Gliffy diagrams were not displaying properly in Confluence pages

[Hari krishna]

Hi Community,

We recently faced an issue where Gliffy diagrams were not displaying properly in Confluence pages — instead, we saw broken image icons where the diagrams were supposed to appear.
However, when opening the same page in the Gliffy editor, the diagrams loaded perfectly.

Here’s what we observed:

🧐 Symptoms:

• Gliffy diagrams appear as broken image icons in multiple Confluence spaces (example: KB Working Space).

• No issues with permissions.

• Other users in the team were able to view the diagrams without any problems.

• Affected user could still edit the diagrams in the Gliffy editor, just not view the previews/thumbnails on the page.

🔧 Troubleshooting Done:

• Confirmed it was not a global issue (other users could see diagrams).

• Cleared cache, checked browser settings.

• Worked with Atlassian support and found that the issue was specific to the user's laptop/environment.

✅ Resolution:

• After switching to a new laptop, the diagrams started showing up normally again.

• We suspect something in the previous laptop’s configuration (browser, network, security settings?) was blocking the diagram thumbnails. Only the person with new laptop is able to view the diagrams remaining users can't.

❓ Question to the Community:

• Has anyone faced similar behavior

• Any known settings or configurations (browser, firewall, proxies, etc.) that could block thumbnail rendering of Gliffy diagrams?

• Would be great to know if this is a known issue or an isolated case.

Thanks in advance!

[Tomislav Tobijas · Accepted solution]

Hey @Hari krishna ,

I haven't experienced this myself (although I'm not a heavy user of Gliffy), but I'd recommend reaching out to the official vendor support team through some of the contacts listed here.

There are a few Gliffy staff members here on forums as well, but you might get a faster response and resolve this more quickly if you use the links listed above.
If you do resolve this via other channels, feel free to share the resolution here as well, as it might help others who stumble upon this (or a similar) issue in the future.

Cheers,
Tobi

[Justine MacLean - Gliffy Solutions]

Hi @Hari krishna ,

Tobi is correct about getting in touch with our support team because they have likely seen this before.  You can email them directly support@gliffy.com.

From what I know, this issue is often a symptom of a discrepancy between the way the Gliffy editor and the Confluence page view render the diagram. While the editor accesses the full diagram data directly, the Confluence page view typically renders a generated thumbnail or image file.

Here are the most common reasons and solutions for this problem.

Common Causes & Solutions

• Permissions Issues: The user viewing the page may not have the necessary permissions to access the original diagram attachment on the Confluence page. Even if they can see the page itself, the diagram's rendering relies on a separate attachment file.

  • Solution: Ensure all users who need to view the diagram have the appropriate permissions to view attachments on the Confluence page where the diagram was created. The Gliffy diagram is stored as two attachment files: a .gliffy file and a .png file. Both must be accessible.

• Browser-Specific Problems: In some cases, a specific browser or its security settings (like ad blockers or proxy configurations) can interfere with how Confluence renders the Gliffy diagram's thumbnail or image.

  • Solution: Try viewing the page in a different web browser or in an incognito/private window. Disabling browser extensions or security tools for that site can also help diagnose the issue.

• HTML5 Viewer Issues: Gliffy uses an HTML5 viewer to render interactive diagrams on Confluence pages. If this viewer is the source of the problem, a simple workaround is to disable it.

  • Solution: While editing the Confluence page, select the Gliffy diagram, click "More" in the toolbar that appears, and uncheck the "Interactive HTML5 Viewer" box. This will force the page to display a static PNG image instead, which often resolves the issue.

• Corrupted Cache or Configuration: Confluence's cache can sometimes become corrupted, or the server's base URL may be misconfigured, leading to broken image links.

  • Solution: A Confluence administrator should try clearing the plugin cache or the entire Confluence cache. Restarting the server after clearing the cache can also help. Additionally, verifying that the Server Base URL is correctly configured is a crucial step.

If any of these ideas help, please let me know!