How to limit Label access to the project members only for a cloud team-managed project?

[Tim Ma]

In a cloud team-managed project, users wish to have their labels only visible for project members only. How to setup that?

[Marc -Devoteam-]

Hi @Tim Ma and @Tim Ma 

@Trudy Claspill provides a solid solution.

But this might be a silly option to add, or you might use the function for something else.

Why not use components, as they are Space bound?

[Trudy Claspill]

@Marc -Devoteam- 

Components are not available yet for team-managed spaces.

https://jira.atlassian.com/browse/JRACLOUD-92565

Also, Components values must be maintained by an Administrator (in Company-managed spaces). New values can't be added by non-admins as can be done with Labels-type fields.

[Lucas Knorr]

If you’d like to restrict the available label options, you can use our Label Manager for Jira app.

It allows you to configure labels on a per-project basis, giving you full control over which labels (via our advanced labels field) are available in each project.

Additionally, labels can be assigned colors, improving visibility and helping users quickly identify and differentiate them.

[Tim Ma]

Thanks, Lucas. I checked out the App. It seemed to be a tool to manage the labels and make use of custom predefined label field. It does not seem to be the tool we need. We don't need to manage the labels, only want to limit them to a specific project. We also need the labels to be defined by users, not predefined labels by admins. I check many other label apps. They are pretty much all the same. There seemed no solution to restrict JIRA labels to the project.

[Trudy Claspill]

Hello @Tim Ma 

Welcome to the Atlassian community.

Where are non-team members seeing those labels?

Why should non-team member be prevented from seeing them?

The values added to the native Labels field are available globally. They are not defined per project. Other users would be able to select the values for the Labels field in their own projects and see them as possible values for Labels in Filters.

What problem are you trying to solve by having values for a field where the values can be seen by only team members? If we understand your use case better we may be able to suggest a solution.

[Tim Ma]

Hi Trudy,

In a project, sometimes the labels carry certain project specific information that only the project members are supposed to see. And in fact, the labels made in certain project only make sense to that project. There is no value to share a project specific information (like the labels) across other projects. The labels in one project are irrelevant to other projects. There is also a practical problem when users sharing screen with other users who are not supposed to be exposed to the information of other projects can accidentally see the labels from other projects while the labels are being edited. We have users are requesting to have the labels limited to their projects only. So far, we could not find any solutions for this. I searched the Forum, it seemed there are other similar issues in the past which no solution was provided. I wonder presently, if any good solutions can be offered. Thanks.

[Trudy Claspill]

Hello Tim,

Thank you for providing that context. That is really helpful.

Are you using the default Labels field in this scenario?

Any value you add to the default Labels field in any project will be accessible in all projects.

If you instead create a custom field of type "Labels" in the Team-managed project then I believe the values you enter in the field will be visible only in that field in that project. And the field will have the same behaviour otherwise as the native Labels field.

I did a brief experiment in my own instance and this appeared to be true, but I recommend that you do your own experiment.

[Tim Ma]

Let me test out this. The suggestion is to replace the default Labels field with a custom field like "Label". Value will be of Labels type.

[Trudy Claspill]

Correct. When you create a custom fields you specify the custom field type. TM projects include a field type named "Labels" which behaves like the default field named Labels. End users can add new values, and it is a multiple value field.

[Tim Ma]

It works for newly created labels. If a project just started, this could have been done before open to users. If a project is already in the middle for some time, old labels will be gone. Are there any good way to move old labels to the new custom label field?

[Trudy Claspill]

You could create an Automation Rule to copy the data from the original Labels field to the new field for each issue.

Are you familiar with Automation Rules?

https://support.atlassian.com/cloud-automation/docs/jira-cloud-automation/

[Tim Ma]

Yes. Is there a way to automatically find the labels that belongs to a project and then move them over? 

[Tim Ma]

One more question, how to put the newly created custom label field on to the Filter selection menu?

[Trudy Claspill]

Yes. Is there a way to automatically find the labels that belongs to a project and then move them over? 

Do you want to copy the values actually used in this project's issues in the native Labels field to your new custom field for each issue? Or do you just want the values that list for the native Labels field to become the list for the new custom field?

If the former you would use an Automation rule to select the issues that have Labels values and Edit each issue to copy the values from Labels to your new Custom field.

If the latter, there is not a single action the will find all the unique values in the Labels field and make them available in your new custom field. Just like the Labels field to make values available in your custom field you have to actually add the value to that field for at least one issue. Doing this would be more complex that a rule to do the former.

One more question, how to put the newly created custom label field on to the Filter selection menu?

No, it is not possible to add the new custom field directly to the filter option. If you are working with a Software TM project you would have to create a Custom Filter. If you are working with a Business TM space it does not appear that custom Labels fields are available in the Filter > Custom Fields section.

[Tim Ma]

The purpose of using labels are for search and filtering. If the custom labels can not be searched and filtered, then it would not be very useful then, right?

[Tim Ma]

How to create a custom filter? How to make custom label searchable?

[Trudy Claspill]

You can still search on that custom field by going to Filters > Search work items and creating you search from there.

What type of space does this concern; Business or Software?

There is not a way to create a custom filter within the Filter option in the Business space views, except in the List view where you can customize the filter and then save it for reuse later.

In a Software project you would click on the Custom Filters button and select Manage Custom Filters. Then you would create and save as many individual filters as you need to filter on various labels. It is not currently possible to add the custom Labels-type field to the Filter button directly so that a dynamic list of used values would be available for selection.

[Tim Ma]

Thank you for the response, Trudy. After adding the custom label field, can the default Labels field be disabled or removed? Can they disappear from the Filter button menu after removal? Ideally, the system should only show one label field.