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Confluence knowledge base not linking to Jira space

IT Support

I found that once you setup knowledge base from one of the spaces, and even populate it with a page/content, it still doesn't show up linked to knowledge base option in sidebar of Jira. Neither users can search for that link from our help centre portal.

Accepted answers

All comments

Matthew Sinclair

Check the permission flags on confluence/JSM - if they aren't set correctly - you will see exactly what you are reporting.

Also there's a bit of labeling/tagging needed to get results to pop correctly - not to mention contexts.

Source:

https://support.atlassian.com/jira-service-management-cloud/docs/set-up-a-knowledge-base-so-customers-can-serve-themselves/

Specifics:

https://support.atlassian.com/jira-service-management-cloud/docs/manage-knowledge-base-permissions/

https://support.atlassian.com/jira-service-management-cloud/docs/link-confluence-spaces-to-your-service-project/

And much more on source.

IT Support

Thanks Matthew. To clarify, the issue is earlier than permissions: the link never gets created. In Space settings → Channels & self service → Knowledge base, I click Set up knowledge base → Confluence → Create or link existing content → Next, and instead of a space picker I get “Product is already active – Confluence is already active on [my company site]”. Both options, “Go to Confluence” and “Close” send me back without anything linked (no Link button appears), and the setup page still shows “Set up knowledge base.”

Background: Confluence Free was added to the site during an earlier attempt (it went through the Confluence onboarding flow). Jira Free + Service Collection Free. Is there another way to link an existing space, or a known issue with this flow when Confluence was added first?

Anwesha Pan

Hi @IT Support 👋🏻

First of all, welcome to community! ✨

It is mostly caused by space viewing permissions, page-level restrictions, or portal search settings.

In JSM, you can add the link by following the below steps:

Go to your JSM project.
In the sidebar, click on the Project dropdown —> Knowledge base.
Select Link space —> Choose the Confluence space you want to associate with this service project.
Set the Viewing access:
- Anyone who can access the customer portal (if you want portal customers to search/view articles).
- Only licensed users (if it's internal for agents only).
Click Save.

In Jira, you can add project shortcut by following the below steps:

Open your Jira project.
In the top tabs, click on More —> click Docs.
Click Manage Connection.
Search by your KB space or page name.
Click Connect.

I hope this helps & resolves your issue. 🙂

Thanks,
Anwesha

Anwesha Pan

Also make sure you have Confluence user access

Go to admin.atlassian.com.
Navigate to Directory —> Users and find your account.
Verify that your account has Product access checked for Confluence (and you belong to the confluence-users group).
- Even on Free plans, if your account only has access to Jira and not Confluence, Jira cannot query the Confluence space directory with your session token and defaults to initiating a Confluence trial/add-on prompt.

Matthew Sinclair

Technically there are situations where those who use the JSM KB space do not need Confluence user seats.

This is why it's a popular feature.

So its not required - it helps - but it shouldn't be required unless its an "internal" KB.

They would have to be treated as an external knowledge bases.

https://support.atlassian.com/jira-service-management-cloud/docs/the-difference-between-internal-and-external-knowledge-bases/

Details are in the document linked above.

IT Support

Hey,

As you can see I do not have the options mentioned by you. Once I go ahead with setup, it lands me to confluence homepage. My goal here is to map IT Helpdesk space in Jira to IT Help Articles space in confluence.

Anwesha Pan

Hi IT Support

As per your left screenshot, in JSM you can click on Set up Knowledge Base to link the confluence wiki.

IT Support

Hi, I have already done that and the screen you see on right, the conflu portal is where I land from it. So, it is Setup KB > Confluence > Create or link exisiting content > {this screenshot below} > land on conflu portal. There is no step allowing me to link "IT Help Articles" space which is made on confluence portal.

IT Support

Hey, plz dont mind my copy pasting here. So, I have created a brand new site, totally different from old and followed the steps, still I end up having same issue. Tell me where I did wrong.

Knowledge base set up first, before Confluence was added anywhere.

Create or link existing content: site the-nest-team selected.

JSM offers to add Confluence with zero users at no cost. Confirmed.

Setup in progress.

. Setup reports All done, you are good to go.

Knowledge base settings still show Set up knowledge base.

Confluence is present on the site (Standard plan, 0 users).

Running Set up knowledge base again: Confluence selected.

Create or link existing content selected.

Same result: Product is already active on the-nest-team.

Opening the knowledge base space directly asks to join Confluence (not done, to avoid a paid licence).

. Help center search on the new site returns no articles.

Anwesha Pan

Hi @IT Support

Thanks for sharing the detailed steps. As per your screenshot, did you click on this link Go to Knowledge Base?

If yes, then I am assuming cross site connection is happening for you somehow. In Atlassian Cloud, an organization can contain multiple distinct site URLs (e.g., site-a.atlassian.net and site-b.atlassian.net). I would suggest you to check your site URLs first.

Open Jira and Confluence in two browser tabs and compare their address bars to check if their subdomain matches. For example:
1. Confluence was activated on your first site (e.g., https://the-nest-team.atlassian.net/wiki).
2. Your Jira project lives on a different site (e.g., https://nesthealthcentre.atlassian.net/jira).
3. When you click Set up knowledge base on the new site, Jira tries to provision Confluence for that new site. But because your Atlassian account/organization already holds a Free Confluence instance on the-nest-team, Atlassian's licensing gate stops you and throws that error.

If the sites do not match then try the below steps:

Option A: Move your JSM project to the site that has Confluence

Go to your https://xxx.atlassian.net site.
Check if Jira Service Management is available there. If so, create your service project on that site.
Because both products share the exact same domain, the knowledge base links immediately without encountering the provisioning loop.

Option B: Add Confluence to the new site via Atlassian Admin

If you must keep your service desk on the new site:

Go to admin.atlassian.com.
Under Sites/ Products, select your new site.
Go to Products —> Add product (or discover apps) and add Confluence directly to this new site.
(Note: If you are on the Free tier, Atlassian limits you to one free Confluence instance per organization; you may need to deactivate Confluence on the unused site first, or upgrade to a standard trial).
Once Confluence is live under the same site URL as your Jira instance, create your KB space there, and the setup link in JSM will connect seamlessly.

Please let me know if this worked.

Thanks,
Anwesha

IT Support

Hey,

No, its not the case. Honestly the new site the-nest-teams, I created only to test things again all over. There is no cross site linking as I have confirmed web url everytime. Both old and new sites results in same error. My only intention to use another site was to show images to you guys that it still dont work. All images with white theme layout are from my new site, the-nest-teams and black theme were for old so, no, it rules out anything cross site.

Gabriela - LeanZero

Hey @IT Support, thanks for retesting on a fresh site, and sorry I missed that you already had app admin. You were right not to join Confluence. Atlassian's setup page says the knowledge base stays free while zero users have Confluence product access, and for same-site Confluence it only asks for JSM project admin permissions. Your agents create external articles from the service space with JSM access alone, so 0 Confluence users is how it's meant to work: https://support.atlassian.com/jira-service-management-cloud/docs/set-up-your-knowledge-base-with-confluence/

In the service space sidebar, go to Knowledge base > Articles > External > Create article, publish a test article and search your help center for it. If it shows up, your knowledge base works and only the settings page is stuck. If there's no Create article, setup didn't complete, which looks like JSDCLOUD-18225, where Atlassian's answer was to raise a support ticket so they can clean it up: https://jira.atlassian.com/browse/JSDCLOUD-18225

Free plans only get community support, so on the old site you can't open that ticket. Your new site's Confluence Standard might qualify, but I couldn't confirm that, so I'd try raising it from there.

I can't reproduce your zero-user setup on my test site, but if you post what you get, I'll compare it with mine

IT Support

Thanks for trying. I have never got to select articles in knowledge base, it was always stuck to setup. Its a clear bug, I will try to raise a ticket. If doesnt work, then my company may look for other vendors. Thank you all for the help!

Levi Hassan

I've been having the same issue so it's definitely not just you. I'll let you know if I find a solution to it.

IT Support

select tech issue and then app(JSm premium) then comes AI and you go through it. if not maybe send a screenshot.

Anwesha Pan

Thank you for clarifying that eliminates the cross-site theory.

Have you tried linking JSM from your Confluence space settings?

Go to your space —> Click on the 3 dots (…) next to the space name —> click Space settings
Click—> Integrations —> Application Links
Click on +Add Link

IT Support

Hey, thanks for replies but standard methods according to documentation do not work. My issue was fixed by tech team and they acknowledged its a common bug from their side. Please, I will advise you to suggest people to enroll in trial premium version and let Jira fix this issue for them. Nothing in community forums or documentation will work because it's a known bug.

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