Create a lens

A lens is a saved, hierarchical view of Jira issues. Create a new one whenever you want a fresh portfolio grouping — by team, by program, by quarter, or by stakeholder audience.

Anyone with access to Foundation can create a lens. You become the owner of lenses you create.

Create from Foundation Home

Click Foundation in the Jira left navigation to open Foundation Home.
Click + Create Lens in the top-right of the header.
Pick a template in the template picker:
- Blank — an empty lens you’ll fill yourself.
- Agile Hierarchy — builds Epic > Story > Sub-task for one or more projects.
- Multi-project Overview — groups issues by project across several projects.
- Scrum Backlog — sprint-organized backlog.
- Status Overview — issues grouped by status.
If the template asks for Jira projects, enter one or more project keys (for example, FND, MKT). Separate multiple keys with commas.
Enter a Name for the lens. Names can be changed later.
Optionally enter a Description.
Click Create Lens.

What happens next

A new, empty lens is created with you as the owner.
If you chose a preset, Foundation creates the matching Sync Agents and runs them once to populate the tree. You’ll see a status indicator while issues load — small lenses populate in a few seconds; larger project imports can take up to a few minutes.
You land in the lens, ready to organize, edit, and share.

Naming tips

Be specific. Platform Q2 Roadmap is easier to find than Roadmap.
Include a scope hint. If the lens covers one team or quarter, put that in the name.
Skip version numbers in names. Use the Description field for context that might change.

Creating from another lens

If you want a copy of an existing lens — same structure, same views, but a different owner or audience — use Duplicate instead. See Rename, duplicate, delete.