Troubleshoot and audit a Confluence site
5 min
Advanced
By the end of this lesson you'll be able to:
- View user or group access
- Identify the tools needed to troubleshoot and audit
- Explain some scenarios that show up in the audit log
- Demonstrate how to access and search the audit log
View user and group access
Get a high-level view of what a user or group can access in Confluence.
Confluence admins can view user or group access from Confluence administration. This is helpful when you want to make sure certain users or groups don’t have access to a page or space, or if you just want to see what content they can view. You can even inspect a user’s permissions to a specific content item.
👉 For example: Andrea is a Confluence admin for a small start-up. The HR team needs to view the agenda page the Legal team sent them for their yearly summit. However, they can’t view the Confluence page. Andrea navigates to User access in the Confluence administration admin tools and searches for the HR user group. Then, she types in the name of the page from the Legal team. Andrea can see that the HR team is denied access at the space level, and the page has inherited those permissions. She reaches out to the space admins of the Legal space to see if they want to allow the HR team to access their space.
To view user or group access:
- Select the Confluence administration icon in the top navigation bar.
- Navigate to Admin tools in the sidebar and select User access.
- Type in the name of the user or group you want to view.
- Download the space permissions report to view a list of spaces they have permission to view and administer.
- Type the name of a specific content item. Then, select one of the options from the Permission dropdown menu to see if the user or group can view, view and edit, or view and comment on the item.
👇 See what a user or group can access in Confluence in the User access screen.
Use the audit log
Track changes to your Confluence site with the audit log.
Use the audit log to review changes made in Confluence. The audit log is a useful troubleshooting tool and a helpful way to keep a record of changes and events in your site.
👉 For example: Chloe is a Confluence admin. One of her users, David, has suddenly lost his ability to access Confluence. She opens the audit log and filters by actions done in the past 60 minutes. Chloe scans the results and sees that another admin removed David from the default access group. Chloe reaches out to the admin who made the change to see if it was an accident and if she can add David back into the group.
To view and filter the audit log:
- Select the Confluence administration icon in the top navigation bar.
- Navigate to Monitoring in the sidebar and select Audit log.
- Choose a specific period from the Filter by time menu.
- Enter keywords in the Filter by keywords text box to narrow results further.
- Export the CSV audit log file by selecting Export.
- Select Settings to adjust the audit log settings.
👇 The audit log tracks key changes that happen in your Confluence site.
By default, events are removed from the log after three months. In the audit log settings, you can change this duration from 1 to 12 months.
What does the audit log track?
The audit log should be one of the first tools you reference when troubleshooting because it provides a detailed record of changes to your site. Here are some examples of what’s tracked in the audit log.
👇 Click the boxes below to explore some examples of information the audit log tracks.
The audit log doesn't record content information such as page or blog edits, location, or changes to page restrictions. For those changes, use the page history.
Basic troubleshooting
Explore some basic troubleshooting steps for Confluence admins.
Confluence admins have a variety of tools and resources at their disposal for responding to questions or issues in their site. Let’s explore some basic troubleshooting steps for admins:
👇 Click the tabs below to explore troubleshooting steps.
If a question or issue about access arises, an easy first step for admins is to view user or group access. You can quickly view the level of access a user has to spaces and individual pieces of content. Plus, you can expand each level and select the links to view the relevant permissions or contact the admins.
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Use mission control to analyze and respond to Confluence site activity
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- Mission control features