Visibility of Spaces

[Ken Dangerfield]

This question is in reference to Atlassian Documentation: Space Permissions Overview

Are authorized users of one particular space able to see the existence of other spaces, even though they may not have any access to those other spaces?

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

There's some stuff to ask about admin access and so-on, but the simple answer to the question is for most of your users - no.

If a normal user does not have the right to read a space, then they can not see it.  They won't get it in the list of spaces, they won't see it in the activity stream and their searches won't give them pages in it.  It's invisible to them in all ways.  They won't know it's there.

[Ken Dangerfield]

Thanks for the prompt reply.  So, in concrete terms I am considering Confluence for a small online consulting practice.  I would like to create one or more Spaces for each client and, for reasons of confidentiality, not have any of them be able to discern the existence of any other client.

For that matter, I may have more than one Space for a particular client and have the authorized users of one Space not be aware of the existence of the other Spaces with the same client.

Your answer seems to confirm that this is possible.  Is it breakable?

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

It's a mixed answer.

You're fine on the Spaces.  If Alice can see space A, Bob can see B and Chuck can see both, then Alice has no knowledge of B, and Bob has no idea about A.

What could let you down is the user visibility.  If Alice wanted to mention Boba Fett in space A, then she would probably start typing @bo... at which point it might suggest Bob and Boba Fett.  So she'd accidentally find out that Bob is a user.  Locked down correctly, all she'll know is that there's a Bob in the system, no contact details, emails and so on, but she will know about Bob.  Not much of a problem if the name is not unusual, there's a lot of Bobs around.  But if it's Slartibartfast, it's a bit more identifiable.

[Rodney Hughes]

only qualification is that the People Directory shows everyone in the system regardless of Spaces they access or not access