How to verify if a former employee had a personal space?

Ashley Honeycutt

We have a request to provide access to a manager to the personal space of a former employee. 

Is there a way to verify if the user had a personal space if they may have set it to private?

If we do confirm that the space existed, how do we recover the permissions?

I've checked a few places, and it looks like even as an admin I can only see personal spaces listed if they have been shared with me (or a group I'm in).

Thank you!

Shatakshi Mete

Here’s how you can handle with personal spaces in Confluence:

1. Verify if the Personal Space Exists:

• Check Space Directory: As an admin, you can try checking the Space Directory. Sometimes personal spaces aren’t listed if they are private, but it’s worth a look.

• Direct Search: Use the search feature in Confluence to look for the former employee’s name or any specific content they might have created. This can sometimes help you find their personal space if it exists.

• Ask Support: If you still can’t find it, you might want to reach out to Atlassian support. They might be able to help verify if the personal space exists and whether it’s private.

2. Recovering Permissions:

If you confirm that the personal space does exist and you need to recover or access it:

• Space Admin Permissions: If you’re an admin, you should be able to take ownership of the space. Navigate to Space Tools > Permissions (in the space settings). If you can’t see it, you might need to use a different approach.

• Change Permissions:

  • Go to the Confluence Admin Console.
  • Under User Management, look for Groups and add the manager to a group with access rights or directly grant permissions to the manager’s account.
  • Then, check if you can access the space by adjusting the permissions as needed.

• Content Export/Import: If you can’t change the permissions directly, you might need to export the content from the personal space and then import it into a new space where you can grant the manager access.