Is it possible to require passwords for public access pages?
Asked by Brandon Murphy:

We are using confluence wikis for our end-user software documentation. Due to the industry we work in, we cannot make this documentation available to the general population, ie our competitors. We offer dozens of software tools and each has its own extremly large wiki. It is neither practical to create one login for all clients to view all documentation, nor is it practical to create create a separate licensed account for every single one of our clients.

I have not been able to find a plugin or native feature that would allow me to accomplish this and, honestly, I'm pretty flabergasted that Atlassian doesn't off read-only logins that don't use a license. All of the tools we use offer this other than Atlassian.


Answers:
author: AnnWorley
body: Here is a suggestion ticket for our dev team.

[Allow unlicensed, authenticated users to have anonymous read only access](https://jira.atlassian.com/browse/CONFSERVER-30161)

Please vote for it so it will get more attention from the development team. You may also comment to emphasize your use case.

comments: author: Brandon Murphy
body: [@AnnWorley](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/502040), this is not really what I'm asking about. We use other tools where I can create a "client" or "collaborator" user that has read-only access to the areas I need them to view.

Does Atlassian not offer a read-only, non-license consuming user that can see the spaces I give them access to, but have no editing/creation privileges?

I don't see how Confluence can be billed as a comprehensive documentation tool if I have to consume an entire license just so my clients can see the help docuemntaiton they need.


author: AnnWorley
body: Any user with permission to use Confluence does take up a license, as explained in [How to get a list of active users counting towards the Confluence license](https://confluence.atlassian.com/confkb/how-to-get-a-list-of-active-users-counting-towards-the-confluence-license-298978076.html):
> Confluence's license count is based on [Global Permissions](https://confluence.atlassian.com/doc/global-permissions-overview-138709.html). Users will count towards the license in the following ways:
>
> * If the user is a member of a group that has global permissions to use Confluence
> * If the user is individually granted global permissions to use Confluence

The suggestion ticket I linked is requesting the dev team to allow authenticated, unlicensed read only access. From reading your description it sounded like that was what you were asking for. Please let me know how the suggestion ticket is inadequate for your use case so we can either create a suggestion that does apply, or edit/comment on that suggestion to communicate the request to the dev team.


author: Brandon Murphy
body: [@AnnWorley](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/502040), the article states, " they cannot view any Confluence content (from JIRA or Service Desk for instance) - even if that content is available to anonymous users. They currently have to log out before they can see the content."

The request seems to geared more towards allowing users of JIRA and Service Desk to view confluence pages. I need a stand-alone method for my clients to log in and view spaces.

The logic to achieve one might work for the other, but these would not be existing JIRA/Service Desk Users.


author: AnnWorley
body: I did not read the request as applying exclusively to JIRA users. To make it more clearly a request for a different category of user, I added this line to the description:
> Customers have also asked for anonymous, read-only access for authenticated users that are not coming from a JIRA User Directory.

This seems like it applies to your use case, let me know if I need to add or clarify anything:
> We cannot allow authenticated but unlicensed users to edit anonymously accessible content, since that would mean that admins would only have to enable anonymous access to have the equivalent of an unlimited user license.  
> Instead, we should allow authenticated but unlicensed users to get read-only access to confluence content with anonymous permissions.  
> Such users will still be locked out from parts of the application that require a licensed user, including viewing user profiles, people directories, etc, unless anonymous has been granted permission to view user profiles.


author: Brandon Murphy
body: [@AnnWorley](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/502040), The second use-case does seem to apply. Thanks.

Honestly, does a request like this have any traction?


author: AnnWorley
body: The user comments, votes and support issues linked to the ticket give it more traction. For details, please check out: [Bug Fixing Policy](https://confluence.atlassian.com/doc/bug-fixing-policy-206865207.html)