Hiding Comments in Confluence

[Deleted user]

Is it possible to hide comments to annoymous users in confluence.

We dont want users who are not logged in to see any comments on any pages.

[David at David Simpson Apps · Accepted solution]

Confluence Server:

You'll need to edit comments.vmd (& perhaps comments.soy) to remove commenting from anonymous users.

Try searching <confluence-install>/confluence/decorators/components/comments.vmd for

#if (!$action.isPrintableVersion())
#requireResourcesForContext("atl.comments")
<div id="comments-section" class="pageSection group">

Replace with

#if (!$action.isPrintableVersion() && $!remoteUser)
#requireResourcesForContext("atl.comments")
<div id="comments-section" class="pageSection group">

I've added && $!remoteUser to the if statement above.

One more thing: You'll have to update this each time you upgrade Confluence. And it's not strictly supported :)

Confluence Cloud:

You cannot do this. Sorry.

[Deleted user]

This is brilliant, you are awesome!!

[David at David Simpson Apps]

Thanks @Brian Mitchell. I always aim for awesome ;)

[JohnA]

Hi Brian,

I'm sorry to say that it isn't currently possible to do this using a vanilla install of Confluence but we do have a feature request to ask that we incorporate this kind of fucntionality in a future release of Confluence so I would suggest that you watch/vote/comment on the issue so that our developers are aware of the desire for this functionality.

However, I believe that you might be able to work something out for this using the Customware Visibility plugin and the Hide-From macro to hide page comments from the anonymous user.

All the best,
John

[Deleted user]

Would this macro need to placed in every page? as the space we are trying to hide comments from is a help system and is extremly vast.

[Deleted user]

Would it be possible for some instruction or example on how to apply this macro, i have been having trouble for the past few hours to get the syntax correct.

[Monique Khairuliana]

Hi Everyone,

We can use JavaScript to hide comments section for anonymous users:

How to hide Page Tools and Comments section for Anonymous Users in Confluence?

[Mike Standal]

Hello. How would a cloud account access these pages to incorporate the solution you link to here? I have gone through every admin page for our cloud account and cannot find this.

Thanks

[David at David Simpson Apps]

You cannot do this on Confluence Cloud. Sorry.

Also, this method, using Javascript to hide things from anonymous users isn't a very security conscious way of hiding things. They can should be prevented from rendering in the first place.

[Kate _izi_]

You can use Talk - Advanced Inline Comments add-on. It provides the capability to set vieweing permissions, on a space level and for specific comments. So with Talk you can hide comments and discussions for anonymous users.

Hope it helps.

[James Rickards]

See https://jira.atlassian.com/browse/CONF-7742- Closed, looks like complex Comment Security logic won't be added to the core product.

See https://jira.atlassian.com/browse/CONF-5639- Open when I wrote this, for a slighly simpler proposal for extra comment security

See https://confluence.atlassian.com/display/CONF35/Viewing+Commentsfor information on how to configure how comments behave on a site. Might not be able to 'hide' them, but I think you can have them collapsed when viewed for the first time.