Change a Username

As a Confluence administrator, you can change a user's username. This could be for any reason, but might happen when someone changes their name, for example.

Each active users must have a unique username, so no two active users can have the same username. You can, however, assign the username of a disabled user to another active user.

The procedure for changing a username depends on where you manage your users. See Configuring User Directories for more info.

On this page:

Confluence-managed users

If you manage your users in the Confluence internal directory, you can rename your user in Confluence. You'll need Confluence Administrator permissions to change a username.

To change a username:

  1. Choose Administration  > User management
  2. Search for the user or choose Show all users
  3. Select the user you'd like to edit and choose Edit Details
  4. Enter the new username and choose Submit

That person will need to use their new username to log in to Confluence from now on. The new username will also be reflected throughout Confluence, including in @mentions.

Users managed in an external directory

If you don't manage your users in the Confluence internal directory, you may still be able to change someone's username. Confluence can't update external users, but it will detect changes in usernames coming from some external directories.

The following table shows the instances where you may be able to change a username in your external directory and have the change detected in Confluence.  

User directoryWhere to rename the user
Internal directory with LDAP authentication

Rename the user in the LDAP directory, Confluence will detect the renamed user.

Note: you must have 'Copy User on Login' enabled. See Copying Users on Login for more information.

Jira 6.1 or laterRename the user in Jira, Confluence will automatically detect the renamed user.
Atlassian Crowd 2.7 or laterRename the user in Crowd, Confluence will automatically detect the renamed user.
LDAPRename the user in your LDAP directory, Confluence will automatically detect the renamed user.

Notes

Some important things to note about changing usernames:

  • Mentions and page history – Any user mentions in current pages will automatically reflect the user's new username, but any mentions in page versions created prior to Confluence 5.3 will include the user's old username. 
  • Personal Spaces – If a Confluence Administrator renames a user who has a personal space, the space key for that space will remain as the original username. For example, if jsmith's username is changed to jbrown, their personal space key will remain ~jsmith.
Last modified on Feb 21, 2023

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