Hello Atlassian Community!
After moving from Confluence Data Center to Confluence Cloud, one of the features that immediately stood out for us was Public Links.
External sharing was a frequent request from our users in Data Center, especially when teams needed to share specific documentation with vendors, partners, or auditors. In most cases, the only workaround was to export pages as PDFs or copy content into emails - which was never ideal.
With Confluence Cloud, Public Links provide a much simpler and more user-friendly way to do this.
What are Public Links?
A Public Link allows you to share one specific Confluence page with someone outside your organization.
The external user does not need a Confluence account or login - they can open the link directly in a browser.
This is especially useful when you want to:
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Share a single page (not an entire space)
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Avoid exporting content into email or attachments
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Provide quick access to external collaborators
Why this feature has been valuable for us
Since moving to Cloud, we’ve already seen several practical use cases where Public Links help:
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Sharing project documentation with an external vendor
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Providing release notes to external stakeholders
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Sharing process guidelines with auditors
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Sending meeting summaries to partners
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Publishing one-off information that doesn’t require full collaboration
It’s a lightweight way to share content externally without giving broader Confluence access.
How to create a Public Link
Creating a Public Link is very straightforward:
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Open the Confluence page you want to share
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Click Share (top right corner)
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Select Public link
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Enable the link (if prompted)
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Copy the generated URL and share it externally
The recipient can then view the page directly.
What external users can do
When someone opens a Public Link:
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They can view the page content
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They cannot edit the page
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They cannot browse other pages in the space
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They do not automatically gain access to anything else
Access remains restricted to the specific page shared.
Important guidance before using Public Links
As with any external sharing capability, it’s important to use this feature responsibly.
Share only externally appropriate content
Avoid sharing pages that contain:
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Confidential internal documentation
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Employee-specific information
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Sensitive financial or security details
Public links can be turned off anytime from the Share settings.
Public Links are one of those small but impactful Cloud features that many teams have been asking for over the years. For us, it has been a valuable addition after migrating from Data Center, especially for controlled external collaboration.
