Filter content search by disabled user?
Asked by John Avellar:

Hey all,

Is there a way to filter the content in advance search by a disabled user?

Thanks,

John


Answers:
author: Susan Ostreicher
body: [@Rob Woodgate](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/781603) - I was looking for a way to find pages where a specific inactive user was mentioned, and found that I can paste this URL into the address bar (insert your site URL and the username of the inactive user). Hope it works for you too!

https://YOURURL/confluence/dosearchsite.action?cql=mention+%3D+%22INACTIVEUSERNAME%22

comments: author: Rob Woodgate
body: Hi Susan,

Thanks for that, I'll give it a try. The link in that URL is still pointing to your company's Confluence though, are you able to delete or edit it?


author: Susan Ostreicher
body: Good catch, thank you! I removed the link.


author: Rob Woodgate
body: ?


author: Wesley Whitlam
body: Thanks for this search. Is there a way to show only pages created by the disabled user.

We are attempting to create a retention policy and would like to report on inactive users who once authored pages. Ideally we would like to message the manager of the person who is now inactive and have them reassign pages.


author: Susan Ostreicher
body: Hi [@Wesley Whitlam](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/3636071) , sorry for the slow reply. I think you can use this search:

https://YOURURL/confluence/dosearchsite.action?cql=creator+%3D+%22INACTIVEUSERNAME%22


author: John Avellar
body: Hi Rob,

We are trying to find pages created by an inactive user. The custom filter by creator does not populate inactive users when I type their name in the creator field. It only shows active folks to be selected. I have tested it with several accounts and I get the same results.

Is there a backend change that I need to make to include inactive users in the search?

Thanks,

John

comments: author: Rob Woodgate
body: Hi John,

There might be a backend change, but nothing that I'm aware of - as far as I know it's always worked that way (although that could easily be incorrect). I've just tried again to make sure I've not been stupid, and it's still bringing up the inactive user.

The only thing that sometimes trips people up when searching for users is that you don't need the ampersand like you do for a mention, but it doesn't sound like you're doing that. Generally when people aren't showing up then you need to re-index and you'll need to ask Atlassian to do that. If no-one else has an answer for you I'd suggest contacting them anyway and asking for their assistance - they're very helpful and knowledgeable.


author: Rob Woodgate
body: Hi John,

It depends how exactly you want to filter. If you just want to return all pages where they're mentioned, enter their user name and the results will return anywhere they're mentioned.

If you want to find pages they created then In the bottom left of the Search page, click **Add a filter** and select **Creator**, then choose the user.

I've just tested both of these methods using an inactive account and they worked as expected.

In both cases you can use the **Custom** field in the **Of Type** section to choose multiple types of content to search, if you don't want to limit yourself to one type but also don't want to return every type.


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