On the Service Desk portal page, how do I hide the "Help Center" link from users?

[SteveK]

I want to customize the Service Desk Portal page, sort of described here: https://confluence.atlassian.com/display/Support/List+of+Service+Desk+Customizations+from+Atlassian+Support

When I go to any Service Desk Portal, I want to hide the "Help Center" link at the top of the page. We have a use case where we would like to obstruct users from linking to the Help Center (/servicedesk/customers/portals).

Can I do this via custom add-on development? 

[Kirstin Seidel-Gebert · Accepted solution]

Hello Steve,

if you wanted to hide this link in all of your service desk portals, you could hide it using CSS.

Cheers,

Kirstin

[SteveK]

Yes, that is what we ended up doing. We used a Servlet Filter plugin module to intercept the page and inject CSS to "display:none" for the appropriate elements.

[Val__________________________]

Hi Steve,

Could you please explain or write example how to intercept page and inject CSS?

[SteveK]

Sure. This works for Service Desk 2.5.9. We have not tried it with any JIRA 7 version of Service Desk. I adapted some code I found on stackoverflow for using a servlet filter to inject HTML: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/14736328/looking-for-an-example-for-inserting-content-into-the-response-using-a-servlet-f

Here is the servlet filter:

public class ServiceDeskCustomerFilter implements Filter {
    // Comment out until needed: private static final Logger LOGGER = LoggerFactory.getLogger(ServiceDeskCustomerFilter.class);
    private FilterConfig filterConfig = null;
    private static class ByteArrayServletStream extends ServletOutputStream {
        ByteArrayOutputStream baos;
        ByteArrayServletStream(ByteArrayOutputStream baos) {
            this.baos = baos;
        }
        public void write(int param) throws IOException {
            baos.write(param);
        }
    }
    private static class ByteArrayPrintWriter {
        private ByteArrayOutputStream baos = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
        private PrintWriter pw = new PrintWriter(baos);
        private ServletOutputStream sos = new ByteArrayServletStream(baos);
        public PrintWriter getWriter() {
            return pw;
        }
        public ServletOutputStream getStream() {
            return sos;
        }
        byte[] toByteArray() {
            return baos.toByteArray();
        }
    }
    public class CharResponseWrapper extends HttpServletResponseWrapper {
        private ByteArrayPrintWriter output;
        private boolean usingWriter;
        public CharResponseWrapper(HttpServletResponse response) {
            super(response);
            usingWriter = false;
            output = new ByteArrayPrintWriter();
        }
        public byte[] getByteArray() {
            return output.toByteArray();
        }
        @Override
        public ServletOutputStream getOutputStream() throws IOException {
            // will error out, if in use
            if (usingWriter) {
                super.getOutputStream();
            }
            usingWriter = true;
            return output.getStream();
        }
        @Override
        public PrintWriter getWriter() throws IOException {
            // will error out, if in use
            if (usingWriter) {
                super.getWriter();
            }
            usingWriter = true;
            return output.getWriter();
        }
        public String toString() {
            return output.toString();
        }
    }
    @Override
    public void init(FilterConfig filterConfig) throws ServletException {
        this.filterConfig = filterConfig;
    }
    @Override
    public void destroy() {
        filterConfig = null;
    }
    /**
     * This method is where the "style" block is injected into the page to hide the Help Center links
     */
    @Override
    public void doFilter(ServletRequest request, ServletResponse response, FilterChain chain) throws IOException, ServletException {
        CharResponseWrapper wrappedResponse = new CharResponseWrapper ((HttpServletResponse)response);
        // TODO determine if the chain.dofilter really needs to be in the middle of this dofilter method
        chain.doFilter(request, wrappedResponse);
        byte[] bytes = wrappedResponse.getByteArray();
        if (wrappedResponse.getContentType().contains("text/html")) {
            // Have to use getWriter, so convert bytes back to String
            String out = new String(bytes,"utf-8");
            // DO YOUR REPLACEMENTS HERE
            // Injected <style> to hide two Help Center links:
            // One in the upper-left banner (a.sd-help-center) and another above the Service Desk title (.cv-breadcrumb-item)
            out = out.replace("</head>", "<style>.cv-breadcrumb-item,a.sd-help-center {display: none;}</style></head>");
            response.getWriter().write(out);
        } else {
            String out = new String(bytes,"utf-8");
            response.getWriter().write(out);
        }
    }
}

Of course, don't forget to modify your atlassian-plugin.xml to use your filter on the servicedesk customer pages:

<servlet-filter class="com.servlet.filter.ServiceDeskCustomerFilter" i18n-name-key="service-desk-customer-filter.name" key="service-desk-customer-filter" location="before-dispatch" name="Service Desk Customer Filter" weight="1">
    <description key="service-desk-customer-filter.description">The Service Desk Customer Filter Plugin</description>
    <url-pattern>/servicedesk/customer/*</url-pattern>
  </servlet-filter>

[Laura Ivers]

Does this work with the cloud version of JIRA Service Desk?

[Kirstin Seidel-Gebert]

AFAIK you can't add your own plugins on cloud, Laura.

[Jineesh M G]

Is there any easy tutorial which describes the plugin development?

Please help.

MG

[Robert Helstrom]

HELP! We have one customer-facing service desk. All the others are internal only. How do I remove the Help Center links from the one that is customer facing? 

BTW, the reason I need to do this is that the application doesn't behave as advertised. I set up a customer using my personal email address assigned to no organization. That customer has no access to any other service desk and yet, the Help Center links still appear for him and the Help Center shows links to the other service desks he supposedly doesn't have access to.

[Robert Helstrom]

Also...the Help Center Corrector might have been a solution but it only works with the server app, not the cloud based app

[Kirstin Seidel-Gebert]

Hi Robert,

You wrote: "...the Help Center shows links to the other service desks he supposedly doesn't have access to..."

To me it seems that you need to check your JIRA project permissions of your service desks.
We also have multiple service desks for different customers. The help center link is present, but the customers only can see the service desks they have access to. Service Desks from other customers are hidden.

We're on JIRA Server 7.9.2 / JIRA Service Desk 3.12.2.

Cheers,
Kirstin

[Robert Helstrom]

Hi Kirstin - Thanks for your response. We're on the JIRA cloud so I'm not sure how that differs, though I know I've run into solutions (like the Help Center Corrector mentioned earlier in this thread) that only work with the server-based applications. I'll check the project permissions of the service desks, though. Thanks for that. 

[Tiffany Owen]

An even easier method - someone amazing has added a FREE add-on to hide the help center links from customers and also redirect its users to their correct portals. 

https://marketplace.atlassian.com/plugins/com.itransition.csam.helpcenter-corrector/server/overview

[Christopher Anderlik]

Hi Paulo,

regarding your guide:

Viewing all portals in your help center

If your company uses multiple service desk projects (e.g. an IT service desk and an office administration service desk), you can simply provide your customers with a single URL to find a list of all the customer portals they have access to and the requests created in each one: https://<domain_name>.atlassian.net/servicedesk/customer/portals 

-> What if all portals are public but I do not want that customers can see them in the global help center??

Thx.

Christopher

[Mikkel Rostock]

Have same issue here - many customers with a help desk project each - don't want them to see all our other customer help desks...

[Jineesh M G]

You can set proper permissions for User groups. In that way you can restrict users to view other portals. Even the "Help Center" link is there, users can only see the portals they have permission to view

[Adrian SMYTH]

Hi Jineesh, 

are you on Jira Cloud or Jira Server?

Do you mind sharing a screenshot to explain where you see the "Help Center" link, in the User Management>Groups?

Thanks

[Jineesh M G]

There is not Help Center link in the User Management. What I am saying is we dont need to remove the "Help Center" global link from the Service Portal. Normally when the User click on the "Help Center" he can see all list of portals. If the user only have the access permission to portal 1, he could not see other portals like 2,3,4 etc. 

Thanks,

Jineesh

[Adrian SMYTH]

Yes, I agree, thanks for the clarification.

We have customer projects with restricted access to Groups only per customer site and we also have 2 generic public projects that are set up as open to any user lambda that needs to create an issue.

Project Settings>Customer permissions

Who can access the portal and send requests to the Support Desk?

- Customers my team adds to the project

- Anyone can send a request via the portal 

However, this can sometimes create confusion for the customer who can view the specific and generic portals being displayed in the list of portals available and they sometimes create an issue in the general public one by mistake. Atlassian should make it easier to manage this. 

[Jineesh M G]

Ok. But I dont' think that is a big deal. Because you can mask the portal URL https://sodius.atlassian.net/servicedesk/customer/portal/6 with some other friendly URL like http://fiirst_client_support.yourdomain.com with the help of Apache/IIS proxy(This is not for cloud, you should have your own domain management). And each domain will directly go to the "portal/x" URL. Yes, still the user able to see the link but that will go to the available list of portal but that action intentionally done by the User. 

That is not a big deal right?

[Adrian SMYTH]

Yes, but unfortunately we're on Jira Cloud.

But you're right it's not a major issue, just a nice to have.

[Daniel Westgate]

This works for cloud, so i guess it would be the same for Server.

If you want to delete a project, so that is cant been seen or actioned via the customer portal, then change the permission scheme, and this will delete the project visibility from

the portal, and the ability to raise tickets via the portal.

• go to permissions schemes, find the project you want to edit and click permissions.
• You should then see a permission called "Browse Projects" click remove, this will give you the option to remove "Service Desk Customer - Portal Access".
• Once done refresh your portal and like magic the project has gone.

hope it works for you like it did for us.

[Christopher]

Hi @Daniel Westgate

I have tried this solution with some success. however now I am getting the following error.

The users are unable to create issues with out this enabled.

Thanks,

Christopher

[Daniel Westgate]

Hi Christopher,

Yes, i have the same issue, but this is the only way round this issue i have bene able to find.
You only see this issue as an admin, agents do not see this notification if that helps?

I wish there was a better way, but i have been trying a number of options, and by far this is the only one that really works.

Regards

Daniel

[Daniel Westgate]

If you want to grant access to the portal, you can then add users, on a single user as per below.

[Adrian SMYTH]

Hi,
we are on JSD Cloud and I'm trying to customise the portal look and feel and wish to hide the "Find Help Forms" search box. If this is linked to the KB Confluence please note we don't have Confluence and so there is no option to activate/deactivate it.

[Karl Hennermann]

Paolo, AFAICS the link you provided does not actually say how to hide the the Help Center, could you please elaborate?

Also on that page there is a screenshot of a Help Center without the global search bar hidden. Again, how can we achieve this?

Thanks

Karl

[Karl Hennermann]

Never mind, I found out how to get a Help Center without the global search bar: simply don't associate a Knowledge Base.

[Thomas Kurz]

does not work for me, I do not have a knowledgebase attached to any service desk, and still ahve the help center button and people can wander all through the service desks

[Karl Hennermann]

You are right, removing the Knowledge Base only hides the search bar, not the links to the Global Help Centre.

[tash_macnica]

My other question https://answers.atlassian.com/questions/32970687 might help you.

Thank you,

TASH

[Markus]

Hi Paulo,

i can't find any function to hide the Help Center Link in our guide. 

Please, can you tell me how that works.

Thx

Markus

[Paulo Hennig]

Hello Steve,
Notice that on the newer JIRA Service Desk versions, you can customize the Customer Portal (Hide "Help Center" or set another message) using the following guide:

• https://confluence.atlassian.com/display/SERVICEDESK/Configuring+the+Customer+Portal#ConfiguringtheCustomerPortal-portalbrandBrandingyourportal

[Sumit Kumar]

I am using service desk 2.5.9 , how do I hide it ?

[Dustin Chamberlain]

@Paulo Hennig How do you hide help center? I am also running SD 2.5.9 and do not see that option

[Assistenza Mind-Mercatis]

Can't find this option even in SD 3.1.9

[Thomas Kurz]

Just upgraded our test system to 3.2 I can not see the option there either

[Brianna Laub]

I'm not seeing the option either, anyone figure this out?

[Tom Trevithick]

Having the same issue