Dynamic content via multiple spaces with restricted access

Maja Jacyszyn January 2, 2025

Hello community!

I have the following question/task and need some help with it:

 

Let's say I have multiple spaces A to D, and, respectively, also multiple companies A to D. In space A I have my original pages and content saved; only company A has access to space A. Company A has access to all the other spaces B to D.

Now, with the other spaces, each company has access to their own space, ie. company B has access to space B, and only space B. Same goes for company C and D. Next, I want to include pages from space A to all the other spaces, the content should stay dynamic, so I can change it in space A and it automatically updates in all the other spaces. It is important that the access should stay restricted for space A for all other companies (B to D). 

Is there a way to do that? I know the include page macro does not work because of its limitation in regards to space permissions and page restrictions. 

Any help is much appreciated. 

5 answers

1 accepted

2 votes
Answer accepted
Kristian Klima
Community Leader
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January 2, 2025

Hi @Maja Jacyszyn 

Late to this party but the easiest way might be using Space Sync for Confluence by Ricksoft.

You can sync content among the spaces

  • A -> B, C...
  • A <-> B
  • every which way :)

The idea is to update a page (or create a page) in A and sync it to B (you can automate the process using page statuses via app, Confluence Automation is not necessary).

You can restrict access to the app to specific users and, because, you're are dealing with TWO spaces, you can define your permissions independently without being restricted by the macros' limitations. Basically, have your cake and eat it.

If you're using inline links, the app automatically converts the links - a link from page 1 to page 2 in space A is converted to a link from page 1 to page 2 in space B.

As a bonus, you can also sync content between two Confluence SITES (not just spaces).

Maja Jacyszyn January 3, 2025

Thank you so much! Will definitely check this out, this sounds like the perfect solution. 

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0 votes
Roma Bubyakin _Wombats Corp_
Contributor
January 2, 2025

How about make a space E as a general sours, that will be available for A-D companies?

  • You will not publicly mention that space
  • Include it into A-D with include macro
  • Edit information only in space E and only by company A

Regards, Roman

 

0 votes
Alex Koxaras _Relational_
Community Leader
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January 2, 2025

Hi @Maja Jacyszyn and welcome to the community,

It is indeed impossible to achieve this with the include macro and with all the prerequisites you have. What you could do if to turn on the public link for the specific pages you want to share with companies B,C and D and add them as iframes inside other pages on spaces B, C and D. The result would be something like the following:

confluence iframe.png

Of course, having a public link means that anyone with that link will have access to that page :/

Maja Jacyszyn January 2, 2025

Thank you for the suggestion and happy to be here!

Unfortunately, the link being public is not an option, as this would likely be a security issue.

We really want to limit access for each company and its users to their own space as best as possible. Some content, however, will be updated frequently and is the same for every company, which is why I am trying to find a solution to have the original content in one space and mirrored in the other spaces. 

 

 

Alex Koxaras _Relational_
Community Leader
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January 2, 2025

@Maja Jacyszyn  unfortunately you can't have all you need. You have to sacrifice something. So you either user a public space as suggested by @Rebekka Heilmann _viadee_  OR you grant access to space A, while placing restrictions to your other pages, leaving the ones to be available by that group of people.

Another solution would be to try for an app that could possibly work for you, like e.g. https://marketplace.atlassian.com/apps/1224009/content-mirror-for-confluence?hosting=cloud&tab=overview

But again you have to see if the above works with the permission you already have on your spaces.

Maja Jacyszyn January 2, 2025

Thank you so much for your help, I will take a look at that! 

0 votes
Maja Jacyszyn January 2, 2025

Hi @Rebekka Heilmann _viadee_ !

Thanks for the quick reply. I have access to Confluence Automation, but wouldn't want to have new pages all the time. I've also figured that API would be my best bet here. Any recommendation on where to start or is there a guide somewhere?

The "public" space is only an option, if I can make sure that users of each company and each space B-D cannot see each others information, when they access space A. Is that possible?

Thank you so much!

0 votes
Rebekka Heilmann _viadee_
Community Leader
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Community Leaders are connectors, ambassadors, and mentors. On the online community, they serve as thought leaders, product experts, and moderators.
January 2, 2025

Hi @Maja Jacyszyn and welcome to the Community,

like you already said, the normal way to do that would be the include Macro, but that respects space and page permissions so it won't work. Same goes for embedded links.

Do you have Confluence Automation available? You could copy the page to Spaces B-D when it's updated in A. That probably results in new pages all the time though. Updating a page with specific content is probably only possible via API.

Another not too neat workaround would be to have a "public" space with that content and include the content in Space A as well as Space B-D.

Maja Jacyszyn January 2, 2025

Sorry, I meant to answer here :(

Hi @Rebekka Heilmann _viadee_ !

Thanks for the quick reply. I have access to Confluence Automation, but wouldn't want to have new pages all the time. I've also figured that API would be my best bet here. Any recommendation on where to start or is there a guide somewhere?

The "public" space is only an option, if I can make sure that users of each company and each space B-D cannot see each others information, when they access space A. Is that possible?

Thank you so much!

Rebekka Heilmann _viadee_
Community Leader
Community Leader
Community Leaders are connectors, ambassadors, and mentors. On the online community, they serve as thought leaders, product experts, and moderators.
January 2, 2025

The API Guide is your best starting point: The Confluence Cloud REST API 
You usually need some scripting skills at least to make the most of it.

 

Regarding the public space, I was thinking of creating a NEW space, that is accessible for all companies. You put all shared contents there and use the include-Macro in all other spaces, including A.

Maja Jacyszyn January 2, 2025

Thank you for your help, I will check out the API Guide.

Yes, but if everyone has access to the new space, the problem would still be that they would have access to each other's user information (for instance names), or am I wrong?

Rebekka Heilmann _viadee_
Community Leader
Community Leader
Community Leaders are connectors, ambassadors, and mentors. On the online community, they serve as thought leaders, product experts, and moderators.
January 2, 2025

@Maja Jacyszyn they have access to each other's information regardless, if they all have normal user permissions on the site. Space access is no concept that could be compared to multi tenant environments.

Maja Jacyszyn January 2, 2025

Then I might have misunderstood the concept of spaces. I was planning to only give access to a specific space by using guest accounts. 

Rebekka Heilmann _viadee_
Community Leader
Community Leader
Community Leaders are connectors, ambassadors, and mentors. On the online community, they serve as thought leaders, product experts, and moderators.
January 3, 2025

Then they don't have "normal" user permissions. Guests cannot search for users in general, but also not within their space. See also: What can guests see and do in Confluence? | Confluence Cloud | Atlassian Support

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