Purpose

You may run into an error while trying to remove a directory from Confluence. In this situation, manually removing the directory via the database is the only workaround. 

Solution

First, navigate to Confluence Admin >> User Directories and move the directory that you want to remove to the bottom of the directory list. Then, shutdown Confluence and run the following commands in the Confluence database:

1. Run this query to identify the directory id of the directory you are trying to remove:

   SELECT * FROM cwd_directory;
   

2. Run these commands to remove the directory, one by one, in the order below (replace <directoryId> with the directory's id from the query above)

   DELETE FROM cwd_app_dir_operation WHERE app_dir_mapping_id IN (SELECT id FROM cwd_app_dir_mapping WHERE directory_id = <directoryid>);
   

   DELETE FROM cwd_app_dir_mapping WHERE directory_id = <directoryid>;
   

   DELETE FROM cwd_directory_attribute WHERE directory_id = <directoryid>;
   

   DELETE FROM cwd_membership WHERE parent_id IN (SELECT id FROM cwd_group WHERE directory_id = <directoryID>) OR child_group_id IN (SELECT id FROM cwd_group WHERE directory_id = <directoryID>) OR child_user_id IN (SELECT id FROM cwd_user WHERE directory_id = <directoryID>);
   

   DELETE FROM cwd_group WHERE directory_id = <directoryID>;
   

   DELETE FROM cwd_user_attribute WHERE directory_id = <directoryID>;
   

   DELETE FROM cwd_user WHERE directory_id = <directoryID>;
   

   DELETE FROM cwd_directory_operation WHERE directory_id = <directoryID>;
   

   DELETE FROM cwd_directory WHERE id = <directoryID>;
   

3. Check the list_index column of the cwd_app_dir_mapping table.
   
   

   select list_index,id from cwd_app_dir_mapping;
   

   Ensure that the number for the list_index column is in a proper numerical order. For example, the result below show the list_index which are not in the proper numerical order. As you can see, the list_index contain the number 0,3 and 1. The number 2 is missing.

   list_index	id
   0	214324324
   3	353453456
   1	435456556

   If the you see the following, please update the list_index to the proper order.

   update cwd_app_dir_mapping set list_index = <number> where id = <directory_id>

   After updating the proper list_index should look like the following:

   list_index	id
   0	214324324
   2	353453456
   1	435456556

4. Start Confluence.