Configuring JIRA application options

JIRA has a number of configuration options that allow your JIRA applications to be customized for use within your organization. These options can be accessed and edited on JIRA's 'General Configuration' page.

On this page:

Editing JIRA's general configuration

  1. Choose > System
  2. Select General Configuration to open the Administration page. 
  3. Click the Edit Settings button to edit the three sections as described below:

(info) The Advanced Settings button is only visible if you have the JIRA System Administrators global permission.

General settings

(If marked with an * the function is not available or editable in the Cloud)

Setting

Description

Title

This is the title that will be displayed on the JIRA login page and the dashboard. It helps identify your installation and its purpose.
(info) Also see logo, which is displayed on every JIRA page.

Mode *

JIRA can operate in two modes:
- Public — Anyone can sign themselves up with self-registration and create issues (within the bounds of your JIRA system's permissions).
- Private — Useful for internal issue-tracking systems where you do not want public users to login. Self-signup is disabled; only Administrators can create new users.

(info) If the JIRA application has a LDAP directory configured with delegated authentication and the option Copy user is enabled, users will be able to login and create a new accounts.
Default: Private

Maximum Authentication Attempts Allowed *

The maximum authentication attempts that are allowed before CAPTCHA is shown to a user. If you leave it blank then CAPTCHA will never be shown and users will have unlimited authentication attempts. It is recommended that you set this to a small number (e.g. below 5).
Default: 3 (for new installations of JIRA)

CAPTCHA on signup *

If you are running JIRA in Public mode (see above), it is strongly recommended that you enable CAPTCHA. This will show a CAPTCHA image on signup to prevent spambots from signing up.
Default: OFF

Base URL*

The base URL of this JIRA installation. You can only configure JIRA to respond to a single URL and this setting must match the URL that your users request for accessing your JIRA instance. You cannot (for example) have a different hostname or URL for internal and external users. This URL is also used in outgoing email notifications as the prefix for links to JIRA issues.Check out Configuring the Base URL for more information.

Email from

Specifies the From: header format in notification emails. Default is of the form "John Doe (JIRA) <jira@company.com>". Available variables are '${fullname}', '${email}' and '${email.hostname}'. Note that the actual address (e.g. 'jira@company.com') cannot be specified here.

The address is determined by the mail server or individual project configuration.

Introduction

A short introduction message displayed on the dashboard. (info) Also see the announcement banner, which is displayed on every JIRA page. You can include HTML, but ensure all tags are correctly closed.

Internationalization

Setting

Description

Indexing languageJIRA uses Lucene, a high-performance text search engine library, in full-text searches for issues stored in JIRA. This option is designed to enhance JIRA's search indexing and issue searching features for issues entered in the languages available in this list. Hence, choose the language that matches the language used in your issues.

Choosing a specific language in this list has the following effects when conducting searches in JIRA (with respect to your chosen language):

  • Reserved words in text fields will not be indexed.
  • Stemming of words in all JIRA fields will be active.

If multiple languages are used in your issues (or you wish to disable the two effects above), choose Other.

(info) You will need to re-index JIRA if you change this value.

Installed languages

This section lists all language packs available within the JIRA system.(Note: to install additional languages, see Internationalization.)

Default language

The language used throughout the JIRA interface (as selected from the list displayed in Installed Languages above).Users can override the default language by using the Language setting in their user profile.

Default user time zoneThis is the time zone used throughout the JIRA interface. Users can override the default time zone by using the Time Zone preference in their user profile. (To choose the time format, see Configuring the look and feel of your JIRA applications.)(info) Date fields that have no time component, such as due dates, release dates (associated with versions), and custom date fields, solely record date information (and no time zone-related information). These are not affected by time zone settings.

Options

Setting

Description

Allow users to vote on issuesControls whether voting is enabled in JIRA. Voting allows users to indicate a preference for issues they would like to be completed or resolved. See also the 'View Voters and Watchers' permission.
Default: ON
Allow users to watch issuesControls whether watching is enabled in JIRA. Users can 'watch' issues which they are interested in. Users watching an issue will be notified of all changes to it. See also the 'View Voters and Watchers' and 'Manage Watcher List' permissions.
Default: ON
Allow users to share dashboards and filters with the publicControls whether "Public" is an option for sharing a filter. Users can choose who to share a filter with, and "Public" allows them to share it with anonymous users i.e. user not logged into JIRA. If your instance can be accessed publicly, these filters will be accessible by the general public. Changing the option to OFF will not change any existing filters that are shared as "Public".
Default: ON  
Maximum project name sizeControls the maximum number of characters allowed for a project name. Changing this value will not affect the names of existing projects.
Default: 80
Maximum project key sizeControls the maximum number of characters allowed for a project key. Changing this value will not affect the keys of existing projects. You can set this to any value between 2 and 255, inclusive.
Default: 10
Allow unassigned issuesWhen turned ON, the default assignee for the project is Unassigned. When turned OFF, issues must always be assigned to someone - by default, the assignee will be the Project Lead as defined for each project.
Default: ON
External user management

When turned ON, JIRA will not display options for users to change their password and edit their profile. This will also disable the Forgot your password link on the login page.Generally you would only turn this ON if you are managing all your users from outside JIRA (e.g. using Crowd, Microsoft Active Directory, or another LDAP directory)Default: OFF

Logout confirmationControls whether to obtain user's confirmation when logging out: NEVER COOKIE - prompt for confirmation if the user was automatically logged in (via a cookie). ALWAYS
Default: NEVER
Use gzip compressionControls whether to compress the web pages that JIRA sends to the browser. It is recommended that this be turned ON, unless you are using mod_proxy.
Default: ON
User email visibilityControls how users' email addresses are displayed in the user profile page.
- PUBLIC - email addresses are visible to all.
- HIDDEN - email addresses are hidden from all users.
- MASKED - the email address is masked (e.g. 'user@example.com' is displayed as 'user at example dot com').
- LOGGED IN USERS ONLY - only users logged in to JIRA can view the email addresses.
Default: PUBLIC
Comment visibilityDetermines what will be contained in the list that is presented to users when specifying comment visibility and worklog visibility.
- Groups & Project Roles - the list will contain groups and project roles.
- Project Roles only - the list will only contain project roles.
Default: Project Roles only
Exclude email header 'Precedence: bulk'Controls whether to prevent the Precedence: Bulk header on JIRA notification emails. This option should only be enabled when notifications go to a mailing list which rejects 'bulk' emails. In normal circumstances, this header prevents auto-replies (and hence potential mail loops).
Default: OFF
Issue Picker Auto-completeProvides auto-completion of issue keys in the 'Issue Picker' popup screen. Turn OFF if your users' browsers are incompatible with AJAX.
Default: ON
JQL Auto-completeProvides auto-completion of search terms when users perform an advanced (JQL) search. Turn OFF if you prefer not to use this feature, or are experiencing a performance impact.
Default: ON
Internet Explorer MIME Sniffing Security Hole Workaround PolicyAttachment viewing security options for cross-site site scripting vulnerabilities present in Internet Explorer 7 and earlier. Changes the default browser action for attachments in JIRA. Options are:
- Insecure: inline display of attachments - allows all attachments to be displayed inline. Only select this option if you fully understand the security risks.
- Secure: forced download of all attachments for all browsers - force the download of all attachments. This is the most secure option, but is less convenient for users.
- Work around Internet Explorer security hole - forced download of high-risk attachments (IE-only Workaround) - for IE browsers, force the download of attachments that IE would mistakenly detect as an HTML file. Declared HTML attachments are also never displayed inline. Use this option to reduce the risk of attacks to IE users via attachments.
Default: Work around Internet Explorer security hole
Contact Administrators Form

Provides an email form for users to fill in when they click the 'Contact Administrators' link (which appears when appropriate in JIRA, e.g. on Login panels and pages).

Applies only if outgoing email is enabled.

Can be used with or without the custom 'Contact Administrators Message' below. Users with the JIRA Administrators global permission (not JIRA System Administrators - see JRA-27454 for details) will be notified as a result of this feature being used.
Default: OFF

Contact Administrators MessageDisplays a custom message when users click the 'Contact Administrators' link (which appears when appropriate in JIRA, e.g. on Login panels and pages). The 'Contact Administrators Message' will be displayed at the top of the 'Contact Administrators Form', only if the form is enabled (see above).
Allow GravatarsEnables users to use Gravatars in their user profile instead of JIRA-specific avatars. Users will not be able to use JIRA-specific avatars if Gravatars are enabled, and vice versa.
Default: ON
Inline editEnables inline editing, i.e. click to edit a field on the screen.
Default: ON 
Auto-update search resultsEnables search results to be automatically updated when criteria are modified in a basic search.
Default: ON  
Last modified on Nov 26, 2019

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