Server Upgrade Questions - Confluence 5.8.4 to the latest

[Deleted user]

Hello All,

I want to upgrade my company to the latest version of Server Confluence - there is a good chance we might migrate to the cloud if the Server upgrade is successful. If you could provide these answers, this would help tremendously in getting us to that goal. Thank You in advance.

frevvo is currently on the v5.8.4 Server version of Confluence. My questions are listed below:

1. Can we upgrade from Confluence 5.8.4 directly to the latest Server version or do we have to upgrade to some intermediate version first and then go to the latest? If so, what is that version? I saw conflicting information - one topic said we needed to make 2 jumps to get to the latest and then I thought I read that we could do it in one jump. Looking for a confirmation on how many steps we will need.
2. One big pain point for me is the Copy Space plugin for in-house. I know it is not supported for in-house but I have been using it for the last six years for frevvo Release Management. I am hesitant to use it again if we upgrade. Can you recommend a substitute plugin that is as easy to use as the Copy Space?
3. I know the Documentation theme is no longer supported - of course we use that theme in all our spaces - I am prepared to make changes to the Stylesheet to hide breadcrumbs etc as I did with the Documentation theme but I was unable to hide the Space tools menu or the page menu dropdown that displays when you click the three dots in the upper right corner? Is there a way to hide these?
4. It is very important that I restrict the search to the current space. I understand that the checkbox to do that has been removed in the newer releases. Is there a different way to restrict the search in the later releases?
5. I use the "jump to a different space" macro all the time. Is this macro still available in the newer releases? If not, is there a way to jump to a different space?
6. Can you provide the URL for the  Migration Community space - seems to be quite a few responses when I Google it.

Once again, I appreciate your time. In light of the Security Vulnerability notification I received yesterday, upgrading has now become a critical issue.

[SMS]

Hello MaryAnn,

Thank you for reaching out on Community. I’m happy to help you with your questions in order to ensure a smooth upgrade process.

1. Upgrading Confluence - According to this article, when starting an upgrade between Confluence version 5.0.X and 6.X, you can upgrade directly to the latest version of Confluence. If you found conflicting information, it might be from a user's experience. At any rate, I would definitely recommend that you perform the upgrade from 5.8.4 to the latest on a test environment before proceeding to your production upgrade. See Create a staging environment for upgrading Confluence for more details.
2. When you refer to the plugin for "in-house" can you confirm what that means for you? Are you referring to the Confluence Cloud instance as in-house, or the Server versions? If Cloud, I believe there's an add-on that could help you, although I don't have any experience with it personally: Copy Space for Confluence by Artemis Software. For Server, I would recommend using the other options listed on How to Copy or Rename a Space:
   

   1. Copy Page Tree plugin which can be used to copy the pages from one space to another one.

   2. Space Tree Creator that allows copying a tree into space, along with some find and replace tools.

   3. Bob Swift CLI tool can also be used to copy a space using command line.

3. If this question refers also to Confluence Cloud, there is unfortunately no possibility to make CSS modifications to the instance. Have a look at Functional Differences in Confluence Cloud: 

   On Atlassian Cloud, Confluence uses a custom theme that can't be modified or updated using custom HTML or CSS. For more information on custom themes in Confluence Cloud, refer to Working with Themes.

   Confluence Cloud Developer community: You can also create your own theme for Confluence Cloud. Check out the Theme page in our Confluence Cloud Developer page.

   
   
   If you were referring to Server, then it may be possible to do so with CSS. I'm not too familiar with how the code would be to do that, but you might be able to combine something like Hide Space Tools for Anonymous Users and How to Restrict Users from Accessing People Directory. This way you could determine which users should be able to see the specific sections you are hiding.

4. It's still possible to restrict your search to the Current Space. You can find details about that from Confluence - Search in our documentation. It's no longer a checkbox, yet an option you can select.
5. I'm not sure what you mean when you refer to Jump to a Different Space Macro. Are you referring to Space Jump Macro? If so, I would refer to Ann's reply on the following thread: What can I use instead of space jump macro on Confluence 6.
6. I'm also not sure what you mean by the Migration Community Space. Can you show me an example of one of the pages you Googled that referred to it? I wasn't able to find any examples when searching that term. It may be that it's referred to something specifically.

Looking forward to hearing from you!

Shannon