Embed links not working browsing anonymously
Asked by Christian Nilaus:

I have created a page in Confluence that I want to have available for anyone without logging in. This includes links to Google drive and to YouTube videos.

When I look at the page created it looks correct (logged in), but when other people view it or I view it without logging in then all the cards/embeds have error: "We couldn't load this link for an unknown reason."

I hope someone knows the answer. I have not been able to find any similar issues, so I figure it must be me doing something wrong in the setup. Thanks :)

The page related to my question:

<https://nilaus.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/PM/pages/2727510017/Dyson+Sphere+Program+-+Blueprints>

What it looks like for me:

![Confluence page logged in.png](/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/222455i42EB07619BC9A975/image-size/large?v=v2&px=999 "Confluence page logged in.png")

What it looks like when not logged in:

![Confluence page not-logged in.png](/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/222456iE3675A100A8F2A17/image-size/large?v=v2&px=999 "Confluence page not-logged in.png")

My space is set to everyone being able to view all pages:

![Confluence Space Settings.png](/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/222457i7F7F5979E9239777/image-size/large?v=v2&px=999 "Confluence Space Settings.png")

And lastly a picture in edit mode of what I try to do in case that is where the issue is:

![Confluence edit mode.png](/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/222458iED4D51B42B1CB2E4/image-size/large?v=v2&px=999 "Confluence edit mode.png")


Answers:
author: Brant Schroeder
body: [@Christian Nilaus](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/5062697) Welcome to the Atlassian community

What macros are you using to display the information? Like [@Trudy Claspill](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/3569011) stated some macros require a user to be authenticated to work. If you can share the macros you are using we might be able to suggest some that would work to display the relevant information.

comments: author: Christian Nilaus
body: Thank you for your reply.

I gave additional information in the reply below.

- Not using any macros, just default Confluence behavior of adding links

- All links used are publicly available and require no authentication. Tried it with [www.google.com](http://www.google.com) and that doesn't work either, so nothing to do with the websites linked


author: Brant Schroeder
body: [@Christian Nilaus](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/5062697) You are technically using the link macro. Let me play around and see what I can find out.

[@Fabio Racobaldo _Herzum_](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/781528) If you are logged into community you are most likely logged into Confluence so that is why you are able to see the page information without any issue. Use a browser that you are not logged into or use incognito mode to see the issue, it still exists.


author: Brant Schroeder
body: [@Christian Nilaus](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/5062697) I am not able to create the link blocks like you have. Can you see what apps you have installed in Confluence and share those with me.


author: Christian Nilaus
body: I had 2 Apps installed (didn't even realise it):

![2022-10-26 Confluence Apps installed.png](https://community.atlassian.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/222696iD83230F39B36BCAC/image-size/large?v=v2&px=999 "2022-10-26 Confluence Apps installed.png")

Now I have unsubscribed and uninstalled them so this is the same view for me now:

![2022-10-26 Confluence Apps uninstalled.png](https://community.atlassian.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/222697i6B64B56CED80B82E/image-size/large?v=v2&px=999 "2022-10-26 Confluence Apps uninstalled.png")

I have opened, edited and published the page again and it looks exactly the same for me as before: works when logged in, doesn't work when not logged in. It seems the "link" macro is broken for me at least


author: Brant Schroeder
body: [@Christian Nilaus](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/5062697) I was able to recreate the issue. It looks like it might be a bug in the system. If you use URL or inline then the link works. If you choose card it breaks. I would suggest contacting support <https://support.atlassian.com/contact/#/> to see if this is a known issue.


author: Christian Nilaus
body: Thank you for taking the time to look into it.

I am changing them to use the URL macro as that seems to work albeit doesn't look quite a good.

Even if we did not solve it, then it somehow feels better that an expert couldn't find an answer either; then it seems to be a genuine problem.

Thanks again


author: Venkatesh Vasudevan
body: Hey Christian!   

I'm a Product Manager on the Atlassian platform team   

Thanks for posting in Atlassian community.

We've just released a fix for this to all of our customers. Could you let me know if your issue has been resolved?   

<br />


author: Fabio Racobaldo _Herzum_
body: Hi [@Christian Nilaus](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/5062697) ,

I tried and it seems working well now

![Immagine.png](https://community.atlassian.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/222507i71199953391802D4/image-size/large?v=v2&px=999 "Immagine.png")

comments: author: Christian Nilaus
body: Thanks. That should be good or probably more likely since nothing was changed; it is dependent on browsers etc.

Tried it on Desktop with Chrome (doesn't work) and Edge (doesn't work) also had someone try with FireFox and that didn't work either

Weird that it works for you and not really anyone else


author: Trudy Claspill
body: I don't think that the items are actually stored in Confluence. I think the macro is able to pull down the info in real time to show it within the Confluence UI.

Are those items accessible anonymously or do they require an authenticated account in their respective apps for access.

Which third party apps are you using specifically to support embedding those items?

comments: author: Christian Nilaus
body: Thank you for your reply.

These are publicly available website with no authentication needed.

I simply write a URL in Confluence and it prompts me whether I want to display it as URL, Link, Card or (for some pages) Embed. There are no macros or third party apps. Just plain old default Confluence functionality: type a URL and it recognises it.

![Confluence adding URL.png](https://community.atlassian.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/222479iEF44C8EA0371A2F3/image-size/large?v=v2&px=999 "Confluence adding URL.png")

I even added a link to [www.google.com](http://www.google.com) to prove that no websites work

![Confluence Google not working.png](https://community.atlassian.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/222480i4762EFF0D4AF6302/image-size/large?v=v2&px=999 "Confluence Google not working.png")


author: KC
body: Deleted


Tags: cloud

confluence-cloud