External access to 3 pages

[Bernard Van Heuverswyn]

Hi there,
We're currently using Jira and Confluence with approximately 80 internal users.
We have around 50 Spaces, some of which are restricted to management or HR through specific Groups.
This setup is working well for us.

I'd like to grant access to 3 specific pages, plus their subpages, within our "Handbook" Space to an external consultant.
This Handbook is normally intended for our internal users and consists of about 30 pages + sub-pages.
However, this external user should only have access to 3 pages + sub-pages.

I initially considered using External Links, but these can be forwarded, so that's not suitable.

As a second attempt, I created a specific Group called "External Consultant," protected the 3 desired pages, and then granted access to these 3 pages (and their subpages automatically) to this new "External Consultant" Group.
I subsequently added the "External" user to this group.

When testing this configuration, I noticed that:

• The external consultant has access to ALL personal Spaces and a few other Spaces (I'm unsure why),
• but does not have access to the 3 authorized pages.

What is the recommended configuration for this type of situation?

And how can I implement it?

In summary, I want to grant an external consultant access to only 3 pages (plus subpages) within a single Space, without giving them access to any other Spaces or Jira.

Thanks for your help

[Kristian Klima]

Hi @Bernard Van Heuverswyn 

Without relying on apps, I think you can do the following.

1. Create a dedicated space, let's call it Consultant.
2. In Consultant, create as many pages as you want to share.
3. Use Page include macro and put individual pages from your original space in. One page at a time.
4. In Consultant, arrange the pages into a suitable structure.
5. Invite your external consultant as a Guest user
   1. guests are free
   2. guests can access only a single space at a time.
6. Assign your consulting guest the Consultant space.

This way,

• the consultant will see your original content from multiple spaces in one space.
• they won't be able to change it.
• you can, if you want, give them edit rights to the Consultant space so they'll be able to write notes on those pages but will not be able to edit the content of included pages.
• if you update the original page, the changes will be reflected in the Consultant space.

I hope got your question right and that the above makes sense :) 

[Bernard Van Heuverswyn]

Thanks Kristian,

This is a first option, but it requires some manipulation. The 3 Pages are created, but it is a TeamLeader who writes, permanently modifies the content of the sub-pages (of these 3 pages)? He can still add some.
If I understand correctly, each time he adds a new sub-page, he must not forget to notify me to redo the manipulations. This is something he will very quickly forget to do.
I hope to find a simpler solution that does not require any further follow-up

[Kristian Klima]

@Bernard Van Heuverswyn 

Yes, your assumption is correct.

There's an app called Space Sync for Confluence by Ricksoft. It allows you to sync (push) selected pages from one space to another.

This way, your Team Leader would update a page, or create a new one, and simply hit a button to push the changes / new page from their space to the Consultant space.

So you should be able to push/sync selected pages from multiple spaces into the Consultant space where your Guest Consultant would be able to read it.

(not sure if your use case is worth the app given what looks like a limited volume of the pages - perhaps the manual work of creating a new page in Consultant with the macro once in a while is a more viable option).

[Lucas Modzelewski _Lumo_]

Check this case, maybe it will help you: https://community.atlassian.com/t5/Confluence-questions/Re-I-hate-confluence-Until-I-get-a-solution-to-my-user/qaq-p/2828767/comment-id/324220#M324220

[Bernard Van Heuverswyn]

Thanks for the idea, I'll discuss it with the TeamLeader.
Actually, I was hoping that simply restricting the Sharing of the 3 pages to just a specific group (which would only include the TeamLeader, this external, and the Management), would have the effect that he would only have access to these 3 pages. And nothing else. It seemed normal to me ...