Manage group access to applications
Users need to belong to a group to access Jira applications. Administrators can assign access to groups through the Application access page.
Each application that's licensed in Jira is listed on this page, and each application will display its total allowed users, and users remaining. Each application should have at least one group associated with it, and one default group should be selected. When a user is created in Jira, and assigned to an application, they will be automatically added to the default group for that application. We strongly recommend you only have one default group assigned to each application. Use the default group to allow application access, and create and manage other groups to control project-specific permissions and access.
For example, when Jira Software is installed, it automatically creates the jira-software-user group in Jira, and assigns it as the default group for the Jira Software application. When you create a user and select Jira Software as the application they should have access to, they will be automatically added to the jira-software-user group.
Once Jira Software is installed, you can add further groups to the application on the Application access page, and all members of those groups will have access to Jira Software. If a user is a member of more than one of those groups, they will only consume one user on your Jira Software license. For more information on creating users, see Create, edit, or remove a user.
For all of the following procedures, you must be logged in as a user with the Jira administrators global permission.
Before you begin
- Each application that's licensed in your Jira instance is listed on this page.
- Each application will display its total allowed users and users remaining.
- Each application should have at least one group associated with it, and one default group should be selected.
Assign a group to an application
For details on group management, check out View, create, or delete a group and Modify group membership.
All members of the groups assigned to an application will be able to log in to that application. You may assign multiple groups to any application. The users of these groups will count towards the user tier of your license. If a user is a member of multiple groups assigned to an application, they will only count as one licensed user.
- In the upper-right corner of the screen, select Administration
> Applications.
- In the sidebar, select Application access. The Application access page displays all your applications and their associated groups, including their default groups.
- Locate the application you want to assign a specific group to, and select the Select group... dropdown.
- Select the group you wish to add. The group will be added to the application.
Assigning a group to multiple applications
You may assign the same group to several applications. One reason to do this to is ensure members of the group always have full application access. For example, you may have users who requires full access to all your applications. You could create a separate group for them, and add this group to each application. Care should be taken when assigning a group to multiple applications, as the group members will consume a license for each application. The only exception is Jira Core. A user with access to any other application automatically has access to Jira Core, so they will not consume a license for Jira Core if they belong to a group associated with another application.
Assign a default group to an application
When an application is installed, it automatically creates and assigns a default group to itself. You can manually change the default group, and we strongly recommend that you only have one default group assigned to an application.
- In the upper-right corner of the screen, select Administration > Applications.
- In the sidebar, select Application access. The Application access page displays all your applications and their associated groups, including their default groups.
- Check the box in the Default groups column for the group you want to assign as a default group. Note you must have at least one default group at any time. If you want to change the default group, you must first assign a second default group before you can un-check the box for the current group.
You can also set which application you'd like new users to be added to in Jira. This is covered in more detail on Assign users to groups, project roles, and applications.
Assigning multiple default groups to an application
We strongly recommend you only have one default group for each application. New users created and assigned application access are added to that application's default group. If this group is also assigned to an another application, the new user will also gain access to the additional application, potentially creating a security hole in your system.
For example, if you assign a group called Group A to Jira Software and make it the default group, all new users added to Jira Software will be added as members of Group A. If you then add Group A to Jira Service Desk, all users in Group A will now have full access to both Jira Software and Jira Service Desk. This also means that when you create a new user and add them to Jira Software, they will also gain access to Jira Service Desk and consume a license for both applications.