Create a private Jira project only specific users can access

Summary

If you require a Jira project with limited or private access, you can create one that will only be visible to the users you specify.

Solution

Common use cases for a private Jira project

By default, Jira Administrators have access to newly created Projects. When handling sensitive information or work related to Human Resources, medical information, or any other type of data, you may wish to create a project that even Jira admins or site-admins cannot access.

Which Jira project types can I configure to be completely private?

The steps in this article are compatible with both Team-managed and Company-managed projects.

You can follow these steps for Software and Work management project types, both Team-managed and Company-managed.

Preparation steps

1. Create a new Jira project with no issue data included in it

2. Create a group or project role to be associated with the users that should be able to view this project's data

3. Create a group or project role to be assigned to the project Administrator(s) that will maintain the project moving forward

4. Add yourself to the chosen group and/or project role from steps 2 and 3 to allow yourself to fully configure the project

5. Add any of the relevant users or project administrators to their respective group or project role

   1. This step can be performed later, but will need to be performed before you remove your own access to keep the project's data private

Configure the project to be private

The steps differ depending on which project type you've chosen.

For a Team-Managed project:

1. Go to Project Settings

2. Select the Access option

3. Select Change Project Access

4. Set the project Access to Private then click the Change button

For a Company-Managed project

Company-managed projects utilize Permission Schemes, which are built to allow for sharing permissions between multiple Jira projects.

If our private project uses a scheme that is shared with other projects, any changes we make to this scheme will affect those other projects as well. Be sure you have a strategy for which projects should share the permissions you're setting up, especially if your project contains data you don't wish for some users to be able to view.

Very likely, you'll want your private project to use a permission scheme that isn't shared.

(Optional) copy the permission scheme

This is only necessary if the project you created is already using a permission scheme shared with other projects. If it has its own scheme, skip this step.

You can determine which permission scheme each project is using across all of Jira by navigating to Settings (cog icon) > Issues > Permission schemes.

Steps to copy the permission scheme

To copy the permission scheme your project is currently using:

1. Go to the Permission schemes page for your Site

   1. https://<your_site>.atlassian.net/secure/admin/ViewPermissionSchemes.jspa

   2. To navigate to this page through your Site: Settings (cog icon) > Issues > Permission schemes

2. Locate your project (under the Projects column)

3. Click Copy (under the Actions column)

4. Locate the newly copied permission scheme

5. Click Edit (under the Actions column)

6. Change the name of the scheme to something memorable and descriptive

7. Click Update

To associate the newly copied permission scheme on your project:

1. Go to the project

2. Click Project settings

3. Click Permissions

4. Click Actions (in the upper right hand corner)

5. Click Use a different scheme

6. Locate the newly created scheme

7. Click on Associate

Edit the permissions on the scheme for your project

1. Navigate to your project

2. Click Project settings

3. Click Permissions

4. Click Actions

5. Click on Edit permissions

6. Click Update link for each permission

   1. Add the group or the project role you created during the Preparation section to all permissions

   2. Add the group or project role for any project administration to the Administer Projects permission

7. Remove every other group, role, etc from all permissions

8. Configure the project's remaining settings as needed for the project's intended work

   1. There is no one-size fits all approach to this step, so it won't be covered here

9. Finally, remove yourself from the group/project role

You're all set! At this time, only the intended users and project administrator can access the project's issues and associated information, assuming they have been added to the project.

Important notes

• The project will be visible but not accessible to Jira global administrators

  • The project will be listed under Projects, but even global admins cannot see issue data inside the project

• It will not be visible or accessible to any user who is not a global admin

• It will be visible, and accessible, to the users in the group or assigned the project role applied in the project's permission scheme

• This means that any site or organization admin can give themselves access to the Project by adding themselves to the group or project role

  • It is not possible to prevent an Admin from doing this, but these actions will be recorded in the Audit Log if they are taken

Further Reading

• How to restrict project access for teams in Jira Cloud

• Give access to users to specific project

• Add users to your project

• Manage project roles

• Create and update groups

• Hide a project altogether