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How do you prevent automated Atlassian emails from confusing users during a test migration?

Brita Moorus

During a recent test migration to Atlassian Cloud, some users started receiving automated Atlassian emails such as “Your Jira journey starts here” and “Work smarter with these Jira features.”

We had already informed users that migration-related disruptions and automated emails might occur, but the volume still created some confusion.

We have now temporarily removed app access from user groups that do not yet need Jira, Jira Service Management, or Confluence access. However, I’m curious how others have handled this during test migrations.

Besides notifying users in advance, what practical steps have you taken to prevent confusion or unnecessary automated emails?

For example:

temporarily removing app access from migrated groups,
limiting which groups receive product access,
adjusting default access settings,
or using a separate test organization/site.

I'd be very interested to hear what has worked well in your migrations 💙

Accepted answers

Alexandre Pezzini

This is a common challenge during migrations, as Atlassian Cloud is designed to be "self-onboarding" for new users. The emails like “Your Jira journey starts here” are part of the automated onboarding sequence triggered when a user is granted product access for the first time.

Here is how you can manage and prevent these emails during your test and production migrations:

1. The "Pre-loading" Strategy (Most Effective)

The most reliable way to prevent "Welcome" emails is to ensure users are added to the site before they are given product access.

How it works: If you sync users via Atlassian Guard (formerly Access) or pre-load them without assigning them to a group that has "Product Access" (like jira-software-users), no email is sent.
The Trick: Assign product access to your groups before you sync/import the users into those groups. If a group already has product access in the Cloud, and you then add users to that group, Jira typically suppresses the welcome email because it treats it as a bulk administrative action rather than a new "invitation."

2. Disable Outgoing Mail (Jira & Confluence)

For a test migration where you want to be 100% sure no emails escape, you can temporarily disable outgoing mail at the system level.

Jira: Go to Administration > System > Outgoing Mail. You can disable it entirely here.
Confluence: Go to Administration > General Configuration > Email Settings and disable outgoing mail.
Note: This stops all mail, including issue notifications, so it’s best used for isolated test windows.

3. Manage "Customer" Notifications (Jira Service Management)

If your migration includes JSM, there is a specific toggle for "Customer" welcome emails which is separate from the standard Jira onboarding.

Go to Project Settings > Customer Notifications.
Look for the Account verification email toggle. You can turn this off so that customers (external users) don't receive an invite when their accounts are created.

4. Use a "Silent" Migration via JCMA/CCMA

When using the Jira Cloud Migration Assistant (JCMA) or Confluence Cloud Migration Assistant (CCMA):

Ensure you select the option to not invite users during the migration setup.
The migration assistants are designed to move data silently. The emails usually only start once an admin manually toggles "Product Access" for the migrated groups in the User Management panel.

Summary of Best Practices from the Community:

Communication: As you've already done, keep users informed. However, adding a "Please ignore any emails from Atlassian until [Date]" banner on your old Server/Data Center instance can help.
Group Management: Keep users in "shadow" groups (e.g., migration-test-users) that have no product access until the very moment you are ready for Go-Live.
Internal Testing: Perform your test migration with a small subset of "dummy" users or a "Pilot" group of power users who understand the process, rather than the entire user base.

Verified Sources:

All comments

Alexandre Pezzini

Here is how you can manage and prevent these emails during your test and production migrations:

1. The "Pre-loading" Strategy (Most Effective)

The most reliable way to prevent "Welcome" emails is to ensure users are added to the site before they are given product access.

How it works: If you sync users via Atlassian Guard (formerly Access) or pre-load them without assigning them to a group that has "Product Access" (like jira-software-users), no email is sent.
The Trick: Assign product access to your groups before you sync/import the users into those groups. If a group already has product access in the Cloud, and you then add users to that group, Jira typically suppresses the welcome email because it treats it as a bulk administrative action rather than a new "invitation."

2. Disable Outgoing Mail (Jira & Confluence)

For a test migration where you want to be 100% sure no emails escape, you can temporarily disable outgoing mail at the system level.

Jira: Go to Administration > System > Outgoing Mail. You can disable it entirely here.
Confluence: Go to Administration > General Configuration > Email Settings and disable outgoing mail.
Note: This stops all mail, including issue notifications, so it’s best used for isolated test windows.

3. Manage "Customer" Notifications (Jira Service Management)

If your migration includes JSM, there is a specific toggle for "Customer" welcome emails which is separate from the standard Jira onboarding.

Go to Project Settings > Customer Notifications.
Look for the Account verification email toggle. You can turn this off so that customers (external users) don't receive an invite when their accounts are created.

4. Use a "Silent" Migration via JCMA/CCMA

When using the Jira Cloud Migration Assistant (JCMA) or Confluence Cloud Migration Assistant (CCMA):

Ensure you select the option to not invite users during the migration setup.
The migration assistants are designed to move data silently. The emails usually only start once an admin manually toggles "Product Access" for the migrated groups in the User Management panel.

Summary of Best Practices from the Community:

Communication: As you've already done, keep users informed. However, adding a "Please ignore any emails from Atlassian until [Date]" banner on your old Server/Data Center instance can help.
Group Management: Keep users in "shadow" groups (e.g., migration-test-users) that have no product access until the very moment you are ready for Go-Live.
Internal Testing: Perform your test migration with a small subset of "dummy" users or a "Pilot" group of power users who understand the process, rather than the entire user base.

Verified Sources:

James Gamble

Hola Brita,

@Alexandre Pezzini’s point about granting app access only when you’re ready is the key one. The migration assistants don’t normally invite migrated users on their own. Confusing emails usually start when users or their migrated groups are granted Jira or Confluence access.

For test migrations, I’d keep all migrated groups without app access and create a small pilot group containing only the people participating in testing. I’d also review the organization’s default access settings so users from an approved domain can’t automatically gain access to the test site. Atlassian documents the group-ordering behavior and the workaround for the welcome email here.

One detail I’d add to Alexandre’s answer is that turning off Jira outgoing mail isn’t a complete safety switch. It stops normal Jira notifications, but emails generated through admin.atlassian.com, including invitations and access-related messages, use a separate service and can still be sent. Automation rules using the Send email action can also continue sending. Because of that, controlling app access and group membership is safer than relying solely on outgoing-mail settings.

Thanks,

James

Brita Moorus

Thank you for the great & insightful answer, @Alexandre Pezzini! 💙

Brita Moorus

Creating a small pilot group is a good idea!

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