How to disable Collaborative Editing in Confluence if it cannot be disabled through the UI
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
Customers can disable Collaborative Editing from the ⚙ > General Configuration > Collaborative editing admin screen.
If the Confluence base URL, network, or proxy is not configured properly, you might get an error ("Something went wrong. Please try again.") when trying to disable Collaborative Editing / Synchrony. When this occurs, the safest way to disable Synchrony is through a REST endpoint.
Solution
This can be done through a script, or by running a CURL command. Options:
Open a terminal and run the following:
1curl -X POST --user admin:password --header "X-Atlassian-Token: no-check" https://your.confluence.url/rest/synchrony-interop/disableℹ️ Make sure to replace admin and password with the actual credentials for your Confluence system admin user. Also make sure https://your.confluence.url is replaced by your base URL.
Or, you can do this through a python script:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15import requests def main(): session = requests.session() session.auth = ('admin', 'password') headers = {'X-Atlassian-Token': 'no-check'} resp = session.post('https://your.confluence.url/rest/synchrony-interop/disable', headers=headers) print(resp) print(resp.content) main()ℹ️ Make sure to replace admin and password with the actual credentials for your Confluence system admin user. Also make sure https://your.confluence.url is replaced by your base URL.
Notes
Similarly, you can enable Synchrony manually through the following command:
1
curl -X POST --user admin:password --header "X-Atlassian-Token: no-check" https://your.confluence.url/rest/synchrony-interop/enableFrom our guide on Administering Collaborative Editing, these are the implications when disabling Synchrony or setting it to 'OFF':
This mode means that your team can only edit their own personal draft of a page. Confluence will attempt to merge any conflicts on save. This mode replicates the Confluence 5 editing experience.
This mode is useful if you are unable to run Synchrony successfully in your environment, or if you have decided that collaborative editing is not for you (for example if you have auditing requirements that would prohibit using collaborative editing just yet).
You should make sure your users have published any work they want to keep before you turn collaborative editing off.
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