Summary

Confluence allows uses to comment on specific text selections via Inline Comments.

If the commented text is cut-pasted into another location, the inline comments will disappear.

Environment

Confluence versions 6.x, 7.x and newer.

Cause

Confluence compares Page versions after an update (previous vs. current) looking for changes.

If a piece of text that originally contained an inline comment is cut from its original location and pasted somewhere else, Confluence identifies that piece of text as Deleted and will Resolve the inline comment:

The comment itself is preserved and can be checked via Resolved comments, but it will not be visible in the Page's body anymore.

 There is an open Suggestion to preserve inline comments when text is moved around:  CONFSERVER-42726 - Getting issue details... STATUS

Solution

An easy way to preserve the inline comments while editing is to use the Confluence Source Editor, which allows users to edit Storage Format directly.

 The App is marked as Server only, but will work just fine on Data Center versions as well.

 Disclaimer about Atlassian Labs.

Steps:

1. Install the Source Editor
2. Navigate to a Page that contains inline comments
3. Click on Edit to enter Page Edit mode
4. Click on < > (Open in source editor) in the upper-right corner
5. Make the necessary changes and click on Apply 
6. Click on Update to save the Page

While editing, make sure to select both the opening and closing 'ac:inline-comment-marker' tags:

In the example above, the word "fermentum" contains an inline comment.

Cutting lines 4, 5 and 6 (and then pasting it anywhere) will move the text and preserve the inline comment.