Add test steps

Once you've created your test case, you can break it down into smaller tasks for your eventual test runs. That's where test steps come in. Test steps are the actions you need to take to test a feature or specification.

You can add a precondition and test steps to your test case manually, or you can save time and use our AI tool to create a precondition and test steps in just a few clicks.

Note that you can't add test steps to automated tests.

Manually write test steps

Add test steps

To manually add test steps to a test case, follow these steps:

  1. Open the test case.

  2. In the Test Case Panel section, select the Test Case Details tab.

  3. Add as many test steps as you need. You can add Attachments to every test step, such as images or test artifacts.

  4. Optionally, perform the following actions:

Create a test step out of an existing test case

You can reuse an existing test case as a test step in a different test case. This is a called test case. When you do so, any test steps of the reused test case become part of your test case. This saves you time if your tests have test steps in common.

Keep in mind that if you change the original test case, this change applies to all test cases where you use it.

To reuse an existing test case, follow these steps:

  1. In the Test Case Details section of a test case, select >Call to test.

  2. In the subsequent dialog, select or search for existing test cases which you want to add as a test step.

    Note that you can search for test cases with keywords, filters, or JQL.

  3. Select Add to include each selected test case as an individual test step.

Pro-tip: you can drag and drop test steps to re-order them within a test case.

Add a precondition

Preconditions define which conditions your system under test must meet before you can execute the test. To add a precondition to a test case, follow these steps:

  1. In the Test Case Details section of a test case, select >Precondition.

  2. Fill out the details of this precondition.

  3. Select Save.

Display step data column

Use the Data column to record any test data related to specific steps. For example, you can enter information such as associated usernames, passwords, or website addresses. To display the step data column, follow these steps:

  1. In the Test Case Details section of a test case, select .

  2. Mark the checkbox next to Show step data column.

  3. Now, you can enter any step data you want to include for each step in the Data column.

Write test steps with AI

Our AI tool lets you create a new precondition and test steps from scratch, or you can use it to update existing content. You can base test steps on any Requirements of your choosing. Or even not! Add a sentence or two about what you want to test, and the AI will take it from there.

Before you can use this feature, you'll need to enable AI in settings.

Note that some of these options require you to link a requirement before you start. The AI feature also does not fill out the step data column.

Generate new steps with AI

To generate a new precondition and test steps in Test Case Details, you need to select a prompt. This prompt can either be any Jira issue you've assigned to the test case as a Requirement, or you can manually enter a prompt. Whenever the AI uses an existing Jira issue, it pulls the prompt from the Description field, so make sure you have that filled out before you start.

Choose one of these prompts:

  • Manually enter a requirement to enter a sentence or two to prompt the AI. Use this option if you don't want to attach a Jira issue as a requirement.

  • Use currently linked requirements to prompt the AI with any Jira issues currently linked to your test case as a requirement.

  • Link new requirements and use all to link new Jira issues to your test case as requirements. Then, the AI uses all linked requirements as prompts.

Adjust all test steps with AI

Whether you wrote your test steps manually or generated them with AI, you can use the AI tool to quickly adjust your precondition and test steps or add detail to them.

Please note: the AI uses your existing test step information and generates new steps out of them. This deletes your existing steps and unlinks any attachments or called test cases.

Choose one of these options to adjust all of your test steps:

  • Add more detail to all test steps to increase the level of detail in your test case. This may add more steps, or it may increase individual step length.

  • Re-generate all test steps to use the existing precondition and test steps as the AI prompt to re-generate your steps. Think of this as a refresh button for your precondition and test steps.

  • Improve grammar for all test steps to improve sentence clarity and fix any grammatical issues in your steps.

  • Delete all test steps to permanently delete all test steps and links to attachments. This is a great option if you need to start from a blank slate.

Adjust individual test step field with AI

You can also use AI to update an individual field in your test steps. This means you can use AI to regenerate test step fields without losing any existing content, even if it's content you created manually.

To adjust an individual field, follow these steps:

  1. Go to the test case you want to update.

  2. Select the field you want to in the Test steps. For example, the Description or Expected result of the step.

    Note that the field must have existing content if you want to adjust it with AI.

  3. Select to open the AI toolbar.

  4. From the toolbar, you can choose one of these options to define how AI should adjust the field:

    • to give AI a specific command. For example, you could ask AI to "make this sound more professional", and the AI adjusts the content according to your request.

    • to regenerate the field from scratch.

    • to lengthen the field's content.

    • to shorten the field's content.

    • to select an alternative version of the content in the field from an AI-generated list.

What's next

Now that you've added test steps, you can go ahead and run your tests. Or, if you haven't already, now might be the time to link a requirement.