Does Confluence search present results from multiple versions of a page?

Question

If a given Confluence page has multiple versions, does a search return search hits from older versions?

Example:  I list a JIRA Issue in a Confluence page set up to track tasks.  In subsequent meetings that JIRA issue is closed and is removed from a newer saved version of the Confluence page.  I eventually want to search and find when that Issue was discussed and the notes associated with it?

Will the search find that version of the Confluence page where the JIRA issue was discussed?

If not, do you have a suggestion on how to find content like this?

Davin Studer · Answer

Only current pages are returned in the search results, but if you have access to running SQL you could do something like this ...

declare @searchTerm nvarchar(512)

set @searchTerm = 'ac:name="jira"' -- <-- Put your search term here

select
    case
        when C1.PREVVER is null then S1.SPACEKEY
        else S2.SPACEKEY
    end SPACEKEY,
    C1.TITLE,
    C1.[VERSION],
    case
        when C1.PREVVER is null then C1.CONTENTID
        else C2.CONTENTID
    end CONTENTID
from CONTENT C1
left outer join CONTENT C2 on C1.PREVVER = C2.CONTENTID
inner join BODYCONTENT B on C1.CONTENTID = B.CONTENTID
left outer join SPACES S1 on C1.SPACEID = S1.SPACEID
left outer join SPACES S2 on C2.SPACEID = S2.SPACEID
where C1.CONTENT_STATUS = 'current'
    and C1.CONTENTTYPE = 'PAGE'
    and B.BODY like '%' + @searchTerm + '%'
order by SPACEKEY, C1.TITLE, C1.[VERSION] DESC

Manon Soubies-Camy · Answer

Hello Robb and welcome to Community!

There was a feature request: Add ability to search historical pages and attachments, but Atlassian replied they wouldn't do it. As far as I know, there isn't any add-on answering your need.

A workaround might be to use the hide-if macro from Visibility (free app) and store there your previous Jira issues and comments. They would not be shown when viewing the page, but still be searchable since content is indexed.

Hope this helps,

- Manon