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      Issue Summary

      Unlicensed Users from JSM are unable to search for Confluence pages with the Quick Search.

      Steps to Reproduce

      1. Create a KB space from the JSM project;
      2. Let the Knowledge base link set as Restricted;
      3. Add a user that has only site access (no product license);
      4. Login as the unlicensed user, user can view the space and its pages.
      5. Try to search the pages in the Quick Search;
        • Also, searching on the Search this space does not return any result.

      Expected Results

      If Unlicensed Users is are enabled from the JSM project, they should be able to search for Confluence pages.

      Actual Results

      If Unlicensed Users are enabled from JSM, they are not getting the pages in the Quick Search, no search results for Unlicensed Users.

      Workaround

      Currently, there is no known workaround for this behavior. A workaround will be added here when available

            [AI-900] Unlicensed users cannot use Quick Search

            Pinned comments

            Pinned by Roberto M.

            Sid Nanda (Inactive) added a comment - - edited

            Hey folks, I’m Sid - a Backend Engineer with the Confluence Search team. Appreciate the patience from everyone as we’ve tried to thoroughly investigate this scenario and whether it should or can be supported at this time.

            While we understand unlicensed JSM users have some capabilities in Confluence (including full access to Confluence pages in the Knowledge Base space) - we only currently support searching from JSM directly for unlicensed users (the search in the top right of the JSM help seeker experience) and will not be able to enable the cross-product search functionality in Confluence for unlicensed users at this time.

            We understand the frustration with the lack of parity between these search experiences and are working with teams across products to see how we can bring this functionality to users as soon as we can. Thank you for your continued patience - we’ll be converting this bug to a suggestion so you can continue to track our progress

            Sid Nanda (Inactive) added a comment - - edited Hey folks, I’m Sid - a Backend Engineer with the Confluence Search team. Appreciate the patience from everyone as we’ve tried to thoroughly investigate this scenario and whether it should or can be supported at this time. While we understand unlicensed JSM users have some capabilities in Confluence (including full access to Confluence pages in the Knowledge Base space) - we only currently support searching from JSM directly for unlicensed users (the search in the top right of the JSM help seeker experience) and will not be able to enable the cross-product search functionality in Confluence for unlicensed users at this time. We understand the frustration with the lack of parity between these search experiences and are working with teams across products to see how we can bring this functionality to users as soon as we can. Thank you for your continued patience - we’ll be converting this bug to a suggestion so you can continue to track our progress

            All comments

            Nicolas PR added a comment -

            Still no interest in fixing this?

            It’s honestly beyond comprehension how an issue as critical and dysfunctional as this one hasn’t gathered enough interest or priority for Atlassian to address. A knowledge base without a proper search function is a contradiction in itself—what’s the point of storing information if users can’t efficiently retrieve it?

            Customers have been reporting this problem for years (some tickets dating back to 2016!), and yet, here we are in 2025, still waiting for a solution. At what point does Atlassian acknowledge that this is not just a minor inconvenience but a fundamental flaw in Confluence?

            Meanwhile, I’m being harassed daily by my team and our clients over this issue—and honestly, I can’t blame them. Their frustration is justified. The stress this creates is enormous, and as an administrator, my position has become untenable because of this bug. I’m expected to provide solutions, but how can I when even Atlassian refuses to address a problem this severe?

            Yes, alternative solutions are becoming harder to ignore, but the additional workload is massive—having to explore new tools while still maintaining our current system is overwhelming. And that’s not even considering the nightmare of data migration and the complete breakdown of Confluence’s integration with JSM. This situation is beyond frustrating—it’s unbelievable.

            On top of that, chasing Atlassian support on this issue has basically become a part-time job—and it shouldn’t be. I shouldn’t have to spend my time constantly escalating this problem, nor should I be put in a position where I feel forced to discredit Atlassian’s products to my colleagues or even publicly on social media. That’s the last thing I want to do—but at some point, what other choice do we have if this issue keeps being ignored?

            I also have an upcoming meeting in my company about this, and thanks to Atlassian’s lack of interest, I will look completely incompetent trying to explain why this issue is still unresolved.

            Please, please, please—you HAVE to prioritize this and communicate with us. This is not a minor inconvenience. This is a critical failure affecting real businesses, real teams, and real people. We need answers.

            ee1911a8f30a 505da7f6a08d cteh 7edc8bf2bf6d vsiqueira  nghuraiya@atlassian.com 

            Countless customers are desperately waiting for this feature..
            32b46f90b164 3a052eec4d4e 656b6a1af4e3 904def9d3719 c4a065a011ab 35513a0d2c6f afe1aaea869c 94914d852cbc 93dd6428171f 1c84a12205ac eb3858a0d143  ...

            Nicolas PR added a comment - Still no interest in fixing this? It’s honestly beyond comprehension how an issue as critical and dysfunctional as this one hasn’t gathered enough interest or priority for Atlassian to address. A knowledge base without a proper search function is a contradiction in itself—what’s the point of storing information if users can’t efficiently retrieve it? Customers have been reporting this problem for years (some tickets dating back to 2016!), and yet, here we are in 2025, still waiting for a solution. At what point does Atlassian acknowledge that this is not just a minor inconvenience but a fundamental flaw in Confluence? Meanwhile, I’m being harassed daily by my team and our clients over this issue—and honestly, I can’t blame them. Their frustration is justified. The stress this creates is enormous , and as an administrator, my position has become untenable because of this bug. I’m expected to provide solutions, but how can I when even Atlassian refuses to address a problem this severe? Yes, alternative solutions are becoming harder to ignore , but the additional workload is massive —having to explore new tools while still maintaining our current system is overwhelming. And that’s not even considering the nightmare of data migration and the complete breakdown of Confluence’s integration with JSM . This situation is beyond frustrating—it’s unbelievable . On top of that, chasing Atlassian support on this issue has basically become a part-time job —and it shouldn’t be . I shouldn’t have to spend my time constantly escalating this problem, nor should I be put in a position where I feel forced to discredit Atlassian’s products to my colleagues or even publicly on social media. That’s the last thing I want to do—but at some point, what other choice do we have if this issue keeps being ignored? I also have an upcoming meeting in my company about this , and thanks to Atlassian’s lack of interest , I will look completely incompetent trying to explain why this issue is still unresolved. Please, please, please—you HAVE to prioritize this and communicate with us. This is not a minor inconvenience. This is a critical failure affecting real businesses, real teams, and real people. We need answers. ee1911a8f30a 505da7f6a08d cteh 7edc8bf2bf6d vsiqueira   nghuraiya@atlassian.com   Countless customers are desperately waiting for this feature.. 32b46f90b164 3a052eec4d4e 656b6a1af4e3 904def9d3719 c4a065a011ab 35513a0d2c6f afe1aaea869c 94914d852cbc 93dd6428171f 1c84a12205ac eb3858a0d143   ...

            Happy New Year 2025!  

            Though it’s hard to fully celebrate when we’re starting yet another year without any updates on this issue. It’s honestly baffling that a knowledge base—meant to empower users—still lacks a functional search feature.

            At this point, it feels like we should start celebrating anniversaries of this bug instead. As paying customers, this lack of resolution is not only disappointing but actively impacts our ability to support our ~35 000 customers. A knowledge base without search is like a library without an index— or a car without wheels - what’s the point?

            To make matters worse, my boss has been asking me for the past three months to consider analyzing a migration to Notion. I’ve resisted the idea because it’d be veeeery painful and time-consuming (particularly after the server-to-cloud migration six months ago), but at least it would work. Frankly, it’s becoming harder and harder to argue against it when this issue remains unresolved.

            We truly hope this critical issue is addressed soon. After all, starting the year with unresolved bugs and frustrated customers isn't the most inspiring way to kick off 2025.

            Just as a reminder, issues to vote:

            505da7f6a08d 7edc8bf2bf6d 8cf5262db9b9 

            Nicolas PR added a comment - Happy New Year 2025!   Though it’s hard to fully celebrate when we’re starting yet another year without any updates on this issue. It’s honestly baffling that a knowledge base—meant to empower users—still lacks a functional search feature. At this point, it feels like we should start celebrating anniversaries of this bug instead. As paying customers, this lack of resolution is not only disappointing but actively impacts our ability to support our ~ 35 000 customers. A knowledge base without search is like a library without an index— or a car without wheels - what’s the point? To make matters worse, my boss has been asking me for the past three months to consider analyzing a migration to Notion. I’ve resisted the idea because it’d be veeeery painful and time-consuming (particularly after the server-to-cloud migration six months ago), but at least it would work. Frankly, it’s becoming harder and harder to argue against it when this issue remains unresolved. We truly hope this critical issue is addressed soon. After all, starting the year with unresolved bugs and frustrated customers isn't the most inspiring way to kick off 2025. Just as a reminder, issues to vote: AI-910  created in 2016 AI-900 created in 2021 AI-348 created in 2020 CONFCLOUD-45631 created in 2016 CONFCLOUD-43592  created in 2016 505da7f6a08d 7edc8bf2bf6d 8cf5262db9b9  

            jack added a comment - - edited

            8cf5262db9b9 7edc8bf2bf6d 
            We are also coming up against this issue in our environment. We use Confluence as an Internal knowledge base, as many others do and opening up pages to allow for anonymous access is not acceptable. An internal knowledge base absolutely needs a search function for any user given access.

            Can someone form Atlassian please engage in this issue and provide an update?

            jack added a comment - - edited 8cf5262db9b9 7edc8bf2bf6d   We are also coming up against this issue in our environment. We use Confluence as an Internal knowledge base, as many others do and opening up pages to allow for anonymous access is not acceptable. An internal knowledge base absolutely needs a search function for any user given access. Can someone form Atlassian please engage in this issue and provide an update?

            Nicolas PR added a comment -

            8cf5262db9b9  505da7f6a08d 

            We’re still seeing no updates on this issue, and it’s becoming increasingly frustrating. It’s not only unfair to our customers, who rely on the knowledge base, but also to us, as paying customers.
            A knowledge base without a search function severely limits its usefulness—what’s the point of having one if users can’t easily find the information they need? This feels like a fundamental feature that should have been addressed long ago.

            We hope this can be resolved soon, as it’s impacting our ability to effectively support our customers (which is the point to having a kb).

            This is absurd !

            Nicolas PR added a comment - 8cf5262db9b9   505da7f6a08d   We’re still seeing no updates on this issue, and it’s becoming increasingly frustrating. It’s not only unfair to our customers, who rely on the knowledge base, but also to us, as paying customers. A knowledge base without a search function severely limits its usefulness—what’s the point of having one if users can’t easily find the information they need? This feels like a fundamental feature that should have been addressed long ago. We hope this can be resolved soon, as it’s impacting our ability to effectively support our customers (which is the point to having a kb). This is absurd !

            FIRE comment from e2295a38b71d - dead on.

            7edc8bf2bf6d vsiqueira 8cf5262db9b9

            Someone from Atlassian please engage with the recent comments and provide updates to us. 

            Brandon Belanger added a comment - FIRE comment from e2295a38b71d - dead on. 7edc8bf2bf6d vsiqueira 8cf5262db9b9 Someone from Atlassian please engage with the recent comments and provide updates to us. 

            Nicolas PR added a comment - - edited

            8cf5262db9b9 505da7f6a08d

            When stating, "We understand the frustration with the lack of parity..." it's important to recognize that this isn't just about frustration, and to deny that would be missing the point (AI-348 created in 2020AI-900 created in 2021).

            The real issue here is one of credibility, which directly impacts our contracts and relationships with customers. Furthermore, this situation disrupts the flow of customer support and access to essential knowledge by our customers.
            Isn't the objective of your service to prevent precisely these kinds of issues?

            This situation is beyond critical—it's an absolute failure in logic. After migrating from a server instance (that was functional in this regard), and going through the complicated change management process, we're now in a position where we can't justify choosing Atlassian Cloud as our service provider.

            At our company, we really try to prioritize doing things right—ensuring that our features are coherent and well-executed before even considering "new, trendy, and often unnecessary features..". Within our company, it feels like more of your effort is being devoted to developing premium features than to stabilizing the core functionalities, which are the foundation of any reliable service.

            We sincerely hope to see progress on this issue or, at the very least, a clear roadmap.

            Thank you for your understanding

            Nicolas PR added a comment - - edited 8cf5262db9b9 505da7f6a08d When stating, " We understand the frustration with the lack of parity... " it's important to recognize that this isn't just about frustration, and to deny that would be missing the point ( AI-348 created in 2020 /  AI-900 created in 2021 ). The real issue here is one of credibility , which directly impacts our contracts and relationships with customers. Furthermore, this situation disrupts the flow of customer support and access to essential knowledge by our customers. Isn't the objective of your service to prevent precisely these kinds of issues? This situation is beyond critical —it's an absolute failure in logic . After migrating from a server instance ( that was functional in this regard) , and going through the complicated change management process, we're now in a position where we can't justify choosing Atlassian Cloud as our service provider. At our company, we really try to prioritize doing things right—ensuring that our features are coherent and well-executed before even considering "new, trendy, and often unnecessary features..". Within our company, it feels like more of your effort is being devoted to developing premium features than to stabilizing the core functionalities, which are the foundation of any reliable service. We sincerely hope to see progress on this issue or, at the very least, a clear roadmap. Thank you for your understanding

            Chuck Hert added a comment -

            Hello Atlassian,

            I hope your team is doing well.

            I'm writing this comment to add to what others have said previously. I'm not able to use the search as expected. However, I'm able to find the same data that I searched for within the trees to the left. I would consider this unexpected or buggy behavior.

            Is there a proposed solution?

            Is there a date whereby this solution may be implemented?

            Judging by the comments below, and seeing that this has been open since 2020, I would expect that there would be at least answers to the above two questions. Pictures attached below for reference.

            Unsuccessful search:

            Successfully found manually:

            If you have any questions, or need any additional information, please let me know.

            Best regards,
            Chuck Hert

            Chuck Hert added a comment - Hello Atlassian, I hope your team is doing well. I'm writing this comment to add to what others have said previously. I'm not able to use the search as expected. However, I'm able to find the same data that I searched for within the trees to the left. I would consider this unexpected or buggy behavior. Is there a proposed solution? Is there a date whereby this solution may be implemented? Judging by the comments below, and seeing that this has been open since 2020, I would expect that there would be at least answers to the above two questions. Pictures attached below for reference. Unsuccessful search: Successfully found manually: If you have any questions, or need any additional information, please let me know. Best regards, Chuck Hert

            It would be good to see some engagement from Atlassian on this. We are really, really, really trying to make this work in our organization and this remains one of the most frustrating aspects. Users are getting really sick of having to manually navigate to everything, or search through the (awful) Jira portal interface for documents. The outcome is nobody is really using documentation unless the have direct bookmarks to the relevant pages.

            If you are allowing users to view content, it stands to reason they should be able to search for and within that content.

            "Sure, you can watch videos on YouTube! Oh, but no, you can't search for them - why would you be able to do that?"

            Brandon Belanger added a comment - It would be good to see some engagement from Atlassian on this. We are really, really,  really  trying to make this work in our organization and this remains one of the most frustrating aspects. Users are getting really sick of having to manually navigate to everything, or search through the (awful) Jira portal interface for documents. The outcome is nobody is really using documentation unless the have direct bookmarks to the relevant pages. If you are allowing users to view content, it stands to reason they should be able to search for and within that content. "Sure, you can watch videos on YouTube! Oh, but no, you can't search for them - why would you be able to do that?"

            Nicolas PR added a comment -

            This issue is not only frustrating but also counterproductive. Our customers are unable to search the knowledge base to find the information they need, leaving them confused and unsupported. As a result, our team is constantly required to respond to their queries, which disrupts our productivity. For customers, it's particularly absurd to encounter a knowledge base where the search functionality doesn’t work. I urge the team to prioritize fixing this issue, as a fully functional search capability is essential for an efficient and user-friendly knowledge base system.

            Nicolas PR added a comment - This issue is not only frustrating but also counterproductive. Our customers are unable to search the knowledge base to find the information they need, leaving them confused and unsupported. As a result, our team is constantly required to respond to their queries, which disrupts our productivity. For customers, it's particularly absurd to encounter a knowledge base where the search functionality doesn’t work. I urge the team to prioritize fixing this issue, as a fully functional search capability is essential for an efficient and user-friendly knowledge base system.

            Trying to bump this issue.... 

            Customers not logged into the Jira Customer Portal and not logged into confluence can use the search bar with no issues at all.  (therefore unlicensed)

            Customers logged into the Jira Customer Portal (unlicensed) and not logged into confluence, CANNOT use the search bar.

            This logic doesn't make sense here.  If I'm not logged in I can use the search, but if I'm logged in to another portal that is separate from Confluence I can't use the confluence search bar?

            Robert Lenk added a comment - Trying to bump this issue....  Customers not logged into the Jira Customer Portal and not logged into confluence can use the search bar with no issues at all.  (therefore unlicensed) Customers logged into the Jira Customer Portal (unlicensed) and not logged into confluence, CANNOT use the search bar. This logic doesn't make sense here.  If I'm not logged in I can use the search , but if I'm logged in to another portal that is separate from Confluence I can't use the confluence search bar?

              7edc8bf2bf6d Koji Kitagawa
              vsiqueira Vinicius
              Votes:
              116 Vote for this issue
              Watchers:
              96 Start watching this issue

                Created:
                Updated: