A username is the name used to log in to Confluence, for example jsmith. If you are a Confluence administrator you can change a user's username, for example if they change their name. 

(warning) The information on this page does not apply to Confluence Cloud.

All active users must have a unique username. This means that two active users cannot have the same username. You can however assign the username of a disabled user to another active user. 

The procedure for changing a username depends on where you manage your users.  Refer to Configuring User Directories for more information. 

Changing the username of a user managed in Confluence

If you manage your users in the Confluence internal directory you can rename your user in Confluence.  You will need Confluence Administrator permissions to change a username. 

To change a username:

  1. Navigate to the user's record:
    1. go to the user's profile and choose Adminster User, or
    2. go to Confluence Admin > Users and search for the user
  2. Choose Edit Details. 
  3. Enter the new username and choose Submit. 

The user's username has been changed. The user will need to use their new username to log in to Confluence from now on. The new username will also be reflected throughout Confluence, including in user mentions. 

Changing the username of a user managed in an external directory

If you do not manage your users in the Confluence internal directory, you may still be able to change a user's username. Confluence cannot update external users but it will detect changes in usernames that are coming from some external directories.

The following table indicates the instances where you may be able to change a username in your external directory and have the change detected in Confluence.  

User directoryWhere to rename the user
Internal directory with LDAP authentication

Rename the user in the LDAP directory, Confluence will detect the renamed user.

Note: you must have 'Copy User on Login' enabled. See Copying Users on Login for more information.

JIRA 6.1 or laterRename the user in JIRA, Confluence will automatically detect the renamed user.
Atlassian Crowd 2.7 or laterRename the user in Crowd, Confluence will automatically detect the renamed user.
LDAPRename the user in your LDAP directory, Confluence will automatically detect the renamed user.

Notes

Some important things to note about changing usernames:

  • Mentions and page history
    Any user mentions in current pages will automatically reflect the user's new username, but any mentions in page versions created prior to Confluence 5.3 will include the user's old username. 
  • Personal Spaces
    If a Confluence Administrator renames a user who has a personal space, the space key for that space will remain the user's original username. For example if jsmith's username is changed to jbrown, their personal space key will remain ~jsmith. 
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