Cannot remove unwanted watchers
Asked by Ed Schriger:

I am a site admin and I cannot remove watchers from certain pages on my Confluence/On Demand pages.

image2015-12-8 11:37:37.png

These users are in the "cannot modify" list, but they should not be watching this page. How do I remove them?  
[](https://community.atlassian.com/t5/Confluence-questions/Cannot-remove-unwanted-watchers/qaq-p/184125?attachment-id=11322){#link_1187987fcdb553}  
[](/tnckb94959/attachments/tnckb94959/confluence-questions/30841/1/image2015-12-8%2011%3A37%3A37.png){#display_1187987fcdb553_0}


Answers:
author: Ed Schriger
body: Actually this turned out to be much simpler and none of the answers above solved the problem.

The way to remove unwanted space watchers is to have an Administrator login temporarily as that user and remove the user from the space watch.

1. Temporarily login as the user from User Management
2. Space Directories - select the desired space
3. "Stop Watching this Space"

comments: author: Steven F Behnke
body: For all other readers, this function is a new function specific to cloud only. You can log in as users from the cloud user management area.


author: Ralph J?ger
body: thank you for that detail. I'm working on a server version and didn't find the "log in as user" feature...


author: Steffan Klein
body: That's not a solution - that's a really shitty workaround.


author: Ed Schriger
body: This seems like a bug. As an admin, I should be able to manage watchers on a page who should not be there. What if the user is inactive? How do I get them off the page?

How did these users get on this page in such a way they cannot be modified? I know for certain that at least one of the users on the list above did not intentionally set up a watch on this page. How did they get pasted on there in this state?

comments: author: Steven F Behnke
body: How is it a bug? The behavior seems quite intended, even if it's a pita.


author: Jason D Smith
body: Because it is arbitrary (as far as I can tell) that you can remove a page watch but not a space watch.


author: Rachel Robins
body: Hi Ed, the users listed are watching the entire space, and not just that individual page. As an admin you can manage page watchers, but not space watchers I'm afraid.

What you can do is direct the users to their own Watchers page so they can stop watching the space themselves. The link will be \<your site url\>/wiki/users/viewnotifications.action. The spaces they are watching will be listed at the top - all they need to do is click 'Stop Watching'.

Hope this helps

<br />


author: Steffan Klein
body: What the ... this needs a solution which is simple and easy for an admin and does not require jumping through workarounds and hoops.


author: Ralph J?ger
body: Since V5.9.2 you can remove unwanted space watchers by adding space permission to that user and removing it again.


author: Steven F Behnke
body: If you wanted to know additional methods people can add space watches, it's usually accessed by clicking Pages in a space, and the button is in the top-right corner. image2015-12-9 15:16:49.png  
[](https://community.atlassian.com/t5/Confluence-questions/Cannot-remove-unwanted-watchers/qaq-p/184125?attachment-id=8434){#link_118798cc0b0431}  
[](/tnckb94959/attachments/tnckb94959/confluence-questions/30848/1/image2015-12-9%2015%3A16%3A49.png){#display_118798cc0b0431_0}


author: Ed Schriger
body: As usual no answers here.

We are not using a Team Space.

This is a Confluence Space on Confluence on demand.

comments: author: Steven F Behnke
body: That's rather negative. What does Confluence OnDemand have to do with it? Confluence OnDemand has the Team Space Blueprint, which people probably used to get added as space watchers. Disable it if you want to.The answer that Rachel gave you was CORRECT. You CANNOT manage space watchers.


author: Steven F Behnke
body: If you are using a Team Space, all users that were entered as Teammates in the Team Space Blueprint are added as Space Watchers. The Team Space blueprint is usually the main avenue for unwanted, accidental space watches.


Tags: cloud

confluence-cloud