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About Secure File Exchange

Secure File Exchange lets your team exchange files with people outside your organization (customers, contractors, partners) straight from a Jira work item. The outside person needs no Atlassian account and no Jira licence: they get a secure link and open it in a browser, on a computer or a phone. It works in Jira and Jira Service Management, in company-managed and team-managed spaces.

What it does​

Each link works in one direction:

  • Request files. You create a link, the outside person uploads files through it, and the files arrive on the work item. When they finish, the app adds a comment that mentions you.
  • Send files. You upload files and create a link, and the outside person downloads them.

Files, links and the audit log are kept in your organization's Atlassian cloud, in storage that Atlassian hosts for the app. The app has no servers of its own and sends no data to any outside service (see Data & Security).

Screenshot — The Secure File Exchange panel on a work item

The panel with one active file request and one active shared-files link: each card's title, state, expiry date and files.

Where it appears​

Work item panelOn the work item, for anyone who can see it. Create links, copy the message for your customer, download received files, revoke or unlock links.The link's pageWhat the outside person sees in their browser: an upload or download page, with no sign-in.Admin pagesJira settings → Apps → Secure File Exchange. Jira administrators only. Policies, Usage and the Audit log.

Atlassian now calls Jira projects spaces, so Jira's own menus say Space settings, while the app's Usage page and audit log, and these docs, say project where they count links and files.

How it works​

  1. Your Jira admin sets the rules

    The app works from the start with its default policy. A Jira administrator can change it on the Policies page: how long links may work, passwords, download limits, file types and sizes, a storage limit, how long files are kept, and who may create links. See Policies.

  2. You create a link on the work item

    In the Secure File Exchange panel, click Request files or Send files, choose when the link expires, and add a password if you want one. See Request Files and Send Files.

  3. You send the link yourself

    Copy the link and the ready-made message, and paste them into the email or chat you already use with that person. The app does not send email. If the link has a password, send the password another way.

  4. Files arrive, or get downloaded

    Files sent to you appear in the panel, and the app comments on the work item to tell you. Files you shared are downloaded from the link's page. Every step is recorded in the Audit Log.

How long files stay​

Files received through a link are not Jira attachments. They stay in the Secure File Exchange panel while the link works, and for as long afterwards as your admin's retention setting says (30 days unless your admin changes it); then the app deletes them. The panel shows the date on every link that has ended. To keep a file for good, download it and add it to the work item as an attachment.