an organization operates on a 7.5-hour workday, logging 1d will misrepresent capacity unless this setting is updated to 7.5 .
Working Days per Week: By default, Jira sets this to 5 days . If a developer logs 1w , Jira calculates 5 days * 8 hours = 40 hours . If an enterprise shifts to a 4-day workweek, this parameter must be updated to 4 so that 1w equals 32 hours.
Time Display Formats
Administrators control how time values render across issue views, worklog tabs, and reports:
Pretty Format (Default): Displays human-friendly compound strings (e.g., 2 weeks, 3 days, 4 hours, 30 minutes ).
Days Format: Expresses durations in days and hours (e.g., 13d 4h 30m ).
Hours Format: Expresses all durations strictly in cumulative hours (e.g., 108h 30m ). Often preferred by accounting and professional services teams billing clients on hourly contracts.
Default Time Unit
When a user types a bare numeric value into an estimate or worklog field without specifying a unit (e.g., entering 4 instead of 4h ):
If Default Time Unit is Minute , 4 converts to 4m .
If Default Time Unit is Hour , 4 converts to 4h .
If Default Time Unit is Day , 4 converts to 4d (32 hours under an 8h workday!). Best practice is setting this to Hour or Minute to prevent catastrophic estimation errors.
Important
Working hours per day and days per week accept decimal values (for example, 7.5 hours). Marketplace apps can also replace Jira's built-in time tracking as the time tracking provider , selected on the same settings page.
Troubleshooting Time Tracking
Symptom Likely Cause
No Log work option and no time fields Time tracking is disabled globally, or the Time tracking field is hidden in the field configuration or missing from the screens
- A user can't log work They lack the Work On Issues permission
- A user can't edit a colleague's worklog They lack Edit All Worklogs (they may only have Edit Own Worklogs )
- "1d" logs 8 hours but the team works 7.5-hour days Working hours per day is still 8
- A parent's totals look larger than its own log The parent's display rolls up its sub-tasks' time (Chapter 5)
Board burndown ignores hours The board's estimation statistic isn't Original Time Estimate, or time tracking is set to None in board settings
Issue Linking: Architecture & Link Types
Issue linking establishes semantic, two-way relationships between issues without changing the parent-child hierarchy. Jira admins configure it in Settings > Issues (Work items) > Issue linking (under Issue features ). +--------------------------------------------------------------------------+
- | ISSUE LINK TYPE ARCHITECTURE |
- +--------------------------------------------------------------------------+
- | [ SOURCE ISSUE: PROJ-101 ] |
- | | |
- | |--- (Outward Description: 'blocks') -----------------------> |
- | | | |
- | v v |
- | [ TARGET ISSUE: PROJ-202 ] |
- | ^ |
- | |--- (Inward Description: 'is blocked by') ------------------| |
- +--------------------------------------------------------------------------+
- Anatomical Structure of a Link Type
Every issue link type consists of three distinct attributes:
Name: The internal administrative label (e.g., Blocks , Relates , Cloners , Duplicate ).
Outward Description: Describes the relationship looking from the source issue toward the target issue (e.g., blocks , relates to , clones , duplicates ).
Inward Description: Describes the relationship looking from the target issue back toward the source issue (e.g., is blocked by , relates to , is cloned by , is duplicated by ).
Standard System Link Types
- Link Type Name Outward Description Inward Description Typical Use Case
- Blocks blocks is blocked by Critical path dependency management
- Relates relates to relates to Loose association between related topics
- Duplicate duplicates is duplicated by Flagging redundant defect reports
- Cloners clones is cloned by Tracking duplicated template tasks
- Global Activation vs. Project Permissions
A key exam point involves the two-tier governance of Issue Linking:
Global Feature Enablement: Issue Linking must be enabled globally under Issue features. If disabled, the entire linking interface disappears instance-wide.
Project Permission Scheme: Even when enabled globally, a user cannot link issues unless they hold the Link Issues project permission. Linking issues in two different projects requires Link Issues in both projects.
Deleting a link type: Jira asks what to do with existing links of that type. You can move them to another link type or delete them.
Attachment Settings & Upload Limits
File attachments allow teams to attach screenshots, logs, documents, and specifications to issues. Attachments are enabled by default . Jira admins manage them in Settings > System > Advanced > Attachments (Edit settings). +--------------------------------------------------------------------------+
- | GLOBAL ATTACHMENT SETTINGS |
- +--------------------------------------------------------------------------+
- | SETTING | JIRA CLOUD DEFAULT | MAXIMUM LIMIT |
- |-----------------------------+--------------------+-----------------------|
- | Attachments Enabled | ON (Enabled) | Toggle ON / OFF |
- | Maximum size per file | 1 GB | Admin can change it |
- | Thumbnail Generation | ON (Enabled) | Toggle ON / OFF |
- | ZIP Support (Archive View) | ON (Enabled) | Toggle ON / OFF |
- +--------------------------------------------------------------------------+
- Key Parameters
Attachment Size Limit: By default, the maximum size of any one file is 1 GB , and a Jira admin can change this limit. A changed limit applies to new uploads, not to files already attached.
Other limits: an issue can hold up to 2,000 attachments . Total file storage depends on the plan: 2 GB per app on Free, 250 GB per app on Standard, and unlimited on Premium.
Create screen: to attach files while creating an issue, the Attachment field must not be hidden in the field configuration for that issue type.
Thumbnail Generation: Automatically renders inline thumbnail previews for common image formats ( .png , .jpg , .gif ). Disabling thumbnails displays files as plain download links.
ZIP Support: When enabled, users can click on a .zip attachment to inspect the archive's internal folder and file contents directly in the Jira issue view without downloading the archive.
Required Permissions for Attachments
Regardless of global settings, users must hold explicit permissions within the project's permission scheme:
Create Attachments: Required to upload files to an issue.
Delete Own Attachments: Allows a user to delete files they personally uploaded.
Delete All Attachments: Required to remove files uploaded by other team members (typically granted to Project Administrators or Leads).
Application Links and Instance Links
Blueprint 7.2 also names application and instance links . An application link connects Jira to another application so the two can exchange information. Examples include Confluence, Bitbucket, or another Jira instance, including self-managed Data Center products. Links make possible features such as showing Confluence pages on issues, displaying development information, and linking issues across instances.
Key points for the exam:
Atlassian Cloud products on the same site connect automatically. You don't create an application link between Jira and Confluence when both run on the same Cloud site.
You configure application links (Jira admin, in the products/apps area of Jira settings) when connecting to products outside your site, such as a Jira or Confluence Data Center instance, or another Cloud site.
Remote issue links (links from an issue to an issue on another linked instance, or to a web page) are subject to the same Link Issues permission as ordinary links.
Troubleshooting: if cross-product features stop working, check that the application link is still connected and that the authentication between the two applications is still valid (for example, after a URL change or certificate update).
Global Switch Plus Project Permission
Each feature in this section has two gates, and exam questions often break one of them:
- Feature Global Gate (Jira admin) Project Gate (permission scheme)
- Time tracking Enabled in time tracking settings Work On Issues , Edit/Delete Own or All Worklogs
- Issue linking Enabled in issue linking settings Link Issues (in both projects for cross-project links)
- Attachments Enabled in attachment settings Create Attachments , Delete Own/All Attachments