Assign space access to guests

Not all teamwork happens inside the (sometimes virtual) walls of a single organization. Sometimes you need to partner with other companies to build integrations, work with agencies to bring marketing campaigns to life, bring in contractors and consultants to help get big projects over the line, and so on.

With single space guests, you can do all of that work without leaving Confluence.

Guests are free of charge (up to 5 guests per paid user). Total number of users (paid + guests) can't exceed the current Confluence instance’s user limit.

To dive deeper into what to expect when collaborating with guests, see What can guests see and do in Confluence?

Find all guests that don’t have a space assigned

To easily find all guests that don’t have a space assigned and assign them spaces in bulk:

1. Select the wheel icon () in the top-right corner to open Confluence administration.

2. Find Settings > Security in the left-hand navigation.

3. Select Global permissions.

4. Select the Guests tab.

5. Select the quick filter Guests with no access.

6. Multi-select specific guests or select all guests on the current page.

7. Select Assign space.

8. Select which space to assign.

9. Select Assign.

Or, if you want to simply assign a space to a single guest, just open their dropdown in the list and select a space.

View all guests that have access to a specific space

To find all of the guests that have been assigned to a specific space, you can use the space filter.

In the Guest tab of Global permissions:

1. Open More filters.

2. Open the Guests in a space dropdown.

3. Select a recent space you recently visited or start typing in the dropdown to search for a specific space.

With the desired space selected in the dropdown, the list of guests will automatically filter those that have that space assigned.

Assign space access for guests

As a reminder, guests need to be invited to Confluence before they can be granted access to spaces.

Set a default space

In the Guest tab of Global permissions, set a default space, and all future added Guest users will be automatically added to that space. Note: Setting a default space does not impact existing Guest users.

Up to 1,000 Guest users can be assigned to the default space at a time, so Confluence recommends adding Guest users in increments of 1,000 or fewer to avoid errors in default space assignment.

To assign space access for an individual guest:

1. Go to Global permissions.

2. Select the Guests tab.

3. Find the guest in the list. (Try searching or applying a group filter for an easier search.)

4. Select the guest’s dropdown in the Confluence access column.

5. Select a space. You can choose from spaces you recently visited or starting typing in the dropdown to search for a specific space. Or you can select the ( x ) next to the space assigned to remove access to it. This action removes space access for the guest and they will no longer be able to access Confluence.

Guests can only have access to one space at a time.

Guests must be given space access on an individual basis — within Confluence. You can use guest groups to give guests product access to Confluence in bulk but guest groups are only available in admin.atlassian.com.

Assign space access in bulk

If you choose to not set a default space for Guest users, or you need to assign specific Guest users a different space, perform this action manually from the Guest tab of Global permissions

To quickly give multiple guests access to the same space:

1. Select the checkboxes next to each guest you’d like to assign space access to.

2. Select Assign space at the top of the list.

3. In the window that pops up, select which space to assign.

4. Select Assign.

To quickly select all guests on the current page, select the checkbox floating above the guest list next to the column titles. Each page of the guest list maxes out at 25 guests. If you’re trying to select all guests on your instance and have more than 25 guests, then you’ll have to do this for each page of guests.

If assigning a large number of Guests to one space, consider setting a default space, and then adding the Guest users after the default space is set for a more efficient setup.

Remove space access for a guest

To remove a guest’s space access:

1. Go to Global permissions.

2. Select the Guests tab.

3. Find your guest in the list. You can use the search bar to help.

4. Select the ( x ) within the dropdown field.

You can remove space access for multiple guests at a time by using the checkboxes to select guests and the Remove space button.

If you’re in a space, you can remove a guest’s access to it in Space permissions.

1. Go to the space.

2. Select Space settings in the sidebar.

3. Select Guests in the Space permissions card.

4. Select Edit.

5. Find the guest you want to remove and uncheck their permission to View.

6. Select Save.

Remove guests from the instance

The process for removing a guest from your Confluence instance is the same as removing a regular user from Confluence and must be done by an organization admin in admin.atlassian.com.

Assign space access immediately after inviting guests

1. Immediately after you complete the process for inviting a guest, a confirmation message will appear in the bottom left of your screen.

2. Select the Assign space link in the confirmation message. This will open Confluence’s global permissions screen with all of your guests' information pre-filled in the Add space access window.

3. Choose the space the guest should have access to.

4. Select Done.

This is useful for when you know ahead of time which space a guest needs access to.

If you don’t know which space to assign yet, that’s okay! You or a Confluence admin can always assign space access later by going directly to global permissions.

Although they can’t directly invite guests to Confluence, Confluence admins and space admins can assign space access for any guests that have already been invited and given product access to Confluence.

Assign space access from space permissions

The process for adding and managing space access for guests is the same as it is for regular users, except you’ll add guests and manage permissions for them in the Guests tab of space permissions.

To give space access to a guest on an individual basis:

1. Go to the space you’ve chosen for them.

2. Select Space settings in the sidebar.

3. In the Space permissions card, select Guests.

4. Select Edit.

5. In the search bar, type in your guest’s name, select them, and select Add.

   1. Note: If you can’t find the guest, they may not be available to add to your space. This could either be because an organization admin hasn’t invited the guest and given them access to Confluence or because the guest is already using up their one space allotment in another space. A Confluence or organization admin should be able to help you here.

6. Select Save all at the bottom of the page.

Manage guests' access to pages

The process and considerations for managing page access for guests is the same as it is for regular users.