Confluence Space Access
Asked by Yi Zhang:

Currently a space in Confluence could allow anonymous read access (open to the public without authentication) and/or to specific users/user groups (via authentication). We've run into a use case where the content in the space is proprietary and we would like only authenticated users to be able to read instead of the general public. Will Atlassian implement a way for logged in users to have space/site access and view content that is not anonymous?

Thanks,  
Yi

Yi Zhang  
Information Technology Services  
University of Connecticut


Answers:
author: Matthias Gaiser _K15t_
body: If you're on Cloud, you could achieve that using our app [Scroll Viewport for Confluence](https://marketplace.atlassian.com/apps/1211636/scroll-viewport-for-confluence?hosting=cloud&tab=overview).

You can publish your Space as a Viewport site and setup [authenticated access](https://help-cloud.k15t.com/scroll-viewport/Set-Up-Authenticated-Access.1381629960.html) so that only people with a certain token are able to view the space.

Would that work?


author: Nic Brough -Adaptavist-
body: No.

If you want someone to see Confluence, you have to grant them access to see it. This means they have to be Confluence users (which is "can log into Confluence" or via their Jira Customer account for a knowledge base), or you can grant anonymous access so they do not log int.

You need to make up your mind whether these people are Confluence users or not. If they are, they need a licence.


author: Yi Zhang
body: Like the customer portal in Jira Service Management, any active user from our LDAP directory could log into the customer portal and submit a ticket without consuming a license. Can something similar be done on the Confluence side so that a site can be restricted to all active users who can authenticate through our ID system to only read the content without a license? The use case here is that a space has proprietary content that it's OK for our active users to read but not the general public.


author: Nic Brough -Adaptavist-
body: Yes, if you're creating accounts and requiring people to log in, then they will use a licence up. That's the definition of a licence usage - "someone who can log in".

If you enable anonymous access, then you can set up spaces so that people who have not logged in (and hence do not use a licence) can see the content.

So, the answer is "stop authenticating your people who don't need to log in" and make some of your spaces anonymously accessible (read only) to them.


author: Yi Zhang
body: I'm sorry for the confusion. What I'm looking for is read-only access to a space for all our users who can authenticate through our ID system. Currently read-only access requires a Confluence license and we can't possibly purchase licenses for all faculty, staff and students to read proprietary content.


author: Nic Brough -Adaptavist-
body: Actually, it is very strongly recommended as the best way to mix "public access to some stuff" with "restricted access to the rest"


author: Choon Keat Seet
body: You can try looking at page restrictions

* Put 2 root pages with anonymous access to all
  * One where every has page access
  * The other where only authenticated user groups have access
* Nest pages accordingly

Its not recommended though because people forget and put things under the wrong root

<https://support.atlassian.com/confluence-cloud/docs/add-or-remove-page-restrictions/>


author: Nic Brough -Adaptavist-
body: Um, I'm not sure "will Atlassian do this" is a good question. As Confluence has been able to do this, since, if memory serves, 2004.

The really simple way to do it is:

* Put public stuff in spaces that you allow anonymous access to
* Put stuff for authenticated users into spaces that do not allow anonymous access