After upgrading Confluence, "Upload app" under Manage Apps isn't visible.

Platform Notice: Data Center Only - This article only applies to Atlassian products on the Data Center platform.

Note that this KB was created for the Data Center version of the product. Data Center KBs for non-Data-Center-specific features may also work for Server versions of the product, however they have not been tested. Support for Server* products ended on February 15th 2024. If you are running a Server product, you can visit the Atlassian Server end of support announcement to review your migration options.

*Except Fisheye and Crucible

Summary

The "Upload app" option under the Manage Apps menu isn't visible after upgrading to Confluence Data Center 7.19.20 or 8.5.7 and above.

Solution

Enable the ability to upload apps

For higher security, the option to upload an app from the Confluence UI (Upload applink) is disabled by default on the latest versions of Confluence Data Center. This is one of the changes in how Atlassian Data Center products, including Confluence, handle app installations through the Universal Plugin Manager (UPM) and REST APIs.

The Confluence administrator can re-enable the UI upload button and API by following the below:

Note that these steps need to be carried out in every node of your Confluence instance. 

  1. Stop Confluence

  2. Configure System Properties, by adding "-Dupm.plugin.upload.enabled=true" to the the Confluence settings.

    1 CATALINA_OPTS="-Dupm.plugin.upload.enabled=true ${CATALINA_OPTS}" 
  3. Restart Confluence

When set to true, this property enables API app installation. Setting it to true will require a restart.

For higher security, leave this set to false when no apps need to be installed.

Environment

Confluence 7.19.20 or higher

Confluence 8.5.7 or higher

Background

There is more information available about this situation in the following links:

Below are the versions of Confluence and UPM which are affected:

Confluence Version

UPM version

Links to the documentation

8.5.7

6.3.4

Managing System and Marketplace Apps

7.19.20

5.1.13

Managing System and Marketplace Apps

Updated on April 16, 2025

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