Creating Defects

The set of fields you populate when creating a defect differs depending on the issue tracking system you use. To learn how to create a defect in Zephyr, select the issue tracking system used in your project:

Jira integrated with Zephyr

Zephyr built-in issue tracking system


Jira integrated with Zephyr

To create a new defect:

1. Click Defect Tracking in the pane on the left, and then click Create Defect in the top-right corner of the Defect Tracking window: 

2. In the subsequent dialog, select the project you want to create a defect for from the drop-down menu, select an issue type, and click Next

If your project administrator chose to file defects directly in Jira, clicking on Next will open a new tab with Jira's Create issue dialog. Otherwise, you will continue creating the defect by using Zephyr’s File New Defect dialog (see below). To learn how to create issues in Jira, see Jira documentation.

3. In the resulting window, populate all the required fields (the ones marked with a red asterisk) and specify any relevant information in the other fields, if needed: 

Required fields:

Project 

The name of your project. 

Issues Type 

The type of your issue. The following options are available: 

  • Bug 

  • Epic 

  • Improvement 

  • New Feature 

  • Story 

  • Task 

  • Test 

Summary 

A short description of the issue. 

Description 

Detailed information about the issue. 

Reporter 

The user who reported the issue. 

4. After populating the fields, click Create.

If you don’t specify a value in the Priority field, Zephyr will set the default value - Medium.

5. Zephyr will show the Update Defect window (see below) where you can check the information you have specified, enter additional values, and attach files to your issue: 

The total size of the attached files cannot exceed 20 MB.

6. Click Update to complete the issue creation. Once done, you will be able to find the issue in Jira.

Create a defect from the Test Execution page 

You can also create defects during test execution. It’s possible to do that only when the status of your test is Fail. In this case, Zephyr shows the [D] icon in the Defect column of the failed test. Click it to link an existing defect to the test execution, or to create and link a new defect:

When creating a defect from the Test Execution page, you can also copy the steps of the failed test to the defect’s Description field. To do that, open the Copy Steps dropdown on the right and choose either As plain text or As wiki markup – Zephyr will automatically copy all the steps in the chosen format: 

The Update Defect window

The window shows the same values your issue has in Jira, including the values of the Sprint, Epic Link, Linked Issues, and Team fields:

If you update the values in Jira, you may not see them in Zephyr immediately, as the latter shows cached data. Zephyr updates the data every two hours, unless the administrator clears the cache on the Administration > Defect Admin page:

So, if, for example, a new Sprint value has been specified in Jira and you don’t see it in Zephyr, you may ask the administrator to clear the cache for the Jira fields. 

Back to top


Zephyr built-in issue tracking system

To create a new defect: 

1. Click Defect Tracking in the pane on the left, and then click Create Defect in the top-right corner of the Defect Tracking window:

2. In the subsequent dialog, populate all the required fields (the ones marked with a red asterisk) and specify any relevant information in the other fields, if needed: 

Available fields: 

Summary (required)

A short description of the issue. 

Description (required)

Detailed information about the issue. 

Component 

The component the defect relates to. 

Version 

The current version of your project. 

Status (required)

The defect status. Possible values: 

  • New 

  • Assigned 

  • Fixed 

  • Rejected 

  • Verified 

  • Reopened 

  • Closed 

Assignee (required)

The user the defect will be assigned to. 

OS 

The operating system used. Possible values: 

  • Windows 

  • Mac OS 

  • Linux 

  • Other 

  • All 

Priority 

The defect priority that ranges from P1 to P5, where P1 is the highest priority. 

Target Milestone 

The target version in which the issue should be resolved. 

Severity 

The defect severity. Possible values: 

  • Fatal 

  • Major 

  • Minor 

  • Trivial 

  • Suggestion 

  • Blocker 

Hardware 

The type of the computer used. Possible values: 

  • PC 

  • Macintosh 

  • Other 

3. After populating all the required fields, click Create. The Update Defect dialog will open: 

4. In the dialog, you can check the information you have specified, update some values, and attach files to your defect. Once done, click Update to apply the changes. The newly created defect will appear at the bottom of the page: 

Create a defect from the Test Execution page

You can also create defects during test execution. It’s possible to do that only when the status of your test is Fail. In this case, Zephyr shows the [D] icon in the Defect column of the failed test. Click it to link an existing defect to the test execution, or to create and link a new defect: 

When creating a defect from the Test Execution page, you can also copy the steps of the failed test to the defect’s Description field. To do that, open the Copy Steps dropdown on the right and choose either As plain text or As wiki markup – Zephyr will automatically copy all the steps in the chosen format: 

See Also

Jira Integration
Searching for Defects
Editing Defects
Creating Sub-Tasks
Exporting Defects