Inserting two or more files with the same name doesn't work correctly

[Shantanu Singh]

Consider two text files

folder2/a.txt with contents "This is the first file"

folder1/a.txt with contents "This is the second file"

Insert the first file and then the second. 

Confluence replaces the first file with the second but it doesn't warn you. Both text files will have the content "This is the second file"

Please fix this bug.

[Jobin Kuruvilla [Adaptavist] · Accepted solution]

It is actually a feature of Confluence for file versioning. There is no folder structure in Confluence and it just thinks that you are uploading a new version of the same file (file name is the unique attribute here). And you can browse the different versions when you are viewing the file!

If those 2 files are different, either you should rename it or they should go to different pages in Confluence.

[Peter O'Connor]

It's not a well-implemented feature then!  File name should not be used as the unique attribute.  You drop two different files into a document and then you see two of the same file there - this is clearly unexpected behaviour.  

[Peter O'Connor]

I've had this bug so many times.  It is not a feature, it is a bug.  It seems especially crazy when you drag-and-drop the files into the document.  You drag and drop different files and then see that they're all the same.

[Seth Green]

I agree with this assessment. I've been doing this with recordings of zoom meetings, which are always named `zoom_0.mp4` by default, only recently realizing that pages with multiple recordings actually just have the same recording multiple times because of this bug.

It would be great if this worked the way Mac downloads (for example) works, where it creates `zoom_0 (1).mp4` automatically when you add a file with the same name. Maybe warning you first, as mentioned above.

[Shantanu Singh]

Thanks for clarifying.

But doesn't this call for a warning? 

The only way I figured this was happening was that I was inserting PDFs and could see the previews. If it were a non-previewable file, there was no way I would have known. 

A warning  like this would be helpful:

"An older item named “a.txt” already exists in this page. Do you want to replace it with the newer one you’re inserting?"

[Jobin Kuruvilla [Adaptavist]]

Makes sense for new users. But imagine the warning appearing to all the users who knows about this feature. Can be annoying for many :) Having said that, it is my personal opinion and it won't hurt to create a feature request for the same in jira.atlassian.com. Maybe the warning needs to appear only for new users or it can be a one time pop-up which can be turned off.

[Matthew Read]

If someone is intentionally trying to replace a file under one path by uploading it to a different path, then a warning is unquestionably the least of the things they deserve to deal with.