Fix user picker fields not displaying users in Customer Portal
Platform Notice: Cloud Only - This article only applies to Atlassian apps on the cloud platform.
Summary
The user picker fields for customers in the customer portal do not display other users; instead, they appear empty.
Solution
Empty user-picker fields in the portal are almost always caused by Customer sharing permissions, not a bug. What a customer can see in a user-picker/share drop-down is controlled by Space settings > Access > Customer permissions.
Customer permissions and their behavior
Currently, whether customers can see other users in the user picker fields in the portal depends on the space's customer permissions.
When we access Space settings > Access > Customer permissions, there are two configurations. The first concerns access to the space (Service space access), and the second concerns customer sharing permissions, which also apply to user picker fields.
Depending on customer permission settings and if your customers belong to any Jira Service Management customer organizations, the user picker custom fields (which let people search for users and share requests with them) may appear blank.
Thus, to allow customers to search for users on the user picker fields, please select the desired option in the customer sharing permission:
Go to Space settings > Access > Customer permissions.
Under customer sharing permission, select the option that matches who customers can find.
Confirm that customers are grouped into customer organizations — portal-only users are visible only to others in the same organization.
Portal-only users must also be part of the jira-servicemanagement-customers group to appear in these fields.
Option | Who can they see in the user picker and share drop-downs? |
|---|---|
Search those within their organization only. To ensure portal-only users (without full Jira licenses) are visible in user picker fields, verify that users are grouped into organizations and are part of the 'jira-servicemanagement-customers' group. To exclude external users (e.g., personal email addresses) from internal forms, consider creating a custom user picker field with group- or role-based filtering. | + Customers can use search to find other customers in their organizations and share requests with them. + If a customer isn't in a customer organization, they won't be able to use user picker fields or share their requests. |
Search those within their organization, or enter the email address of customers within their space. For cases requiring more advanced filtering (e.g., displaying only internal employee accounts), create a custom 'User Picker (single user)' field. Navigate to Jira Admin Panel > Create custom field > Select 'User Picker (single user)' > Configure group or role-based filtering > Assign the field to the appropriate screens and workflows. | + Customers can use search to find other customers in their organizations and share requests with them. + Customers can share requests with other customers in the space by typing their email addresses. |
Search those either within their space or organization. This configuration is essential if you want customers to raise requests on behalf of others, such as colleagues or managers, without disrupting approval workflows. Ensure that users are grouped into organizations and space permissions are adjusted accordingly to avoid issues with name visibility or search functionality in user pickers. | + Customers can use search to find other customers in their space or organizations and share requests with them. + Choose this setting if you'd like to allow customers to choose approvers. |
Verify if it works
As a test customer, open a request and check that the user-picker field now lists other customers in the same organization.
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