Introduction
Xray provides a flexible way to manage how information is displayed in various data tables across projects. By default, projects inherit globally defined column layouts, ensuring consistency across the platform. However, project administrators can override these settings to customize the column layouts based on their specific project needs.
This page explains how project admins can:
- Access the Default Column Layouts settings in Jira’s project settings under Xray Settings.
- Override the global defaults to define project-specific column layouts (overriding the global default column layout affects all users in the project since the setting is at the project level).
- Adjust data table columns to display relevant information.
- Restore column layouts to their default settings if needed (the global default settings will be the default setting - not the last saved setting).
Customizing column layouts at the project level helps teams improve visibility, streamline workflows, and focus on the most relevant data for their testing activities.
The Default Column Layouts project settings will not be transferred during a migration from Server/Data Center to Cloud. |
Access
In your Jira Server/DC instance, click the settings/gear icon (Figure 1 - 1) and select Projects (Figure 1 - 2). A list of projects appears (Figure 1 - 3). Click the project you wish to work on. 
Figure 1 - Settings |
An Xray Settings menu will appear on the left side of the screen. There, click Default Column Layouts (Figure 2 - 1). The Default Columns Layout page will open (Figure 2). 
Figure 2 - Default column layouts |
In the Default Column Layouts screen (Figure 2) you can edit the different fields (Figure 2 - 3) to customize your experience. There are no restrictions on which fields can be included or excluded from the column layouts. Once you've finished editing, click Save (Figure 2 - 4) and refresh the page. |
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Operations
Overriding the Global Default Column Layouts
For project admins to override the global default column layouts, they must enable the Override Global Settings toggle (Figure 2 - 2). Then, click Save (Figure 2 - 4).
- If you don’t see the Override global settings toggle (Figure 2 - 2), first check if you are a project admin. If you are and still can’t see it, please contact the Xray Support team.
- When project-level default column layouts are defined, Xray will use these column layouts on all the screens/data tables for the project.
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Xray Data Tables Column Layout
In each Xray table, you are free to choose what information you want on each page.
Different layouts can’t be applied for different roles or user groups within the same project. These settings are set at the project level, not the user level, so they will apply to the entire project.
Resetting to Default Columns
On a Jira Issue, if you want to reset the columns configuration to its default values, click Columns (Figure 3 - 1) and then Restore Defaults (Figure 3 - 2).
Figure 3 - Reset
Xray only stores the default layout that you can easily revert to. No previous column layout configurations are restored.
The impact of changes to column layouts in Reporting, Test Execution views, etc., will be the same as if the changes were made at the global level.