Confluence Groups

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Grouping users in Confluence is a great way to cut down the work required when managing permissions and restrictions.

If you're a space admin, you can assign a set of space permissions to a group rather than to each individual user. And as a page creator with 'Add/Delete Restrictions' permission, you can also add and remove page restrictions for groups.

Default Confluence groups

There are two default groups in every Confluence instance and, beyond that, Confluence administrators are free to set up and edit groups in any way they see fit. 

The two default groups in Confluence are:

  • confluence-users - this is the default group into which all new users are usually assigned. In most sites this is the group that provides the permission to log in to Confluence.
  • confluence-administrators – this super group grants the highest level of administrator permissions. Members of this can view all pages, including restricted pages. While they can't edit existing pages, they can add, delete, comment, restore page history, and administer the space. They can also access the admin console and perform all administrative tasks.


Overlapping permissions

Space permissions are additive. If a user is granted permissions as an individual or as a member of one or more groups, Confluence will combine these permissions together. This is sometimes known as their effective permissions. 
Here's an example...

Sasha is a member of the confluence-users group and the developers group. The confluence-users group has 'export' permission, but does not have 'restrict' permission. The developers group has 'restrict' permission but does not have 'export' permission.

By being a member of these two groups, Sasha can restrict and export content. The permissions do not conflict, they combine to determine what Sasha is allowed to do in this space.

Anonymous users

People who don't log in when they access Confluence are known as 'anonymous' users. By default, anonymous users don't have access to view or change any content in your Confluence site, but Confluence admins can assign permissions to anonymous users if it's required.

Unlicensed users from linked applications

If you're using Confluence as a knowledge base for Jira Service Management, your Jira Service Management administrator can choose to allow all active users and customers (that is logged in users who do not have a Confluence license) to view specific spaces. 

These users have very limited access, and cannot be granted permissions in the same way as an individual or group. However, it's important to note that this permission overrides all existing space permissions, so any logged in Confluence user will also be able to see the space (regardless of their group membership). This is due to the way Confluence inherits permissions.

Last modified on Oct 6, 2021

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