Anonymous portal submission fails "You do not have permission to create requests using this Portal"

Question

Hi Atlassian Community,

I’m running into a persistent permission error when testing anonymous (unauthenticated) ticket creation on our Jira Service Management Cloud site, and I could use some fresh eyes on our setup.

Error: "Couldn't send request: You do not have permission to create requests using this Portal."

Current Configuration Details:

* Global Customer Access: "Allow accounts to be created for customers" and "Allow anyone to view your support websites and send requests without logging in" are both enabled.
* Channel Access: Set to Open under Space Settings > Customer permissions.
* Request Types: Published to an active Portal Group with no request-level restrictions.
* Space Permissions: Create Issues and Browse Projects are granted to Service Space Customer - Portal Access.

Observed Behavior:

* Logged-in Users: Form submits without any errors.
* Incognito / Unauthenticated Users: Filling out the automatically generated "Email confirmation to" field (e.g., using an external domain like @hotmail.com) triggers the permission error immediately upon clicking submit.

Has anyone encountered this specific issue where the global settings and channel permissions are fully open, but the default "Email confirmation to" system field still blocks anonymous submissions? Any advice on hidden permission schemes or Atlassian Guard policies to check would be greatly appreciated!

Mihai_LeanZero · Answer

Channel access is only the project half of it. There's a second toggle above that one at site level, and if it's off the portal keeps refusing anonymous submissions no matter how open the project itself looks.

Jira admin, global customer settings. "Can customers access and send requests from the help center without logging in?" needs to be Yes. The project setting you've already got stays on Anyone. Both have to line up.

That's probably why it dies right as the email field gets filled in, because raising a request anonymously means JSM has to create a portal-only customer for that address on the spot and that creation step is the thing being refused. Logged-in users don't hit it.

Check Directory, then Portal-only customers, after a failed attempt. Nothing created there points at the global toggle rather than your project config.

Arkadiusz Wroblewski · Answer

Hello @Chester Tan

When using the anonymous portal, remember that submitting an email means Jira Service Management (JSM) must create or resolve a customer account before a ticket can be generated. This is why logged-in tests pass while anonymous tests fail.

You should Check:

1. Customer Access Settings: In Atlassian Administration > Customer Access > Account Types > External, confirm that "Allow portal-only accounts to be created for new customers" is enabled. If "Only allow account creation for customers with specific email domains" is active, ensure your test domain is included.

2. Existing Atlassian Accounts: If a user has an existing Atlassian account without JSM Customer access, entering that email will lead to a "You do not have permission" error. Assign the free JSM Customer role and check again

3. Verify Customer Creation: After a failed attempt, check Directory > Portal-only Customers. If the account was created, use browser DevTools (Network tab) during submission to identify the backend error.

You can also send a test email from a new external address to see if the issue is due to customer provisioning or the portal. Don´t add "Anyone" to Jira project permissions or changing Guard settings for now, as these do not directly address customer account resolution.

Change access settings for your customers | Jira Service Management Cloud | Atlassian Support

Set up and manage help center access | Jira Service Management Cloud | Atlassian Support

Best,

Arek🤠