Confluence 8.1 beta release notes
Development releases are not production ready. Development releases are snapshots of the ongoing Confluence development process. While we try to keep these releases stable, they have not undergone the same degree of testing as a full release, and could contain features that are incomplete or may change or be removed before the next full release.
No upgrade path. Because development releases represent work in progress, we cannot provide a supported upgrade path between development releases, or from any development release to a final release. You may not be able to migrate any data you store in a Confluence development release to a future Confluence release.
Atlassian does not provide support for development releases.
Issues with this beta?
Please raise an issue to tell us about it.
Highlights of 8.1.0-rc1
Released
- Minor bug fixes
Highlights of 8.1.0-beta2
Released
- Minor bug fixes
Highlights of 8.1.0-beta1
Released
Introducing new emoji set
For DATA CENTER SERVER
Customers will be able to create even more engaging and expressive content on Confluence with over 3000 emojis from the Twemoji 14.0.2 set at their fingertips. Browse and insert them from the emoji menu introduced in Confluence 8.0.
For more tips and tricks on using emojis, see Symbols, emojis and special characters.
If you haven't already, Migrate your HipChat emojis from Confluence Server to Data Center.
Introducing Amazon S3 object storage for attachments
For DATA CENTER
Confluence 8.1 will introduce support for Amazon S3 object storage. We recommend this option for enterprise teams with large and increasing data sets that need to scale their data efficiently.
We hope to make this solution available after we've performed more tests on migrating existing data to S3 object storage. Note that this storage option is only available to Data Center customers, and not available for on-premise deployments.
For vendors with attachment files stored in a filesystem, make sure you're accessing these attachments through APIs provided in AttachmentManager, and don't assume that their location is based on the Confluence 8.0 version of the Hierarchical File System Attachment Storage.
New database metrics for in-product diagnostics
For DATA CENTER SERVER
You can now see database connectivity and HTTP connection metrics for in-product diagnostics (IPD) through Java Management Extensions API (JMX) monitoring as well as in the log file atlassian-confluence-ipd-monitoring.log. These metrics have been enabled by default to help customers and Atlassian Support identify potential causes of performance issues on running instances of Confluence.
Learn more about the new metrics at Live Monitoring Using the JMX Interface.
New log to make Cloud migration data easy to find
For DATA CENTER SERVER
Customers can find details about their migration to Confluence Cloud more easily with a dedicated migration log file at atlassian-confluence-migrations.log. We haven't made any changes to the main atlassian.confluence.log, which will still contain these migration logs.
We're planning to backport this feature to LTS versions of Confluence from 7.13.14 and 7.19.6 onwards to make it easier for customers to find this migration-related data.
See Working with Confluence Logs to learn how to access our logs.
Improving accessibility for low-vision and keyboard-only users
For DATA CENTER SERVER
This release will contain accessibility fixes for our screen reader and keyboard-only users to improve their experience. Here are some highlights:
- We've removed unnecessary repetition of table headings when using voice over technology
- Screen readers will announce the macro suggestions activated by the shortcut "
{" in the editor, and announce the option selected when you navigate that list with up and down arrow keys - We've fixed keyboard support on the Status macro to enable the full functionality of this macro to keyboard-only users.
Check out the full list of fixed issues
Upgrade notes
Migration of attachment data to a new folder structure
For DATA CENTER SERVER
Sometimes Confluence attachments can break or go "missing" when a page move fails. To prevent this kind of data loss, we've developed a more robust way of storing attachments in the file system.
On Confluence 8.1 startup, your attachment data will automatically be migrated to a new attachment folder structure (version 4) in the file system. Confluence is expected to work as normal while this migration task is happening in the background.
Learn more about the version 4 attachment storage layout format as well as the migration task at Hierarchical File System Attachment Storage.
OAuth 2.0 support for mail apps
For DATA CENTER SERVER
Updated
Since Microsoft announced End of Life for basic authentication by 31 December 2022, we have added OAuth 2.0 support for the following mail server apps:
- Confluence mail archiving (IMAP support)
- Confluence email to page (POP3 support only)
- Confluence reply to email (POP3 support only)
If you use Microsoft Exchange or Office 365, you'll need to update your Confluence mail account settings.
We have backported this support to Confluence 7.17. and later, including the Confluence 7.19 Long Term Support release.
Improved user experience when you move multiple pages
For DATA CENTER SERVER
Previously, when you move a large page tree, a misleading timeout warning message would appear at 3 minutes even if the page move actually completed after this time. Now what you'll see is a loading icon and the seconds elapsed since the operation started – which will run until the operation completes. Closure, sweet closure.
Supported platforms changes
Support for Amazon S3 object storage
You can now store your attachment data in S3 object storage. This is optional, but highly recommended for enterprises with large or increasing data sets looking to scale their data efficiently. See Supported Platforms
For more information on these notices, see End of Support Announcements for Confluence.
Infrastructure changes
Confluence 8.1 contains changes that may affect apps. Head to Preparing for Confluence 8.1 to find out how these changes will impact app developers.