Re-import pages into Confluence

[Schups]

One of our users tested Confluence in our test environment. He wants to move some of the pages he created (with great detail) to the production server.

Under "Space Tools" > "Export" he chooses "XML" - where the label/description clearly states "XML exports can be reimported in Confluence". He then chooses "Custom Export" and selects the desired pages. Finally, then he obtains a zip file.

Unfortunately we cannot find any way to re-import these pages on the same Space in the productive server (error: "A Space with the same key already exists").

This does not make any sense. Since we are able to export individual pages, we should be able to reimport them too. Moreover, the description of the export mode clearly states that the zip can be reimported...

Any advice?

[Diego]

Hello there, thanks for reaching out!

The XML export is indeed designed to be later imported into another Confluence instance. However, what happens when you select one or more pages, what happens is that you are creating a Space Export which contains the selected pages.

Now, when you export a Space, even if you select a single page, information such as Space name and key are exported with it. So, when Confluence tries to restore it, the application identifies that there is already another space with that same key/name and does not complete the export.

A workaround to that would be:

1. Go to the test instance
2. Rename the space
3. Change the space key
4. Create the XML export
5. Import that into production

Most likely, what is happening is that you do have a space that has the same key in your destination and Confluence refuses to import due to this.

We can check further information on XML export and import here:

Export Content to Word, PDF, HTML and XML

Restoring a Space

Looking forward to your reply!