How can we use a Confluence space as an extranet to surface pages to our customers?

[Andrew Kennedy]

We want to assemble some Confluence spaces with differing levels of assumed access, i.e an intranet that contains information that we would prefer to keep internal, and an extranet with the same information without the internal elements. It is for pages such as Our Products and Our Services.

The hope would be to use the extranet pages as the source of up-to-date information in our customer portals and logged-in web pages, somehow surfacing them as read-only web pages (though we also like to provide the customer with the ability to download a page as a PDF, but that is not as important.

Can that be done, and how?

If so, would we need additional licenses for the customers? ... it would not be practical to get them to register, unless it was through our own SSO, but we would not want to pay a full license for such occasional access.

[Shannon S · Accepted solution]

Andrew,

A Confluence space can either be internal (restricted only to users with Confluence licenses) or external (made publicly available to anyone who can browse to the site, regardless if they have a login or not.

One solution you could use is to host your Confluence instance behind a local intranet, and have your admin set it up on your network in a way that users from outside your company firewall cannot access. This way, a user wouldn't need a login to see the page, they'd just have to be within your company firewall.

If you do not put it behind your firewall, then any public articles would be seen by the rest of the internet. If something is private, then you'll need to restrict it to just Confluence users and this does require a license.

I hope that's clear but let me know if you have any questions.

Regards,

Shannon

[Jan Sondergaard]

@Shannon SThis topic seem to have come up several times over the years. I find community questions as far back as 2011 on the topic.

I easily got a customer facing (Anonymous Access) FAQ style space published.

However, it ends up looking more like a Confluence ad than it does a public space run by us.

For instance.

1. We need one that does not include the atlassian sidebar (Dashboard, Get app, Give Atlassian feedback, Log In), space menu and other items that will confuse our users.

2. The space (when viewed on iOS device) include an invitation to download the Confluence Cloud app. We do not want to get users confused with that. confluence.atlassian.com does not do that.

3. The Live Search element (when viewed on iOS device) says "Tap to see livesearch content, which prompt the user to go to the App Store, instead of simply letting the user search. confluence.atlassian.com does not do that.

4. How to set up CNAME for the space so customers could go to faq.mycompany.com instead of https://mycompany.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/myspace/overview

So, how would we go about setting up a public confluence space that

1. Does not have the user experience outlined above

2. Does not require user registration/login

3. Can be branded so it feels less Atlassian and more our company?

[Shannon S]

Hi Jan,

Thanks for reaching out to me via this thread.

A lot of the concerns you mention I've heard from other customers as well, and I understand the need.

Let me address each individually.

1. It's not currently possible to remove the sidebar and make customizations such as that in Cloud, but I've created a feature request, since this isn't the first time I've heard the request. Here is the case I created for this:

   • CONFCLOUD-58930 Improved view for public (anonymous) users

2. To disable the invitation for your users, it is likely a feature flag that we need to change for your instance. This will require you to contact the Cloud Support Team and they can assist you with that.

3. The Livesearch Macro isn't fully compatible with the mobile view, but if you're getting a notification suggestion to download the mobile app, then it may be that they created a specific version of that macro in the app, not accessible via the mobile view. Note that confluence.atlassian.com won't offer this, as it's not a Cloud instance. The iOS app is only made to work with Cloud instances (so those ending in *.atlassian.net or *.jira.com). There is a feature request to create one for mobile view:
   

   • CONFCLOUD-33556 Livesearch Create a mobile view for the live search macro

4. Setting up a custom domain is not yet possible. There is a feature request for this as well:

   • CLOUD-6999 Allow custom domains for Cloud apps

Thus, for your requirements:

1. All of your anonymous users will continue to have the same experience as regular users in Confluence, unless the feature is accepted. Note that they won't be able to access some functionality without a Confluence license.
2. Confluence can be accessed by anonymous users if you have set up Public Access. This will not require a login, but does still offer them the ability to login, in the case that a user is accessing the site without being logged in but does have a license on your instance. At this time that login option cannot be prevented, but I have covered it in the first request I sent you.
3. Lastly, it is not possible to customize the Cloud instance beyond the available color changes and the possibility to add your own logos. There's a feature request to be able to use custom themes below:

   • CONFCLOUD-41312 Allow use of custom themes in Confluence Cloud

For all the features I have mentioned, you can feel free to vote on each to show your support, comment with your exact usage case, and watch in order to receive updates.

As always, you can submit your feedback directly via the Feedback form, available on your instance when you click your avatar in the bottom left-hand corner.

Do let me know if you have any additional questions!

Kind regards,

Shannon

[Phillip Collins]

Hi Shannon and thanks for this information. I've checked the feature requests you logged but there doesn't seem to be a lot of movement. Can you please vide any sort of update?

Thank you