While managing Jira projects, there are cases where you'll need to keep conversations or comments private between certain groups or roles.

When compartmentalization of a comment is needed, it's possible to select pre-determined access restrictions based on groups and roles by clicking on the padlock icon on a comment field:

Problem

• The user is unable to see the Group, in which to restrict a comment even though they are added to the group.
• The user is unable to see a specific Group to restrict a comment. 
• The user is unable to see a specific Project role to restrict a comment

Resolution

• Check under Jira Settings > System > General Configuration for "Comment visibility" and make sure it's set to "Groups & Project Roles" and not "Project Roles only"
• Ensure that the affected user is a member of the Group, for the group to be visible and selectable for the user to restrict a comment.
• Ensure that the user is also granted the correct role of that Project to see the project roles available to restrict a comment. You can use the information in Assign users to groups, project roles, and applications to change the project role of the user