Move work items from one team to another team
Azure DevOps Server 2019
When you add a team or reorganize existing teams, you might need to transfer work items from one team to another by updating their Area Paths. Every work item in Azure DevOps is assigned to an Area Path, which determines team ownership and influences how work items are displayed on backlogs and boards.
Work items categorized under the Requirements category appear on a team's backlog based on their assignment to the team's Area Path. Similarly, assigning other work items to a team's Area Path supports queries and reporting based on team ownership.
Prerequisites
| Category | Requirements |
|---|---|
| Permissions | - To view, follow, and edit work items: View work items in this node and Edit work items in this node permissions set to Allow. By default, the Contributors group has these permissions. For more information, see Set work tracking permissions. - To add tags to work items: Project-level Create new tag definition permission set to Allow. By default, the Contributors group has this permission. |
| Access levels | - Project member. - To add new tags to work items or to view or follow pull requests: At least Basic access. - To view or follow work items: At least Stakeholder access. For more information, see About access levels. - All project members, including those in the Readers group, can send emails containing work items. |
| Area Path permissions | View and Edit work items under the Area Path nodes. For more information, see Modify work items under an area or iteration path. |
Move work items under teams
To move work items under a team, do the following steps:
Create a query of all work items you want to reassign.
Multi-select those items, which belong to each team, and bulk edit the area path.
After you bulk modify, bulk save.
Verify visibility
After you move work items from one team to another team, do the following actions if you don't see the work items:
- Refresh: Refresh the board or select Show more items if newly added work items don't appear.
- Verify team: Check that you selected the right team to ensure the items appear on the backlog.
- Verify Area Path: Verify that the moved work items are assigned to the correct Area Path that corresponds to the team's backlog. Each team has specific Area Paths that determine which work items show up on their backlog. This action is crucial for ensuring visibility in the backlog.
- Verify Iteration Path: Check the Iteration Path for the sprint. The sprint backlog only displays work items assigned to the selected sprint's Iteration Path.
- Verify work item types and filters: Review your backlog filters and that work item types are correctly categorized to ensure all relevant items display.
For more information, see Set up your project's backlogs and boards.