You set up one space properly: a client onboarding kit, a project scaffold, a set of runbooks. Now you need ten more just like it.
Confluence Cloud has no Copy space button. The request for one, CONFCLOUD-3191, was opened in May 2005 and has 882 votes.
What you can do today
- Create the new space by hand: key, name, permissions.
- Copy the source home page into it with its child pages included.
- Open the copy and check what came across: attachments, labels, restrictions, and any link that names the old space.
That is fine once. By the tenth client it is an afternoon, and a big tree is a long time to watch a progress bar.
What a full copy has to do
Create the space as the person copying, so they own it. Walk every page in batches, bringing attachments and labels, until the tree is done. Skip any page that person cannot open, along with its children, so a copy never shows anyone more than they could already see. And when one page fails, write it down and keep going, rather than abandoning a half-built space.
Disclosure: I build Space Copy & Templates for Confluence at Katabarwa Labs, and it does exactly that. You can also save any space as a template and stamp out the next client space from it in one step.
What it does not do, so you can judge it fairly:
- Links that point at a specific page id, which includes smart links, still open the original page.
- Blog posts, comments and page history are not copied; you get the current version of each page.
- The new space gets your default permissions. Page restrictions come across only if you tick the option.
It runs entirely on Atlassian, and it is free for up to 10 users:
https://marketplace.atlassian.com/apps/2815938995/space-copy-and-templates-for-confluence
What does your last copied space usually come out missing?
