Create, edit, or remove a user

Users in Jira applications can be managed manually or via External User Management. This page helps you manage these users manually, and references external user management systems where required.In order for a user to log in and access a Jira application, they must have application access. Application access is obtained by being a member of a group assigned to an application. Membership to these groups can be changed at any time on a per user basis.

Managing 500+ users across Atlassian products?
Find out how easy, scalable and effective it can be with Crowd!
See centralized user management.

Before you begin

You must  have the Jira Administrator or Jira System Administrator global permission to be able to manage users in Jira applications.

Create users

There are several ways to create a user in Jira. Read on to learn which method is right for your team.

If you're adding users to a Jira Service Desk project, check out  Setting up service desk users.

Create a user in Jira

Create a user directly in Jira if you have a small team. Consider external user management (LDAP or Active Directory) if you have a lot of hands on deck. Maintaining permissions for individual user ID's can be messy if you have too many users, so there are other options for your large staff.

To create a user:
  1. Select  User Management.
  2. In the User browser, click Create User.
  3. Enter the UsernamePasswordFull Name and Email address.
  4. Optionally, select the Send Notification Email  checkbox to send the user an email containing:
    • their login name.
    • a link from which to set their password (this link is valid for 24 hours).
  5. If you have more than one Jira application installed, you will need to select the Jira application you would like to give the user access to.

  6. Click the Create button.

After the user is created, you'll brought to a screen where you can view the user information and perform additional functions such as edit details, edit groups or properties, and delete the user.

Invite users to Jira

You can invite users to Jira through email. When the users accept the invite and they are created in Jira, they will be given access to the applications set as default

Note, Jira's SMTP mail server must be configured to send notifications before you can invite users via email.

To invite a user
  1. Open the User browser and click the Invite Users.
  2. Enter the email addresses of the users that you want to invite. Add multiple users by separating the email addresses with a comma.
    Note: You cannot invite users by sending an invitation to a distribution list.
  3. Click the Send button to send the invitations.
    • Each invitation can only be used to create a user under the email address that it was sent to, and can only be used once.
    • Each invitation will expire seven days after the day it was sent.
    • Your user license count will not be affected until users accept the invitation and the users are created. 


Use a mail handler, connect to an internal directory, or enable public signup 

There are a few other ways to create a user in Jira. These methods are more specialized and can fill a specific need of your team. 

Others

Automatically create a user

You can use a mail handler to allow Jira applications to create issues or comments via emails received. The handler can also be configured to create new users based on the sender's email address. This method can be used from time to time if you want Jira to create new user accounts from any received email messages whose From: field contains an address that does not match one associated with an existing Jira user account. This allows the creator of the email message to be notified of subsequent updates to the issue. See 'Creating issues and comments from email' for full documentation.

Connect to an internal directory with LDAP authentication

You can connect your Jira application to an LDAP directory for delegated authentication. This means that Jira will have an internal directory that uses LDAP for authentication only. Choose this option if you want to set up a user and group configuration within your application that suits your needs, while checking your users' passwords against the corporate LDAP directory. This option also helps to avoid the performance issues that may result from downloading large numbers of groups from LDAP. See 'Connecting to an internal directory with LDAP authentication' for more information on configuration.

Allow users to sign up publicly

For some organizations using Jira Service Desk, it's appropriate to allow users to create their own accounts without needing an Administrator. This is a good way to empower users without using up all of your Jira Service Desk licenses, but can raise some security concerns. See 'Enabling public signup and CAPTCHA' for more information about enabling public sign up and CAPTCHA.


Select default applications for new users

If you have more than one Jira application, it's possible to select which applications new users will automatically be assigned to. If you manually create a user, the applications you select as defaults will be preselected. However, it's possible to change this while creating the user. If you allow users to sign up via email, via public signup, or through a mail handler, they will be given access to the applications you select: 

To set default applications


  1. Choose  > Applications.
  2. Select Set defaults for new users.
  3. Select the application/s to set as default and click the Set defaults button.
You've now set the default applications to be used for new user creation. These users will be assigned to the default groups of the applications you have selected.


Edit a user

Modifying user information, such as name, email, address, and password, is easy with the Jira internal directory. If you are using an external authentication method such as LDAP or Active Directory, you'll have to make changes in that system rather than in Jira.

Edit a username, full name, or email address

If you're using the Jira internal directory to manage users, you can modify these three attributes together, in a few simple clicks.

When updating a username, note that Jira cannot update external usernames—for example, users that are coming from an LDAP server or Crowd instance. However, Jira can update Jira users stored in an "Internal Directory with LDAP Authentication."

To update user information:
  1. Select  User Management.
  2. Find the user in the user list using the filter form at the top of the page.
  3. Click Edit in the Operations column.
  4. Make the changes to username, full name, or email address and click Update to finish.

Change a password

Administrators can change user passwords directly in Jira when using the internal directory. A password cannot be changed if users are managed from an LDAP server or Crowd instance.

To update a password:
  1. Select  User Management.
  2. Find the user in the user list using the filter form at the top of the page.
  3. Click on the username.
  4. Choose Actions > Set Password.
  5. Enter and confirm the new password, and click the Update button to finish.

Add a property to a user

A Property is an extra piece of information about a user that you can store in Jira. A Property consists of a Key of your choice, like 'Phone number' or 'Location', plus a corresponding Value (eg. '987 654 3210', 'Level Three'). User Properties do not have an effect in the project apart from adding additional information about the user.  Apps, however, can frequently use this data. 

To add a property:
  1. Select  User Management.
  2. Find the user in the user list using the filter form at the top of the page.
  3. Click on the username.
  4. Choose Actions > Edit Properties. The Edit User Properties screen will be displayed.
  5. Enter the new Key and its Value, then click the Add button to finish.


Remove a user

Have a user that no longer needs access to JIRA? Read about the different ways to remove access. Rather than deleting a user, we recommend that you deactivate their account. Deactivating a user's account will prevent the account from being used, but it will preserve that user's history of activity.

Deactivate a user

Jira administrators can deactivate a Jira user, which disables that user's access to Jira. This avoids the need for a Jira administrator to delete the user's account from the system. 

This feature is useful when a Jira user leaves the organization or changes departments because their history of Jira activity is preserved in the system. If a user with a deactivated Jira account needs access again at some point in the future, their Jira user account can be easily reactivated.

To deactivate a user:
  1. Select  User Management and find the user in the user list.
  2. Click Edit in the Operations column.
  3. Clear the Active checkbox.
  4. Select Update to confirm the change.
  5. The user will now appear in the user list with a strikethrough their username and full name, and the text '(inactive)'.

Note

  • To deactivate a project or component lead, assign other users as the relevant project or component leads first. These users cannot be deleted without first replacing their roles. An error message will appear asking you to assign another user first.
  • If your Jira instance is configured to use an external Atlassian Crowd user directory, the user will be deactivated in Jira if they are deactivated in Crowd.
  • Jira does not deactivate users who are configured and deactivated/disabled in an external Microsoft Active Directory or LDAP-based user directory, with the exception of Jira users configured with 'delegated LDAP authentication'.

When you deactivate a user, that user: 

  • Will no longer be able to log in to Jira.
  • Will not count towards your Jira user license limit.
  • Can't be assigned issues or added as a watcher to issues whenever issues are created or edited. However:
    • A user who was assigned, was watching, or had reported any issues in Jira before their account is deactivated, will still appear as the respective assignee, watcher, or reporter of those issues. This situation remains until another user is specified as the assignee or reporter, the deactivated user is removed as a watcher from them, or the account is reactivated.
    • A user who voted on any issues in Jira before their account is deactivated will continue to appear as a voter on these issues.
  • Will continue to appear on the Jira user interface with '(Inactive)' displayed after their name.
  • Can still be used to filter issues in a Jira search query.
  • Will not receive any email notifications from Jira, even if they continue to remain the assignee, reporter, or watcher of issues.

Delete a user

We recommend you think carefully before deleting a Jira user. Consider deactivating instead and see the section above for more information. 

Before you delete, note that:

  • You cannot delete a user from within Jira if you are using External User Management (However, you can deactivate the user. See instructions above).
  • You cannot delete a user from Jira if they have:
    • reported or been assigned to any issues.
    • commented on any issues.
  • The filters and dashboards of a user will be deleted when the user is deleted, even if the filters or dashboards are shared with other users.
  • All issues that have been reported by or assigned to the user you are attempting to delete, are respectively hyperlinked to a list of the individual issues in the Issue Navigator.
To delete a user:
  1. Select  User Management and find the user in the user list.
  2. Click the Delete link in the Operations column.
    The confirmation screen that follows will summarize any involvement of that user in the system by showing current issues assigned to and reported by that user, etc. These connections between the user and other parts of the system may prevent the deletion of that user.
  3. Take any actions required to disassociate the user with Jira. The error message will give you exact instructions but these may include:
    • Reassigning any issues currently assigned to the user.
    • Bulk-editing the issues created by the user and changing the 'Reporter' to someone else. You will also need to allow editing of closed issues if some of the issues the user created are closed and you do not wish to reopen them.
    • Changing the owner of shared dashboards owned by the user. See Managing shared dashboards.
    • Changing the project lead for any projects where the user is a lead.
  4. If there are no issues assigned to, or reported by the user, and the user has not commented on any issues, the confirmation screen will display a Delete button. Click to delete the user.
Last modified on Jul 22, 2022

Was this helpful?

Yes
No
Provide feedback about this article
Powered by Confluence and Scroll Viewport.