How to show empty fields to read-only users in Jira Cloud?

Question

Hi everyone,
In Jira Cloud, I've noticed that users who only have the "Browse Project" permission can't see empty fields on issues. This behavior seems tied to the new issue view, which hides fields unless they contain data or the user has edit permissions.

On Jira Data Center, it's possible to configure the screens so that empty fields are still visible to read-only users. However, I haven’t found a similar option in Jira Cloud.

Is there any workaround or upcoming feature that would allow us to display empty fields to users without giving them edit rights?

Thanks in advance for any insights!

Jasmeet Kaur_xrxtha · Answer

Hello Mohssine,

Thank you for writing back.

I tried testing in my instance and found that if I set the default value for the text field, it will be visible to users not have edit issue permission.

But for the select fields , when I selected the default option as None:

* If the field is present under the context field section in the issue layout, it won't be visible to users who don't have edit issue permission. 
* If the field is present under the Description field section in the issue layout, it will be visible to users who don't have edit issue permission and display a None value.

Thank you!

Mohssine · Answer

Hi @Jasmeet Kaur

Thanks a lot for the explanation!

I did try the workaround of setting a default value like “None” to make the field visible, but unfortunately, it doesn’t work in our case. Users without the "Edit Issues" permission still don’t see the field at all if it’s empty, even with a default value set.

Mohssine

Jasmeet Kaur_xrxtha · Answer

Hello @Mohssine

Welcome to the Atlassian Community!

You are correct: in Jira Cloud, users with only the "Browse Project" permission (i.e., read-only users) cannot see fields that are empty on issues in the new issue view. This is a known limitation and is different from Jira Data Center, where screen configuration can allow empty fields to be visible to all users.

If a user does not have the "Edit Issues" permission, empty fields are hidden from them. Only fields with values are shown.

However, if a default value is added to this field, it will be viewable for all users.

This has been documented in the article Fields are not visible on screen even though these are added to the edit/view screen.

While we understand this may not be the ideal behaviour, we have made a suggestion to our Product team to enhance this in future implementations. The Feature Request can be tracked here:

* Users with only Browse project permission (read-only) cannot see fields that are empty in the new issue view

Please be sure to watch it and vote on it, so that you're notified if this is implemented in a future release. For your reference, you can find our policy on how we prioritise feature and improvement requests here.

Thank you!