Why will my Jira Form not allow access to the public

[Simon Hartshorn]

So I have a form that I have made open to the public, I have checked in the Jira configuration piece that public forms are allowed and both checkboxes are ticked, the form itself is listed as public yet when I try and access the form from an incognito account it requires me to log in. If I use a random email address it says i need to be a part of my companies Jira board to access. I can't figure out which permission sets I've missed?

[Simon Hartshorn · Accepted solution]

For anyone that stumbles on this in the future - You can't link directly from the form, you have to create a shareable link. If you link directly from the form you have to have an Atlassian account. 

[John Funk]

Hi Simon - Welcome to the Atlassian Community!

Make sure that someone has not disabled public access for forms on the Jira instance. Public access can be turned off  through the Products settings, with separate controls for team-managed and company-managed spaces.

[Simon Hartshorn]

Thanks, I've found out the reason and it's an odd one. You can't link directly from the form, you have to create a shareable link. If you link directly from the form you have to have an Atlassian account. 

[Olha Yevdokymova_SaaSJet]

Hi @Simon Hartshorn 

Even if you’ve set your form to “public,” JSM’s native forms aren’t truly accessible to non-licensed users unless they’re shared through the Customer Portal. Public form access in JSM only applies to portal visitors, meaning users who can access your service project’s customer portal — not the general public via a link.

If you try to open the form link directly (outside the portal), Jira will still require authentication because it’s tied to your instance’s permissions and project access settings.

To check your setup:

1. Make sure the project’s Customer Access settings (under Project settings → Channels → Customer access) allow “Anyone can send requests without logging in.”

2. Confirm the form is attached to a request type that’s visible in the portal.

3. The standalone form link (from the form builder) will still ask for login — only portal-based forms can be accessed anonymously.

If your goal is to collect information from anyone (e.g., partners, applicants, customers) without requiring them to log in, another option is Smart Jira Forms (developed by our team). It allows you to share fully public forms via a direct link, website embed, or QR code — no Jira account or portal access needed — and each submission can automatically create a Jira work item.

That approach works really well for external intake, feedback, onboarding, or support scenarios where users shouldn’t need an Atlassian login.

[John Funk]

This was for a Jira Software form, not JSM.