Migrate from Confluence Cloud to Server

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This page is for people who are currently using Confluence Cloud, and wish to move to Confluence Server (a Confluence installation hosted on your own servers).

For migrating from Confluence Server to Confluence Cloud, see Importing wiki data.

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You can migrate from your Confluence Cloud to Confluence Server 6.0 or later only. You can't import Cloud data (whole site or individual space exports) into any earlier versions of Confluence.  We recommend installing the latest version. 

Confluence Cloud is typically ahead of Confluence Server, which means that some features may not be available after you've moved to Confluence Server.  

Migration steps

To migrate from Confluence Cloud to Confluence Server:

  1. Export the data from your Confluence Cloud site, using the Confluence backup manager. 
    • For detailed instructions, see Exporting wiki data.
    • You now have an XML export of your Confluence data.
  2. Download the latest Confluence Server release.
    You will only be able to import your Cloud backup into Confluence 6.0 or later. We recommend always installing the latest release.
  3. Follow the Confluence Installation Guide for your platform to install Confluence.
  4. Import the data from your backup file (XML export) into your new Confluence installation - see Restore a Site.
  5. Follow the steps on Restore Passwords To Recover Admin User Rights to start Confluence in recovery mode, and log in using the temporary account. 
  6. Create a new user account, and make it a member of the confluence-administrators group. This will be your system administrator account. 
  7. Stop Confluence, remove the recovery mode system property, then restart Confluence. 

Support, limitations, and recommendations

Please note the following about your new Confluence Server site.

  • If you're unable to remove the JIRA cloud application link from your Confluence after the import, you'll need to remove those references directly from the Confluence database as per this guide.
  • The User Management section might be missing due to CONF-35177 - Getting issue details... STATUS
    Follow the workaround notes on the issue to enable the feature again.

  • If your Confluence Cloud instance has macros that depend on the Application Links back to a JIRA Cloud instance, and you are migrating JIRA as well, these references will need to be updated to work properly as per Unable to locate Jira server for this macro. It may be due to Application Link configuration.
    You can address that by either editing the XML prior to import, or by bulk editing those references in Confluence database as per this guide.

  • If you experience problems loading pages after the import, head to  > General Configuration to check your base URL as the port may have changed. 

  • If you find that some of your users' favorites (pages saved for later) are missing due to CONF-36348 - Getting issue details... STATUS . See How to restore missing favorites after import from XML for more information.

  • Confluence spaces are not automatically created when you create a new JIRA projects.

  • If you are unable to create or edit pages after migrating from Cloud to Confluence 5.10, follow the workaround in this issue to disable the specified dark features CONF-44335 - Getting issue details... STATUS . This issue doesn't affect Confluence 6.x versions.

Add-ons

After migrating your data you will need to install any compatible add-ons, such as Questions and Team Calendars. 

Some third party add-ons are only available for Cloud, and will no longer be available after you migrate.  You can check whether your essential add-ons are available for Confluence Server, Cloud or both on Atlassian Marketplace. 

Database considerations 

If you are uncertain about which database to choose for your new Confluence installation, we recommend PostgreSQL - see Database Setup for PostgreSQL. The Confluence Cloud site runs on PostgreSQL, so there should be no compatibility issues.

If you choose another supported database, Contact Support if you encounter any compatibility issues with other supported databases.

Confluence license

You will need a new license to migrate to Confluence Server. Your existing Cloud license cannot be used.  You can get a new license at https://my.atlassian.com.  You may also need new licenses for any paid add-ons. 

Last modified on Dec 5, 2017

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