Summary

At this time, Jira Cloud User search related search functionality utilizes the 'Full Name' field of an Atlassian Account for all User, and is not searchable via email addresses. 

It is only possible to mention users, assign users, add users to the People section of projects, etc. by using the 'Full Name' of the User.

Request the ability within Jira Cloud User type-ahead searches to be able to search with more than the 'Full Name' field, by using email addresses, display name, etc. 

Examples

• Users external to our claimed domains have full control over their Atlassian cloud Display Name and sometimes enter partial information (e.g. only first name or nickname).
  • When using the type-ahead search for users to assign or @mention in this case, we can't know if the type-ahead search found the correct user (e.g. "Frank") because Atlassian cloud only shows us that user's configured Display Name in the type-ahead search results with no other identifying information (e.g. the email address).
• Users in another company's (e.g. a related company) claimed domains have their Display Name dictated by their identity provider, so in our case, some users have their display names set to Kanji characters.
  • When using the type-ahead user search in this case, absolutely nothing is returned in the type-ahead search for their English name. This means teammates who don't read Japanese cannot assign or mention their Japanese colleagues.
• Users with the common names (e.g. Joe Smith) have no distinguishing properties. This is a partial overlap with example #1, but also applies when full name is set.
  • When using the type-ahead user search in this case, since the user's email is not shown, users don't know which user to pick. Users might set unique avatars, but that is far from an accurate determination of who is who, especially since the avatar is user-managed and can be changed on a whim.

Impact

The current design flaw prevents us from assigning issues to teammates or mentioning teammates on issues. We just migrated from Jira server where the @mention type-ahead search showed the display name, username, and email address while it searched the username and display name - so this is a significant loss of important functionality after moving to the cloud.