Public forms are coming to Jira

[Greg D]

I was just clarifying this in another community post, so I figured I would check in here too. Any updates @Loretta Brunette

Right now there are effectively two different form systems in Jira Cloud, which is why this feels messy:

1. Advanced Forms (ProForma-style) - setup lives in the Jira space settings

• Primarily tied to Jira Service Management, where they’re the standard experience
• Support form‑only fields (no Jira field required), richer layouts/sections, and form-specific automation
• Great for complex intake, service workflows, use-cases where you need more control over conditions around answers and default responses, etc.
• Allow for a many-to-one relationship between form and Jira work item (you can add a bunch of different forms to your Jira work item/request

They do work in Jira directly in some environments, but that’s usually via exceptions / special configuration these days with new sites. The catch: to submit through these forms into Jira and not JSM, you generally need a full Jira license, so they’re not ideal for broad, open intake.

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2. Native Jira Forms – Jira Software / Work Management - setup lives on a tab (where boards, list view, calendar, etc. live)

• Started in Jira Work Management / team‑managed projects as a basic space-admin controllable create screen without much in the way of features
• Became the standard forms builder in Jira Software around the time of merging JWM into just Jira (both form settings were available at this time with advanced being a little more hidden)
• Atlassian picked these as the long‑term direction outside of JSM
• Can:
  • Act as a modern issue collector
  • Be made public via open links (woohoo)
  • Use conditional questions now (hooray)

Constraint: every question ultimately ties back to a Jira field (boo), so they don’t yet match the flexibility of the more advanced/ProForma-style forms.

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Net result

• You lean on the advanced forms when you need serious layout options, form‑only fields, more features on intake, and tight workflow hooks (and your licensing model can handle it)
• You lean on native Jira forms when you need lighter intake and public / low-friction access in Jira Software or Work Management

Both are useful; both are limited in different ways.

I really hope that there will be a way to open up the advanced forms, have form-only fields on the basic forms, and have a controllable permission setting available in schemes that is separate from the regular create button for both of those.