I use Jira Cloud I need to allow users to only have access to one project

Question

I use Jira Cloud I need to allow users to only have access to one project - I have created a new permission scheme, a new group and only allowed this new group access to all options in the permission scheme

The issue I have is that I can lock all others from seeing this project but cant lock users in this project from seeing other projects and I think it has something to do with the fact that when I add the users to the system and add the jira app the user automatically gets the Jira-users group --- when I remove this the user loses acccess to the platform

how do I solve for allow a group of users to only have access to one project

Hari Krishna · Answer

Hi @Omar Test ,

That’s a great question — and you’re absolutely right to double-check this before changing product access.

Here’s how it works

When you remove the jira-software-users group from Product Access, it doesn’t instantly revoke access for existing users. What it does is stop automatically assigning new users to that group in the future.

Your existing 300 users will continue to have access to Jira as long as they already belong to a group that still grants product access under:

Settings → User management → Product access → Jira Software

So before removing the default group, you can:

Create a new general access group (for example jira-software-access)

Add that new group to the Product Access section for Jira Software

Add your 300 existing users (or existing groups) into it

Then safely remove jira-software-users from the Product Access list

Result:

Your current users won’t lose Jira access.

Only the new restricted group (restricted-project-users) will get access to the specific project you configured.

You gain full control over who gets access via your custom groups instead of the default one.

In short — existing users are safe, but it’s best practice to create a replacement access group before removing the default one.

Omar Test · Answer

Hi Hari

Thank you so much for taking the time to help me

if I do step 2 - what will happen to my exisitng 300 users - will they still be able to access Jira? - based on the wording below it seems that the existing users will lose access

2. Give product access to that group
- Go to Settings > User management > Product access
- Under Jira Software, remove jira-software-users
- Add your new group restricted-project-users

Hari Krishna · Answer

Hi @Omar Tar,

Here’s how to fix it step by step:

1. Create a new group
Example: restricted-project-users

2. Give product access to that group
- Go to Settings > User management > Product access
- Under Jira Software, remove jira-software-users
- Add your new group restricted-project-users
Now only members of this group will get Jira Software access.

3. Create a new Permission Scheme
- Add only your restricted-project-users group to Browse Projects, Edit Issue, etc.
- Remove all other groups (especially jira-software-users).

4. Apply this scheme to your specific project
Go to Project settings > Permissions > Actions > Use a different scheme > select your custom one

5. Remove global groups from other projects
For all other projects, make sure jira-software-users (or similar global groups) are not part of Browse Projects.

Result:
Users in restricted-project-users can log in and see only that one project.
They will not have access to any other projects.