Issues, comments, and attachments have separate settings for visibility. This means that you can specify which groups and users can see an issue. You can also apply separate visibility restrictions to a comment or an attachment.
By default, all issues and comments are visible to the All Users group. If an issue or comment contains sensitive information, you can change the visibility setting when you create or update an issue.
Permission-based Visibility
The first level of visibility is set at the project level. The Read Issue permission is granted on a per-project basis. Only users and members of groups who are granted this permission in a project are able to view the issues that are assigned to this project.
The Read Comment permission works the same way. You can have users and groups that can view issues in the project, but cannot see any of the comments.
There are other permissions that limit who can view various issue attributes, like voters, watchers, work items, and private fields.
The project administrator restricts the visibility of issues, comments, and issue attributes by selecting which users and groups are granted roles that contains these permissions. For more information about project settings, see Manage the Project Team.
Issue Visibility
The second level of visibility is defined in the issue itself. You can restrict read access for an issue within the scope that is set at the project level. Issue-level visibility settings cannot override the access permissions that are defined for the project, but can limit the visibility to a smaller subset of users.
For example, if groups A and B are granted roles that let them read issues in a project, you can restrict the visibility of an issue to group A or group B, or to users who are members of either group. While it is possible set the visibility of an issue to another group, for example, group C, the members of this group do not have access permissions in the project and cannot view the issue.
Issues with visibility restrictions display a padlock icon. This icon is visible in the header in single issue view and in view mode on an agile board. These icons are also visible in all views on the Issues list. Move the pointer over this icon to display the full list of users and groups for whom the issue is visible.
Issues are always visible to the user who reported the issue. If the visibility for an issue is restricted to set of users that excludes the reporter, the name of the reporter is added to the list automatically. This condition is shown explicitly for issues on an agile board, in single issue view, and in the experimental version of the Issues list. In the current version of the Issues list, the reporter is not shown separately in the Visible to list.
To set the visibility of a new issue:
In the issue draft, click the Visible to list. This option appears directly above the Create button.
Select one or more users and groups from the list. Use the input field to filter the list. Keep in mind that this list only shows users and groups that have access to projects that you also have permission to access.
Click away from the list or press Esc.
Click the Create button.
The issue is created and is only visible to the selected users and groups.
To change the visibility of an existing issue:
Open the issue and click the Visible to list.
Select or deselect users or groups from the list. To remove visibility restrictions, click Reset visibility. Keep in mind that this list only shows users and groups that have access to projects that you also have permission to access.
Click away from the list or press Esc.
The visibility of the issue is updated to restrict access to the selected users and groups.
Visibility for Comments
The third level of visibility is defined for each comment that is added to an issue. Comments inherit the visibility setting from the issue. That is, if an issue is visible to group A only, users from other groups cannot read the comment, even if the comment is visible to the All Users group. This is because the visibility of the issue itself is restricted to group A.
When you restrict the visibility of an issue, the default visibility setting for new comments is set to Same as issue.
You can restrict the visibility of a comment to a subset of the users for whom the issue is visible. For example, if the issue is visible to All Users, you can restrict the visibility of a comment to group A or any members of the All Users group.
There are two versions of the controls that you use to set or change the visibility of a comment.
The first type is visible when you add comments in the Issues list or open the Apply Command dialog in this view. To set the visibility for a comment with this control, select users and groups from the Visible to list, then click the Apply button.
The second type is visible when you add comments to issues in single issue view, on an agile board, or when you apply a command from either of these views. With this control, you only need to select or deselect users and groups. The selection is applied automatically.
Keep in mind that if you set the visibility for a comment to a user or group for which the issue itself is not visible, the user and members of this group still cannot read the comment.
Visibility for Attachments
You can further restrict the visibility of files that are added to issues as attachments. When you attach a file to an issue or comment, use the Attach File Privately option.
Files that are attached to comments or images that are pasted into comments inherit the visibility that is set for the comment itself.
You can still set the visibility of an attachment to be different from the comment.
You can change the visibility of an attachment in the Edit Attachment dialog.
Again, there are two versions of the controls that you use to set or change the visibility of an attachment.
The first type is visible when you attach files in the Issues list or open the Apply Command dialog in this view. When you select this option on these pages, you can only restrict the visibility to one or more groups. However, you can update the visibility to select multiple users in the Edit Attachment dialog. To set the visibility for attachments with this control, select one or more groups from the Visible to list, then click the Apply button.
The second type is visible when you attach files to issues in single issue view, on an agile board, or when you apply a command from either of these views. Here, you can select multiple users and groups. The selection is applied automatically.
Keep in mind that if you set the visibility for an attachment to a user or group for which the issue is not visible, the user and members of this group still cannot see the attachment.
The same concept applies to files that are attached directly to issue comments. The attachment inherits the visibility restrictions from the comment that it is attached to. You can edit the visibility for files that are attached to comments, but it doesn't override the visibility restrictions that are applied to the comment. If the comment isn't visible to everyone who can view the issue and you want to make the files available to a wider audience, attach the files to the issue directly and manage their visibility independently from the comment.
Overriding Visibility Restrictions
You can grant privileged users permission to view any issue, comment, or attachment regardless of its visibility settings. The Override Visibility Restrictions permission was first introduced in YouTrack 2017.3 and was granted automatically to users who already had either the Low-level Read Administration or the Low-level Administration permission.
This permission ensures that users who require a high level of access in a project can still view information that has been severely restricted, for example, to a single user.
