Access decides who can open a board in the app and what they may do there. A role never widens Jira access: nobody sees a work item here that Jira does not show them.
The three roles #
| Role | What it allows |
|---|---|
| Viewer | Open the board, read every section and the configuration, run forecasts, save work views for yourself, open stakeholder views |
| Member | Everything a Viewer can do, plus changes in Jira from the board: move cards, edit fields, rank, link and create work items, set planned dates and milestones, apply a risk alert’s proposed action |
| Board owner | Everything a Member can do, plus Configure changes, shared work views, stakeholder views, access, backup and restore, deleting the board and, on Advanced, forecast schedules, backtests, risk rules, policy experiments and template rollouts to the board |
A person who holds a role in two ways, for example as a person and through a group, gets the stronger one. A Jira administrator holds the Board owner role on every board, even with no row in this list, but still sees only the work items Jira lets them read. A change in Jira is always made as you, so Jira’s own permissions still decide it.
Open Access #
- Open the board and select Configure.
- Select Access.
The list shows each Person or group, its Kind and its Role. A board can name up to 200 people and groups. An empty list reads “No people or groups yet” and “Only Jira administrators can configure it.” A row that Jira does not name for you reads “Unknown person” or “Unknown group”. A line under the list says why: Jira does not show them to you, or the account or group is gone. The grant still holds until you remove it.
Add a person or a group #
- Select Add people.
- Find the person or the Jira group in Person or group. The list is what Jira shows you; type a name to narrow it.
- Choose the Role.
- Read the line that says what the grant gives.
- Select Add.
The line names who gets which role and adds that a stronger role they hold another way stays. For a group, the members get the role, as Jira reports their groups. The change is saved at once. There is no separate Save. If the person or group already has a role, the dialog tells you to cancel and change it in the list.
Change or remove a role #
- Change a role: choose another role in the row’s Role select. It’s saved at once, and the flag “Role changed” confirms it.
- Remove access: select Remove on the row. A dialog says who loses which role, for a group everyone in it. Confirm to remove. It applies from the next action, even on a page already open. Their Jira access stays as it is, and a role granted another way stays.
A board keeps at least one person as Board owner; a group doesn’t count. Make someone else Board owner before you remove or lower your own role.
How this relates to Share #
A stakeholder view opens for everyone with a role on the board. The Recipients card under Share adds people as Viewers only (Stakeholder views). Who may create boards on the site is an administrator’s setting (Permissions and access). What each person can read is explained in What each person sees.
If something looks off #
- “Only a board owner can see who has access to this board.”: ask a Board owner to check or change your role.
- “A board keeps at least one person as its Board owner. Make someone else Board owner first.”: give another person the Board owner role, then change your own.
- “This board already names 200 people and groups: remove one before adding another.”: remove a person or group you no longer need, or add a Jira group instead of single people.
- “Role may not have changed”: open Access again and check the row before you try again.
- “Role not changed”: the role stays as it was; choose it again.
