Grant access to a workspace

Organizations in Atlassian Administration

If you have created a workspace within your organization in Atlassian Administration, go to the following help doc for details on managing groups and permissions in your workspace: Default groups and permissions | Atlassian Support.

You can see all of your workspace's repositories from your workspace's Repositories page. To find a workspace, go to your avatar on the far right of the horizontal navigation bar and select All workspaces. When you create repositories in your workspace, you can also organize them by project.

Create or set a default group

As a workspace admin, you need to create or set a group in your workspace as the default group.This default group will be where invited users are added to the workspace when they are invited and accept that invite - unless you have designated some other group that has been created for the invited members to be added to. The group that is designated as your default group will be labeled as such in your user group list.

Users will be added to the default group but will have no specific permissions on any project or repository not already granted to the group. As a workspace admin, you can use the default group to vet all invited users before granting them any permissions.

If you do not create or select a default group, the next time you add a new member to the workspace, Bitbucket will create one for you in that workspace. For all newly created workspaces, the default group will assign new members to Developers group. Admins can change it at any time.

Create a default group

  1. As a workspace admin, select the Settings cog on the top navigation bar.

  2. Select Workspace settings on the Settings dropdown menu.

  3. Select User groups under Access management on the left navigation sidebar.

  4. Add or enter a group name in the Group name text field.

  5. Select the Make this a default group checkbox.

  6. Select the Workspace permissions for the new group.

  7. From the Automatically assign permissions for new repositories dropdown, select the repository access you would like to grant members in this group. Note: This is the access granted to members for any repositories added after creating the new group. To grant members access to an existing repository, use the steps below in the Grant access to workspace repositories section.

  8. Select Confirm.

Groups designated to be able to administer the workspace cannot be set as a default group for privacy and security reasons.

Select or change the default group

As a workspace administrator, you can assign an existing group as the default group for members who are invited to your workspace. Note: Groups designated to be able to administer the workspace cannot be set as a default group for privacy and security reasons.

  1. As a workspace admin, select the Settings cog on the top navigation bar.

  2. Select Workspace settings on the Settings dropdown menu.

  3. Select User groups under Access management on the left navigation sidebar.

  4. Under the Actions column on the list of user groups, select More options (…).

  5. Select Make this group default from the dropdown menu.

  6. Select the Change button to assign this user group as the default group.

You cannot delete a default group. If you would like to delete a group that is designated as your default group, you must create a new default group or assign an existing group as the default.

Assign invite permissions & restrict invites by domain

As a workspace admin, you can choose to enable admins only or all members to send invites to the workspace. Alternatively, workspace admins can define an email domain allowlist which prevents any workspace invitations from being sent to a user outside of those domains.

Note: Workspace admins are always able to invite any user to any group within the workspace.

Assign workspace invite permissions

  1. As a workspace admin, select the Settings cog on the top navigation bar.

  2. Select Workspace settings on the Settings dropdown menu.

  3. Select Access controls under Access management on the left navigation sidebar.

  4. Select the Invite permissions dropdown menu. By default, this is set as All members which allows all workspace members to send invites to the workspace without admin approval.

  5. Select Admins only which means only workspace admins can invite users to become members of the workspace.

  6. Select the Update button to save any updates you’ve made.

Restrict workspace invites by specified domain(s)

If the invite permissions are set to Admins only then invites can be sent to any users across any domains by workspace admins. Invite permissions must be set to All members to restrict invites by domain(s). By default, invite permissions for all members is set to Approve members sending invites to any domains which allows members of the workspace to send invites to any users within any domain.

  1. To restrict workspace invites to certain domains, select the Settings cog on the top navigation bar.

  2. Select Workspace settings on the Settings dropdown menu.

  3. Select Access controls under Access management on the left navigation sidebar. Make user All members is selected in the Invite permissions dropdown.

  4. Select Add or remove domains.

  5. In Add or remove domains, add any email domains you would like to restrict members from sending workspace invites. You can add multiple domains by using the spacebar or selecting Add after entering each domain.

  6. Select Add to add the domain(s).

  7. Select the Save button to save the domain(s) you have added.

  8. Select Approve members sending invites to the following domains to restrict all members from sending invites to the designated domains.

  9. Select the Update button to save any updates you’ve made.

Note: To remove domains from the list, select the x associated with the domain you want to remove.

Add a member to your workspace

Once you've created a workspace, you can start adding other users as members.

  1. From your avatar, select the workspace or select All workspaces for a full list.

  2. As a workspace admin, select the Settings cog on the top navigation bar.

  3. Select Workspace settings on the Settings dropdown menu.

  4. Select User groups under the Access Management heading.

  5. Select the Add members button.

  6. Enter an email address in the field provided.
    Note: Entering the email address of a non-Bitbucket user sends an invitation to that person to create a Bitbucket account and join the workspace. You can add up to 10 people at a time.

  7. Select the User groups field to display a list of existing groups in your workspace. Select the group that you want to add the member to, if necessary.

  8. Click Confirm.

  9. Repeat the last two steps for each user you want to add.

If you entered an email address and it has a corresponding Bitbucket account, the system resolves the account for you. If Bitbucket couldn't resolve the address, it sends the user an invitation to join the workspace by creating a Bitbucket account.

Troubleshooting member invitations

There may be times when the workspace member invitation email doesn’t arrive or is never actually sent to the proper user who you are adding to your Bitbucket Cloud account. Below are some troubleshooting tips around some of the most common issues with sending workspace invites to your teammates.

Issue: The person being invited to the workspace or repository did not receive the email invitation.

Admin troubleshooting tips

  • Make sure all email addresses are valid, accurate, and activated within the company’s domain.

  • Make sure that emails from the following domains are allowed: atlassian.com. You may need to contact or work with your organization’s email administrator to troubleshoot this issue.

  • If your provider is Office365, refer to Unblocking Office365 emails for Atlassian Cloud for additional troubleshooting steps. You may need to contact or work with your organization’s email administrator to troubleshoot this issue.

Invited member troubleshooting tips

  • Check your SPAM or Junk folder.

  • Make sure you have provided the proper email address to your Bitbucket Cloud administrator.

  • Make sure your email address (inbox) is activated.

Resend the invitation

Once you have identified and resolved any issues with email domains or providers and ensured all the email accounts are valid and activated, you can resend the invites by completing the following steps:

From a workspace: If you invited the member from the workspace, select the Settings cog on the top navigation bar > select Workspace settings from the Settings dropdown menu > select User groups in the left sidebar > select the group in which you added the member > select the invitation pending dropdown > select Resend invitation in the pending invitation

From a repository: If you invited the member from a repository, go to Repository settings in the left sidebar of the repository > select User and group access in the left sidebar > select the group in which you added the member > select the invitation pending dropdown > select Resend invitation in the pending invitation

Cancel an invitation

If you have entered an email incorrectly, cancel the current invitation and add the member again using an accurate and valid email address.


Add a group to your workspace

  1. From your avatar, select the workspace or click All workspaces for a full list.

  2. As a workspace admin, select the Settings cog on the top navigation bar.

  3. Select Workspace settings on the Settings dropdown menu.

  4. Select User groups under the Access Management heading.

  5. Select the Create group button.

  6. Enter a name for the group. Select the Make this a default group if you want this to be the default group in which invited users will be added by default.

  7. Select the Workspace permissions for the new group.

  8. From the Automatically assign permissions for new repositories dropdown, select the repository access you would like to grant members in this group. Note: This is the access granted to members for any repositories added after creating the new group. To grant members access to an existing repository, use the steps below in the Grant access to workspace repositories section.

  9. Select Confirm.


Grant access to workspace repositories

You can control access to your workspace's repositories by adding specific user groups or individual users to your workspace. To create a group, select the Settings cog > select Workspace setting > User groups.

If a user deletes his or her account, Bitbucket automatically deletes that user from all repository access lists.

New group access on existing repositories

If you create a new group for your workspace, it doesn't get automatically added to your existing repositories. Since all repositories need to be in a project, you can grant new group and user access to repositories via the project.

To grant the new group access to existing repositories within a project in your workspace:

  1. Select the Projects tab on the top navigation bar.

  2. Select the project that contains the repositories in which you want to add a group and provide them access.

  3. Select Project settings on the left sidebar.

  4. Select Project permissions under the General heading on the left sidebar.

  5. Select the Add users or groups button.

  6. Enter the name of the group or the name or email of a user.

  7. Select that group or user from the dropdown menu.

  8. Select the permissions dropdown and select the level of access you would like to provide to this user or group.

  9. Select Confirm to save your changes.

Admin – Allows users to do everything a repository owner can do: change repository settings, update user permissions, and delete the repository.

Write – Allows users to contribute to the repository by pushing changes directly.

Create - Allows users to create repositories and are assigned Admin access to the created repositories. All activities permitted by the Write permissions are granted to Create users as well.

Read – Allows users to view, clone, and fork the repository code but not push changes. Read access also allows users to create issues, comment on issues, and edit wiki pages.

Group access on future repositories

When you create a repository in a workspace with existing user groups, Bitbucket determines if the workspace has any groups with the Default Access permissions of ReadWrite, or Admin. If it does, Bitbucket adds those groups to the new repository with the default permission. If you specify None for the default permissions, Bitbucket ignores that group and doesn't add it.

User groups are the best way to manage access to your workspace's repositories. However, for special circumstances, you can also add users individually to repositories.

User access on existing repositories

If you want to add individual users to your workspace's repository, do the following:

  1. Click Repository settings in the left sidebar navigation of the Bitbucket repository.

  2. Click User and group access on the left sidebar navigation.

  3. Select the Add members button.

  4. Enter the Bitbucket user's name or email address in the text box. You can add up to 10 users at a time.

  5. Select a permission from the dropdown menu.

  6. Select Confirm.

If the team member doesn't have a Bitbucket account, then Bitbucket prompts him or her to create one. Once the person has an account, Bitbucket adds the account to the repository with the access you chose when you created the invitation.


Display all the members of a workspace

If you would like to see all the members that belong to a workspace, go to the User directory where you can also view member's access at the workspace level or across specific repositories.

  • To view a member’s access, select View access under Actions.

    • The View access dialog lists the groups that a user is part of and the repositories in which the user has direct access. Note: It does not display the repositories that the user has access to within any groups.

    • Select Remove to remove a member’s direct access to a repository.

  • Use the Search bar to search for a specific user or group in the workspace.

  • Select a repository from the Repositories filter dropdown or type a repository name to filter the list by a specific repository.


Update your plan details

If your Bitbucket account containing this workspace is on the Free plan, you have a team limit of 5 users. If the number of users with access to your workspace's repositories goes over 5 users, access becomes read-only for all your private repositories. The repository admins still have write access to each repository, and administrators can still administer each repository.

To restore access, remove excess users from the repository or upgrade your plan. For more information, see Plans and billing.

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