Template Context

What is the context for?

Context settings control where and when a template is available for selection. Think of it as visibility and searchability rules for templates.

Context is applied in these situations:

• When you browse the Issue Templates library or dialog to choose a template for a new issue

• When you use Apply template on an existing work item

By default, templates are created with a global context (all projects, all types). You can adjust context to:

• Make templates easier to find for specific teams or projects

• Hide templates where they are not meant to be used

• Highlight or “spotlight” specific templates in particular scopes

Where and how to configure Context

You can configure context when creating or editing a template, using the Context tab:

Open

In this tab, you define where the template is available by configuring two selectors: projects and types.

Notes on work item types:

• Company-managed work types are shown as plain names. Example: Task, Bug, Epic

• Some work types are shown with a project key in brackets: Example: Story (TG). This indicates a team-managed project–specific type.

Example: how template visibility works

If multiple teams work in several company-managed software projects, and they want to reuse the same template for one work type (for example, Bug), configure the template context like this:

• Projects: Project_A, Project_B, Project_C or Global

• Types: Bug

With this setup, it will not matter which project was used when setting the template’s default values - the template will be available whenever a user is searching for a template within a defined context.

Recommended configuration patterns

• Use context to share one template across multiple company‑managed projects by selecting those projects and the shared issue type (for example, Bug).

• For team‑managed projects, create a separate template, select the specific team‑managed project, and choose the issue type that includes the project key (for example, Story (TG)).