Set up and manage help center access

As a site admin, you can set up different types of access for your help center(s) based on the account types and customer segments you serve.

Setting up account types

The first step in setting up access and restrictions for help centers on your site is to decide what type of customers you will be serving. You can use your site to serve only internal customers, only external customers, or a combination of both internal and external customers. Based on this choice, you can set up which account types should be available on your site.

Serving internal customers

Internal customers, like employees at your company or partners, often need internal support from your teams, for example, a new employee who needs their IT workstation set up. You can allow internal customers to use Atlassian accounts to access help centers on your site. This allows them to use a single account to use all Atlassian products and also seek help via the Jira Service Managementhelp center(s).

To enable access for internal customers:

1. Go to Settings () > Products > Jira Service Management > Customer access.

2. In Account types under the Internal section, check the box that says Use approved domains to grant internal customers access to the help center with Atlassian accounts.

When this option is enabled, users who sign up to your site through an invitation email or raise a request via email will get an Atlassian account if their email address corresponds to any listed in your approved domains list.

If you want help centers on your site to be only available to internal customers, make sure that no boxes under the External section in Account types are checked.

Serving external customers

External customers are those who seek help with using your company's products or services. As these customers would not need access to other Atlassian products on your site, they will be given a portal-only account. This account will only let them access Jira Service Management help centers.

To enable access for external customers:

1. Go to Settings () > Products > Jira Service Management > Customer access.

2. In Account types section under External, check the box that says Allow portal-only accounts to be created for new customers accessing the help center.

When this option is enabled, users who sign up to your site through an invitation email or raise a request via email will get a portal-only account. If this option is left unchecked, customers or agents won’t be able to create portal-only accounts on your site.

If you want help centers on your site to be only available to external customers, make sure that no boxes under the Internal section in Account types are checked.

Serving external customers from specific email domains

After setting up your help centers to serve external customers, you can further restrict them to serve only customers from selected email domains.

To do so:

1. Go to Settings () > Products > Jira Service Management > Customer access.

2. In Account types section under External, check the box that says Allow portal-only accounts to be created for new customers accessing the help center.

3. Check the box that says Only allow account creation for customers with specific email domains.

4. Add in specific email domains of your choice.

If selected, portal-only accounts will only be created for customers whose email domains match your list of allowed domains. Customers using an email domain that isn’t on this list won’t be able to sign up via your help center, and customer emails sent from such domains will be ignored.

Serving both internal and external customers

If your site will serve both internal and external customers, you can enable both internal and external account types, as explained above.

If your site is set up for both internal and external customers, and if any of the domains you specify as email domains for external customers are also included in your list of internal approved domains, customers from these domains will be given Atlassian accounts.

You can also disable both internal and external account types if you only allow existing customers (with an account on your site) to access your help center.

Setting up help center access

Once you’ve set up account type settings, you should decide whether access to your help center will be open or invite-only. This setting determines whether your customers can create accounts on your site.

Set up invite-only access to your help centers

If you want to set up invite-only access to your help centers, you shouldn’t allow customers to create their own accounts on your site. To do so:

1. Go to Settings () > Products > Jira Service Management > Customer access.

2. In the portal access section, select Don't allow customers to create their own accounts.

This setting means only agents or admins can create customer accounts. Sign-ups will be disabled, and email requests from unidentified customers will not be processed.

Set up public access to your help centers

If you want help centers on your site to be publicly accessible, you should allow customers to create their own accounts on the site. To do so:

1. Go to Settings () > Products > Jira Service Management > Customer access.

2. In the portal access section, select Allow customers to create accounts.

This setting means that your customers can create their own accounts by signing up on a help center or sending an email request.

Set up anonymous access to your help centers

If you want anyone, even those without accounts on your site, to be able to access your help centers:

1. Go to Settings () > Products > Jira Service Management > Customer access.

2. In the portal access section, select Allow customers to create accounts.

3. Check the box that says Customers can access and send requests from the portal without logging in.

Even though this setting enables anyone to access a help center, customers will be asked to enter their email addresses to raise a request. When they raise a request, an account will be created for them, and they will need to set a password and log in to view their request.

Once these site-level settings are configured, project admins can finetune customer permissions for each service project to determine portal access. Read more about how to set up and manage portal access.

Revoking help center access

Organization and site admins can revoke access for a portal-only customer to access your help centers. Read more on how to revoke help center access.

You can also delete your customer’s portal-only account or make changes to their Atlassian account to revoke their help center access.