Introducing the new 'External Sources' feature to User Management. The 'External Sources' feature enables you to manage your Jira Cloud Instance users or Atlassian Access users. This feature is enabled for both Data Center Jira Instances, Jira Cloud and Confluence Cloud. 

Connecting an External Source

Click on the '+ External Source' button to open up the window for connecting an external source. You can connect either an Atlassian Access Organization or a Jira Cloud Instance, each have a slightly different configuration process.

Atlassian Access Organization

  1. Source Name: The name that your connected source will appear as.
  2. Connection Type: Access
  3. API Key: Enter the API key for your Atlassian Access Instance. They can be created by going to admin.atlassian.com > Select Organization >  Settings > API Key and clicking the 'Create API Key' button.
  4. Expires on: Enter the date which your API Key expires on. You can find this by following the process above for creating a key and looking at the 'Expires' column on the API Key page. Note: API Keys only last one year, so will in time need to be updated.

After entering all the details click the create button and your Access Instance will be added to the External Sources page, unless something was misconfigured in which case a dialog box will inform you.

Below is a screenshot of how you could configure the external source, note for security the API Key has been hidden.

Jira Cloud Instance

  1. Source Name: The name that your connected source will appear as in Jira.
  2. Connection Type: Jira Cloud
  3. Jira URL: The full URL for your Jira Cloud Instance.
  4. User Email: The email address of the user that has admin permissions to the Jira Cloud site.
  5. API Key: Enter the API key for your User listed in the User Email. A key can be created by going to id.atlassian.com/manage-profile/ >  Security > Create and Manage API Tokens and clicking the 'Create API Key' button.

After entering all the details click the 'Create' button and your Jira Cloud Instance will be added to the External Sources page, unless something was misconfigured in which case a dialog box will inform you.

Below is a screenshot of how you could configure the external source, note for security the API Key has been hidden.


External Sources page

After you've added an external source you'll be taken to this page that shows how you've configured your source.

  1. Name: The given name of the Source connected.
  2. Type: What type of connection it is.
  3. Last Updated By: Who was the last user to update the source information, if it needed to be updated e.g. API Key expired or admin user change for Jira Cloud Instance.
  4. Last Updated: When the source was last updated by the user.
  5. Expires: Shows when the API Token will expire.
  6. Status: Shows the current connection status to the external source. 'Connected' = everything is fine. 'Error' = Something is misconfigured. Hover over for a handy tooltip explaining what is wrong.
  7. Edit: Opens up a dialog to edit the selected Source. The API Key is not shown for security reasons so will need to be re-added before updating.
  8. Delete: Clicking this will ask you to confirm whether you want to delete the connected source.


You have now fully linked an external source. If you need anymore assistance in setting up an external source, feel free to get in touch via the 'Email 24x7 Support'.

Note: Due to the limitations of the Atlassian APIs some bulk actions are unavailable for external sources. See FAQ Supported Filters and Actions for Each Source Type for which options are/are not available.


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