My service desk customers cannot access knowledge base
Asked by Peter Kaiser _Admin_:

Setup:

* Jira (software and service desk) Server installation
* Confluence server installation
* Established application link in both directions
* No "user sharing" from jira to confluence

Steps:

1. Created service desk project
2. Matching knowledge base space in confluence was created from service desk
3. Created some articles in KB space
4. Set knowledge base access in service desk project to "all active ..."
5. Invited customer

Problem:

When I log in as agent I can search (from service desk) and find the KB articles and can open them in a popup in jira service desk (and copy the link).

When I log in as a customer I can create tickets as expected in the service desk project. But when I search for KB articles none are found. If I access the copied link I get an article not found message.

Documentation states that the customer should be able to search and display the KB articles in this szenario.

I asked it in the community and got the answer to activate anonymous access. My answer and disagreement to this is :

*I don't think so. If you have to enable anonymous access to the knowledge base then why is there at the top of the permissions a special entry "All active users ... this was activated by service desk ..." (translated by me from german). It doesn't make any sense that jira service desk activates some super special kind of permission if you have to allow anonymous access anyway.*

*Also in service desk under knowledge base it is stated that all customers have access, even without confluence license. If it were needed to enable anonymous access to achieve this, service desk would have done it when creating the KB space inconfluence.*

*And by the way, if showing the knowledge base article is done in a popup in jira, why is access of the user to cinfluence even needed? Jira can (and seemingly does) pull the content via the application link and show it without ever handing the user over to confluence.*


Answers:
author: G_M__K_
body: I had JSD 4.3.1 linked to Confluence 6.15.4 and it didn't work. Then I updated to Confluence 6.15.7 and now it works.

comments: author: Gabriel Points
body: Upgrading from Confluence from 6.15.4 to 6.15.7 resolved the issue for me as well. THANK YOU G.M. K

The only difference for me was that I'm on JSD 4.2.4


author: Holger Lehmann [catworkx GmbH]
body: Here ist what I could find out so far.

Given this:

* Jira \<-\> Confluence Applink with OAuth with Impersonation
* JSD Configured properly
  * KB registerd
  * All active custoemrs ... can access KB withoug CF license is **on**
* Confluence entries KB created
* Confluence Anonymous Use is **off**
* Confluence Anonymous View is **off**

You need to do the following to allow the Customers to access the KB articles

* Create a Jira User Server entry for Confluence
* Add Jira Crowd as a User Directory and point it to the JSD
  * Move the new Jira Crowd connector to the very bottom to ensure it does not clash internal and/or AD users
  * Take special case about duplicate "admin" user accounts !

From now on searching something in the Customer Portal as a Customer works.

But I am also having the problem of not being able to click on the link pointing to confluence, like Jianhui Ho posted at [Jun 11, 2019](https://community.atlassian.com/t5/Confluence-questions/Re-My-service-desk-customers-cannot-access-knowledge-base/qaq-p/1105493/comment-id/145133#M145133)

But that is a different story.

Cheers,  
Holger


author: Jennifer Volpe
body: please help this also happened to me


author: Hildur Nanna Eir?ksd?ttir [Tempo]
body: We have the KB space and content in confluence open to anonymous users but JSD needs sign in. My problem is that the links in the KB article shown (successfully) in JSD, links to other KB's, are not being shown. I get a Not found message.

Not sure what the issue is here and additionally not sure if this has been a problem for long or not.

Anybody have the same issue?

Hildur![Screenshot 2019-07-18 at 08.53.05.png](https://community.atlassian.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/60823iC37434286387444F/image-size/large?v=v2&px=999 "Screenshot 2019-07-18 at 08.53.05.png")

comments: author: Dirk Ronsmans
body: [@Hildur Nanna Eir?ksd?ttir \[Tempo\]](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/1215528) This was found to be an issue with Confluence 6.15.4 and fixed in 6.15.6

[https://jira.atlassian.com/browse/CONFSERVER-58392?src=confmacro\&_ga=2.227838237.1628837660.1568881793-857821360.1552487928](https://jira.atlassian.com/browse/CONFSERVER-58392?src=confmacro&_ga=2.227838237.1628837660.1568881793-857821360.1552487928)


author: Jianhui Ho
body: I believe I am having the same issues. Any fix or way to diagnose?

It works for licensed users, but not for 'service desk customers'.

Using a direct /display link works. So I'm guessing something is wrong with how jira searches for the url.

![image.png](https://community.atlassian.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/57309iDC8D90476E3575C9/image-size/large?v=v2&px=999 "image.png")

comments: author: Paul Fechner
body: I am having the same issue


author: Jianhui Ho
body: I observed that using a direct link from Confluence is ok. Opening the article via service desk is not ok.

Do any staff respond or watch this thread or should I start a new one? Haven't seen any replies.


author: J Schlafer
body: Has anyone made progress regarding the issue outlined above? I am experiencing the same issue. All permissions appear to be set as outlined in the Atlassian documentation however no suggested knowledge base article content appears when searching as a 'jira-service-desk-user'.


author: G_M__K_
body: same for me


author: Jordan Fuller
body: Any update on this?


author: Paul Clegg
body: Also having the same issues with new users of the service desk. Did this get resolved?


author: Network Administrator
body: Receiving the same here also. A fix would be great


author: Danish Mehta
body: Same error for me. Please help.


author: Peter Kaiser _Admin_
body: I did exactly that. I even created the KB Article from jira service desk. As you can see in the screen shots it should work:

Service Desk Kowledge Base Configuration:

![SDKBSettings.jpg](https://community.atlassian.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/29553iBEF231067DAD3E54/image-size/large?v=v2&px=999 "SDKBSettings.jpg")

And here the permissions of the KB space in confluence:

![CFSpacePermissions.jpg](https://community.atlassian.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/29554iF15DB2A286F01E03/image-size/large?v=v2&px=999 "CFSpacePermissions.jpg")

Now if we enter the customer portal as AGENT and search for "testbug" we find the KB article:

![AgentAccess.jpg](https://community.atlassian.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/29555i94438FB9059BA6EE/image-size/large?v=v2&px=999 "AgentAccess.jpg")

Doing the same as a customer (with no Jira or Confluence license) we don't find the KB article:

![CustomerAccess.jpg](https://community.atlassian.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/29556iDE1B72EB9391ED7C/image-size/large?v=v2&px=999 "CustomerAccess.jpg")

comments: author: Danyal Iqbal
body: Hi, Your permission model looks ok. I was expecting a screenshot of the Global Permission page as well:) Can you check if Unlicensed Access is allowed in confluence?(since customers dont have any license).


author: Peter Kaiser _Admin_
body: Looks good to me:

![ConfluenceGlobalPermissions.png](https://community.atlassian.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/29648i9A1382442D0185B7/image-size/large?v=v2&px=999 "ConfluenceGlobalPermissions.png")


author: Gary Fitzgerald
body: I know this is old but I have the same problem. Did this ever get resolved? If so, please share the answer.

Thanks


author: David I
body: Same here, it was working fine and then has now stopped, my settings are as above. We recently enabled the domain admin so we could add custom domains to send emails from. Could this have changed the settings in confluence?


author: Gayatri Mudaliar
body: [@Peter Kaiser _Admin_](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/1758252)

We are facing the same issue. Please could you guide me if you were able to resolve this issue.

Thanks!


author: Danyal Iqbal
body: Sorry, but your questions are irrelevant. The scenario above works as stated in the documentaion. Please go through the documentation and your permissions again.

"Allow anonymous access" is meant for a different use case. It is only a workaround for your use case. However your use case is already covered in the documentation. <https://confluence.atlassian.com/servicedeskcloud/serving-customers-with-a-knowledge-base-732528995.html>


Tags: confluence-server

jira-service-desk

jira-service-desk-server

server