How do I stop Confluence from thinking there are sub-pages for a page
Asked by Jake Grinsted:

Steps to reproduce:

* Create a page with some content and publish it.
* Next to that page's name in the sidebar, click the + icon to add a page.
* Do not name or add any content to the new page - instead just click Close.

Now, the page you created in Step 1 will have an arrow next to it instead of dot, indicating that more pages exist under it. But they don't.

Here's an example - "Authentication \& User Management" does NOT have any sub-pages, but it's still showing an arrow.

![Screen Shot 2022-08-15 at 10.50.59 PM.png](/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/211196i427B084620402303/image-size/large?v=v2&px=999 "Screen Shot 2022-08-15 at 10.50.59 PM.png")

Attempted resolutions:

* Refreshing.
* Looking for a draft page as suggested places like [this](https://community.atlassian.com/t5/Confluence-questions/How-can-I-see-my-unpublished-pages/qaq-p/1640218) and outlined [here](https://confluence.atlassian.com/doc/drafts-149040.html#:~:text=If%20you've%20been%20editing,'re%20ready%2C%20hit%20Publish).
* Creating a sub-page WITH content and then deleting it.

But sadly, I just can't get rid of the arrow.

Huge problem? No. But it's frustrating for those of us who like order haha... and it's also confusing for users who expect to see something under the page when they open the arrow.

Any ideas? Thanks!


Answers:
author: Sara Nannery
body: I was having this problem myself and found a work around.

I archived the page with the 'faulty' arrow, then restored it.

The arrow disappeared and returned just with the dot.

Hope it works for others!

comments: author: mathieu_dumoulin
body: This actually works well except you lose the position of the page inside the parent so you have to move it back to where it was.


author: Celine Hau
body: Thanks [@Sara Nannery](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/5157930) this works and is easy enough!

[@mathieu_dumoulin](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/5164012) actually now you'll get a popup when you need to restore the archived page that asks you if you want to put it back from where it was last, so you won't lose the position!


author: Claudia Lorente
body: It works perfectly, thanks for the help [@Sara Nannery](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/5157930) !


author: Alex Kinne
body: Worked for me too.


author: gaston.haro@pedidosya.com
body: Same problem here


author: Brian Berkley
body: [@Jake Grinsted](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/5008954) - Not sure if this answers your issue, but I make a copy of the page that has the unwanted sub-page arrow which now creates a page with the heading of "Copy of" your filename. I delete the page with the unwanted sub-page arrow and then remove the "Copy of" from the page I just created so it has the original filename. I now have a Confluence page without the sub-page arrow.


author: Fabio Racobaldo _Herzum_
body: Hi [@Jake Grinsted](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/5008954) ,

welcome to the Atlassian community!

Please raise a ticket to the Atlassian support <https://support.atlassian.com/contact/#/> so that Atlassian team can investigate on this bug.

Fabio

comments: author: Jake Grinsted
body: Hi [@Fabio Racobaldo _Herzum_](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/781528) - thank you for replying.

While I completely understand Atlassian not providing direct support for those of us using their Free licenses, it seems odd to me that they also don't want us informing them of bugs. But "Technical issues and bugs" are bundled together in the form that you linked me to... which then results in the message below.

So I came to the Community as prompted, but I do agree that this would be of more use to Atlassian as a bug report. Do you know of any Atlassian staff who monitor these forums and could convert this to a bug report?

*** ** * ** ***

![Screen Shot 2022-08-16 at 3.52.30 PM.png](https://community.atlassian.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/211360i21A628EABBD6BAE3/image-size/large?v=v2&px=999 "Screen Shot 2022-08-16 at 3.52.30 PM.png")


author: Bryan Conner
body: Over a month and no comment on this. As a potential customer evaluating the product, this is disappointing to see. I ran into this same issue today and was hoping to find a resolution.


author: Christopher Kennedy
body: Also having the same issue (re: unremovable subpage arrows) with no resolution.


author: mrylander
body: I am also experiencing this issue, but I cannot file a bug report since:   

\> Only Confluence admins, billing contacts, and technical contacts can create support requests for Confluence.


author: Shawn Yockey
body: Good News! I'm having this same issue, and I'm our technical contact! I have submitted a request for all of us. I'll be sure to update you with their response. - Cheers


author: Shawn Yockey
body: Official Response I've gotten...

[CONFCLOUD-74459 - Creating a draft of a child page without both a title and a page body will not display it in the page tree](https://jira.atlassian.com/browse/CONFCLOUD-74459)

### Workaround {#toc-hId-1997925618}

If you realize that you inadvertently clicked the plus sign "+", when the new page opens you can go to the three dots "..." menu at the top right and select **Delete unpublished page** and no blank draft will be created.  
If you click **Close** on the page the draft will be created and currently there is no known workaround for this behavior. A workaround will be added here when available.  
The empty drafts are scheduled to be auto-deleted every 60 days.


author: Jake Grinsted
body: Thank you [@Shawn Yockey](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/3968247) ! Great to see this receive some official attention. Much appreciated.

Jake


Tags: cloud

confluence-cloud