This documentation relates to Confluence 3.1.x
If you are using an earlier version, please view the previous versions of the Confluence documentation and select the relevant version.

Restoring a Space

This page tells you how to import the contents of a Confluence space into another Confluence site, via an XML backup file.

You can export the content of a space, including pages, comments and attachments. The process involves converting the data in the space into XML format. The end product is a zip file that contains XML file(s) and optionally, all the attachments in the space. To transfer this data to another Confluence site, you simply restore this zip file as described below.

Confluence will only allow you to restore a space if there is not already a space by that name on the site. If you already have a space with the identical name, you will need to delete or rename the existing space before restoring the new one.

Cannot restore to a different major Confluence release
Confluence only supports forward compatibility and backward compatibility for individual space import and export when executed within the same major version of Confluence instances.

Restoration Data Must Share the Same Major Version Number
This means that a space export created in a newer major version of Confluence cannot be imported into an older major version of Confluence. For example, if you create a space export in Confluence 2.4.5, it cannot be imported into a Confluence 2.2.2 instance. It can be however imported into 2.4.6. (because 2.2.2 and 2.4.5 are two different 'major' versions). Similarly, a space export created in 2.2.2 can not be imported into 2.4.5. However, it can be restored in 2.2.10 (since 2.2.2 and 2.2.10 belong to the same major version release).

If such an operation is carried out, an error message similar to the one below will be displayed and the import action will be stopped.

Screenshot: Major Version Clash on Space Restore

You'll need to set up a test server of the same version and import the space, then upgrade your test installation so it's the right major version so that you can perform the export and import successfully. Otherwise, you can try to Change the version of the space export, but please try this on a test instance as well.

You need to have System Administrator permissions in order to perform this function.

To restore a space,

  1. Go to the Confluence 'Administration Console'. To do this:

    • Open the 'Browse' menu and select 'Confluence Admin'. The 'Administration Console' view will open.
  2. Select 'Backup and Restore' in the 'Administration' section of the left-hand panel.

You can restore data in one of two ways:

  1. Upload a zipped backup to Confluence:
    • Browse for the backup file.
    • Uncheck 'Build Index' if you want to create the index at a later stage.
    • Click 'Upload and Restore'.


  2. Restore a backup from the file system:
    • Select the backup file from the form field displayed. If you do not see your backup file, make you sure that it has been copied into the /opt/java/src/confluence/deployments/conf.atlassian.com/home/restore directory.
    • Uncheck 'Build Index' if you want to create the index at a later stage.
    • Click 'Restore'.

Workaround for restoring Spaces between Major Releases

As described in the warning above, you cannot restore a space directly between two major versions. i.e. an individual space backup from 2.2.x cannot be imported into a 2.3.x.
Whilst there is presently no functionality in Confluence that allows you to do so, there is however a manual workaround to this problem.

Always back up your data before attempting this procedure.

Please follow the procedure below:

  1. Create a manual site backup
  2. Configure a separate installation of the Confluence version you want the space export for i.e. the version into which you want to export the space.
  3. Use one of the two restoration methods listed here to import the site backup.
  4. After restoring the site backup, create the XML backup for the space you want.
  5. Import this backup into your main Confluence instance and you now have that space.

Alternative workaround

Another way is to change the version of a space backup.

RELATED TOPICS
Restoring a Site
Restoring from Backup During Setup
Manually Backing Up The Site
Restoring a Space
Restoring Data from the Administration Console
Confluence Docs 3.1

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Comments (5)

 

  1. Jul 13, 2009

    Jon Crutchfield says:

    Our web server and external database are backed up nightly using server and data...

    Our web server and external database are backed up nightly using server and database backup utilities. Is it possible to restore a single space, not an entire site, from the combination of the server and database backups (not an XML backup initiated by a space administrator)? If so, is there documentation on how to do so?

    1. Jul 28, 2009

      Azwandi Mohd Aris [Atlassian] says:

      Hi Jon, As far as I am concerned, there is no way (so far) to get a space backu...

      Hi Jon,

      As far as I am concerned, there is no way (so far) to get a space backup out of the entire backup. As a workaround, you may need to create a separate instance based on the backup data and extract the space from there.

      Cheers,
      Azwan

      1. Jul 28, 2009

        Jon Crutchfield says:

        Thanks, Azwan. I thought that would be the case. Is there a way to automate the ...

        Thanks, Azwan. I thought that would be the case. Is there a way to automate the full site backup you can manually run from https://wikipprd.cc.nd.edu/admin/backup.action?

        1. Jul 29, 2009

          Azwandi Mohd Aris [Atlassian] says:

          The full site backup is already established as a job in Confluence. You can alte...

          The full site backup is already established as a job in Confluence. You can alter the frequency or time to execute the job, too. Other than that, you can try creating a remote client that periodically runs this method:

          String exportSite(String token, boolean exportAttachments)

          Hope that helps!

  2. Nov 11

    Mickey Calcara says:

    We imported the Confluence 3.0 Complete Documentation (XML) DOC-20090618.zip int...

    We imported the Confluence 3.0 Complete Documentation (XML) DOC-20090618.zip into our Confluence Wiki 3.0. The content appears to have made it in correctly but the images did not. The attachments are listed below the page but attachment links are invalid ( clicking on attachment takes you to the "attachment not found page" ). Anyone have similar issues? thanks

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