Resolve mismatched Space counts in Confluence Cloud

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

Summary

When you compare the spaces listed in the Space permissions menu with those in the space directory, you might notice a difference in the number of spaces.

Comparing lists

There are more spaces under the Space permissions list. Follow these steps to compare the lists:

Checking the Space Permissions option

  1. As an administrator of Confluence, tap the gear icon at the top-right

  2. While on the administration, tap Space Permissions on the sidebar.

  3. Check the list of spaces.

Checking the Space directory

  1. Select Spaces from the navigation bar.

  2. Select View all space from the drop-down menu.

Alternatively, select the View all button for the spaces list on Confluence's home page.

Diagnosis

  • Under the Space permissions option, check if the spaces that are not visible have the Recover permission button on their right side. This would indicate that the space is restricted.

  • Check the status of the space to confirm if this is not an archived space.

Cause

There are different reasons for seeing more spaces in the Space permissions:

  • This option lists spaces where the user does not have permission to view. These spaces can be identified when they have the Recover space permissions button, like the example below:

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  • The spaces are under the Archived status. Archived spaces will not be displayed in the space directory.

  • There could be an indexing issue.

ℹ️ Another difference is that the space directory lists personal spaces, not included in the Space permissions option.

Solution

For each of the cases, different solutions can be followed:

Updated on April 28, 2025

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