Changing Usernames

A username is the name used to login to Confluence, eg. jsmith. There is no support for changing a username via Confluence yet, but you can to vote towards a feature request to allow usernames to be changed from the web interface.

Instructions For Changing Usernames

Usernames can only be changed through direct update to the Confluence database.

1. If you have a database administrator, request that they approve the database-related steps described below
   
   
2. If you are using JIRA user management, Revert from JIRA To Internal User Management
   
   
3. Backup Confluence
   
   
4. Creating a usermigration table:

   create table usermigration
   (
   oldusername varchar,
   newusername varchar
   )
   

5. Usernames that will be changed must be placed in the usermigration table with their current and planned usernames:

   insert into usermigration (oldusername, newusername)
   values ('oldusername', 'newusername');
   

6. If your DB administration tool does not support multiple SQL queries, these must be entered individually.

   update attachments
   set creator = newusername from usermigration u
   where creator = u.oldusername;
   
   update attachments
   set lastmodifier = newusername from usermigration u
   where lastmodifier = u.oldusername;
   
   update content
   set lastmodifier = newusername from usermigration u
   where lastmodifier = u.oldusername;
   
   update content
   set creator = newusername from usermigration u
   where creator = u.oldusername;
   
   update content
   set username = newusername from usermigration u
   where username = u.oldusername;
   
   update extrnlnks
   set creator = newusername from usermigration u
   where creator = u.oldusername;
   
   update extrnlnks
   set lastmodifier = newusername from usermigration u
   where lastmodifier = u.oldusername;
   
   update links
   set lastmodifier = newusername from usermigration u
   where lastmodifier = u.oldusername;
   
   update links
   set creator = newusername from usermigration u
   where creator = u.oldusername;
   
   update notifications
   set lastmodifier = newusername from usermigration u
   where lastmodifier = u.oldusername;
   
   update notifications
   set creator = newusername from usermigration u
   where creator = u.oldusername;
   
   update pagetemplates
   set lastmodifier = newusername from usermigration u
   where lastmodifier = u.oldusername;
   
   update pagetemplates
   set creator = newusername from usermigration u
   where creator = u.oldusername;
   
   update spaces
   set creator = newusername from usermigration u
   where creator = u.oldusername;
   
   update spaces
   set lastmodifier = newusername from usermigration u
   where lastmodifier = u.oldusername;
   
   update spacepermissions
   set permusername = newusername from usermigration u
   where permusername = u.oldusername;
   
   update spacepermissions
   set creator = newusername from usermigration u
   where creator = u.oldusername;
   
   update spacepermissions
   set lastmodifier = newusername from usermigration u
   where lastmodifier = u.oldusername;
   
   update contentlock
   set creator = newusername from usermigration u
   where creator = u.oldusername;
   
   update contentlock
   set lastmodifier = newusername from usermigration u
   where lastmodifier = u.oldusername;
   
   update os_user
   set username = newusername from usermigration u
   where username = u.oldusername;
   
   update trackbacklinks
   set creator = newusername from usermigration u
   where creator = u.oldusername;
   
   update trackbacklinks
   set lastmodifier = newusername from usermigration u
   where lastmodifier = u.oldusername;
   
   

7. If using Confluence 2.1 or newer, run the following command:

   update user
   set name = newusername from usermigration u
   where name = u.oldusername;
   

8. Reassign personal spaces associated with the old username to the new username. The tilda (~) is required as it is prepended to the space key of all personal spaces.

   update spaces
   set spacekey = '~newusername'
   where spacekey = '~oldusername';
   

9. Each username is associated with a full name. For example, username 'jsmith' may have a full name of 'John M Smith'. If this fullname needs to be changed, modify the fullname in the user or os_user table.
   
   

All old usernames in Confluence should now be replaced with the new usernames from the usermigration table.

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