How do you disable page comments but keep inline comments enabled?

[Anthony Wood]

Inline comments are great because you can discuss an issue and then resolve it.

Page comments (the ones at the bottom of the page) can't be resolved, so they are just always visible, even if they have been fully resolve.

For one of my spaces I want to prohibit the use of page comments but enable (and encourage) inline comments.

I can't work out how to do this.  I can only disable/enable page and inline comments together.

Thanks in advance.

[Stephen Deutsch · Accepted solution]

One option would be to go to the space for which you want to hide the comments, then click on Space Tools, Layout, Stylesheet, and then add the following line:

#comments-section { display:none; }

[Bill Bailey]

Love a white tape approach! ;-)

[Anthony Wood]

This works just fine for me.  Thanks very much :-)

As a follow up question.  Do you know how I can disable comments on a single page (rather than a whole space), but still keep inline comments enabled?  I also have a need for this.

[Stephen Deutsch]

My suggestion would be to create a user macro with the following content:

## @noparams
<style>#comments-section { display:none; }</style>

Make sure that it's visible only for Confluence Administrators, call it something like "Disable Page Comments", key like "disable-page-comments", and then insert it into the page(s) for which you want to disable page comments.

[Koosh Shah]

Where do I find Space Tools > Layout > Stylesheet? I don't seem to have these options available. Is this a restriction issue perhaps?

[Bill Bailey]

Under the Look and Feel tab.

[Koosh Shah]

Yup went there and there is no regular Stylesheet. There is one for PDF Export Stylesheet which is not relevant.

Screenshot:

https://cl.ly/4fa81b7313cd

I think I just might have a different version of Confluence :(

[Koosh Shah]

@Bill Bailey any idea? Do you think it has to do with different versions of Confluence?

[Bill Bailey]

Well the screenshot you added shows the Look and Feel tab. Is non-functional? What version are you using?

[Koosh Shah]

This is what I see:

No idea which version I am on.

[Bill Bailey]

OK, you don't have enough permissions. According to the latest docs:

Note: By default, only system administrators can edit the CSS for a space or for the site. To allow any user with Space Admin permissions to edit the CSS for a space, go to > General Configuration > Security Configuration and select Custom Stylesheets for Spaces.

styling-confluence-with-css

So at a min, you need to be a Space admin and have the sys admin enable the permission.

You can find your Confluence version is typically displayed at the bottom of the page (above the Atlassian logo).

[Dave Hulbert]

This doesn't work on the cloud hosted version :-(

https://support.atlassian.com/confluence-cloud/docs/functional-differences-in-confluence-cloud-vs-server/

> On Atlassian Cloud, Confluence uses a custom theme that can't be modified or updated using custom HTML or CSS.

Any workarounds here?

[Chris Iacovelli]

Is there any way to do this for a set of pages within a space and not the whole space? I would like to prohibit some pages and not others on one of many spaces i have.

Thoughts/Ideas would be appreciated.

[Irina_Bel_Stiltsoft_]

Hi @Anthony Wood ,

Once you disable Comments permissions on a space level, users aren't able to leave both inline and page comments within this space. However, a workaround might be found in the Talk - Advanced Inline Comments app. Once you disable Comments permission to disable the comment section on a page, you can leave inline comments (talks) with our app. You only need Pages or Comments permissions to leave them.

Moreover, with our app, you can restrict viewing for the talks on a space level or/and for the specific comment thread. Say, you want your comments to be visible only internally. You can set space permissions for the comments only for a group or/and users who can view them. However, any user who can make comments can change restrictions for specific comment threads.

[Patrick Cartier [Candylio]]

There is no out of the box functionality that allows you to disable comments while enabling inline comments.  Unfortunately comments and inline comments are all under one permission "add comment".

This plugin allows disabling comments on certain pages, but I'm not sure about inline comments:  https://marketplace.atlassian.com/plugins/de.scandio.confluence.plugins.hideelements-macro/server/overview?_ga=2.167233470.1408681685.1520821806-2024476247.1511688550