Give read access to all Jira boards of a project, write access to one

Xavier Roy

I have two projects, say Project A and Project B. In Project A, I have one board, PAB1, in Project B I have two, PBB1 and PBB2. I want to give read access to a user for all boards in Project B, so PBB1 and PBB2, and write access for one board in Project B, say PBB1. This user shouldn’t have any access to Project A and its board.

How can I manage this?

Ste Wright

Hi @Xavier Roy 

I see three needs above:

• Restrict access to Project A / PAB1
• Read-access to Project B's boards - PBB1 / PBB2
• Write-access to Project B's board - PBB1

Just to be clear up-front:

• Restricting access to Project A / PAB1 is possible
• It's not possible to restrict write/read-access based on a board - only based on a project (see below for more options)

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Project A - Restrict Access:

You can control access using Project Permissions. As a Jira/Site Admin:

1. Go to Jira Settings (cog in top-right) > Issues
2. On the left-hand menu, select Permission Schemes
3. If Project A has its own permission scheme, you can press "Permissions" on the right-hand side to modify it. If not, you might want to create a new one. I would suggest pressing "Copy" next to an existing Permission Scheme to create a new one - then pressing "Permissions"
4. Project access is based on the permission "Browse Projects" - press "Remove" next to this permission to remove broad access to the project
5. Next, press "Edit" and choose how you'd like to provide access. For example, you could use a user group (created and managed by Site Admins) or a Project Role (created by Site Admins, managed via a Project Admin).
6. Make any other permission modifications you wish to make.
7. If you created a new scheme - go to Project A and in the bottom-left corner, select Project Settings
8. Select Permissions from the left-hand menu
9. Press Actions in the top-right and select "Use a different scheme"
10. Change to your new permissions scheme

If you are creating a new user group or need new project roles for this scheme, manage this via:

• User Group: Jira Settings > User Management > Groups
• Project Roles: Jira Settings > System > Project Roles

Project A - Board Access:

If a user doesn't have access to view a project's issues, the board will show as blank. However, if you also want to hide the board.

As a Board Admin/Filter Owner:

1. On the board, go to options (3-dots icon in top-right) > Board Settings
2. Select General from the left-hand menu
3. Press "Edit Filter Shares"
4. Ensure "Shares" is limited to Project if you just want users with project access to see it. You can also choose a user group.
5. If removing from "Shares" - press the trash can next to the existing option. To add, select the appropriate options from the drop-downs - press "+Add" and then "Save"

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Project B:

It's not possible to limit edit access based on a board. A board is just a visual representation of an issue filter. You can restrict board visibility using the same instructions as above.

Permissions are all decided from a project-level. 

Depending on your scenario - some options are:

• Restrict Edit: Following the steps above, remove "Edit" access from Project B for a group of users. This would remove edit access from all issues though, not just a selection.
• More Projects: Split Project B into two projects - and modify permissions based on who needs access to what.
• Workflow: If the need is based on issue types, you could create a separate workflow for the "restricted" issue types, and limit edit access using a workflow property.

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If you could provide us some further information about the need in Project B, we'd be happy to try and find a solution

Ste