Why Would Search Tools Stop Working for External (Non Licensed) Users?

Question

We have setup our customers to be able to view our system training and config knowledge without using a license - on Confluence Cloud.

Everything has been going fine until the last few days, when I start receiving reports about the Global Search tool not populating with any suggestions. When testing this with an external (non licensed account) on 06 May, and then re-testing 10 May - I can confirm, the global search tool (top right hand of the page), as well as the Search macro, do not return any results.

Frustrating because this is now generating unnecessary noise from our customers?

Have I missed something about non-licensed users not having access to Search functionality?

Srinatha Tondihal · Answer

@Andrew Rose , You might want to vote and watch the below bug which was raised for this kind of issue.

* JRASERVER-72404 - Knowledge Base for unlicensed user not showing when Confluence does not have Anonymous Access

You might want to check on the work around mentioned on the same.

Thanks,

Srinath T

Srinatha Tondihal · Answer

@Andrew Rose , yes enabling anonymous access will allow any one on internet.

Basically below are the steps you need to follow.

* Turn on Anonymous "Can Use" access in your Global Confluence permissions.
* You would then need to go into each space where you want none of the pages to be accessed by Anonymous users and edit Space Permissions, removing anonymous access.
* In the space where you do want them to access a few of the articles, you will need to add page restrictions to the pages you do not want anonymous users to access. You can give the view and edit permissions to the confluence users group on the pages. So every page you do not want anonymous to access would need the restriction added to it.

I cant confirm on the security because once has to implement it carefully. You will have to test and test to make sure restricted content is not exposed, its tricky but should be achievable.

Thanks,

Srinath T

Andrew Rose · Answer

And then, if the site is opened to Anonymous access, which means "Anyone on the internet can access" ... in terms of security and protecting IP. Do the following layers of security still apply?

1. The content in each Space is still protected if the Anonymous access has not been activated.

2. If a Space does allow for Anonymous access, pages within that space can still be restricted by using the page restrictions: 
" Only specific people can view or edit"

I am asking these questions by referring to the following article - but obviously, because of IP, I need to make sure I am getting it right:

https://support.atlassian.com/confluence-cloud/docs/set-up-public-access/

Thanks for your time