Can text in private mode on stickies be hidden in Confluence white board retrospectives?

[Vargas_ Heather _CHICO-R_]

We have been using the retrospective whiteboard in Confluence when completing our sprints.

Even in private mode, although we don't see who is filling out the sticky, we do see what they are typing. Is there a way to hide what is being typed as well until private mode is turned off?

[Em Ditchfield]

Hi @Tomislav Tobijas and @Vargas_ Heather _CHICO-R_ I'm glad to hear that you're using the private mode feature. One of the rules of this feature is that updates to existing sticky notes will not be hidden, however new content on new sticky notes will be hidden. Please let me know if this doesn't work!

[Tomislav Tobijas]

Hey @Em Ditchfield ,

Are we talking about what's 'to be' or how it should work?

I mean, so far, even if you're in private mode, just the names of authors are hidden, but not the content/text they input on sticky notes. The idea is to have text hidden as well until private mode is disabled.

[Em Ditchfield]

Hi @Tomislav Tobijas, this should be how the experience works today. If other members of your team add new sticky notes to a board during private mode and add content to them you won't be able to see that content until private mode turns off. If this isn't the case I'd love to trouble shoot with you further. 

[Tomislav Tobijas]

@Em Ditchfield, oh okay. I've just tested this again, and I can confirm this is how it works. 👌

The sticky note on the left is from another user, and I cannot see their content on the sticky note until I disable private mode.

This definitelly didn't work like this a couple of weeks ago, so I'm guessing it was rolled out recently.

Anyway, I would say that this is what we've been looking for.

cc @Vargas_ Heather _CHICO-R_ 

[Vargas_ Heather _CHICO-R_]

Hello @Tomislav Tobijas and @Em Ditchfield ,

We did our first retro since this comment was posted, and even in private mode we are still seeing the comments that are posted even though the users are anonymous

When turning on private mode it only gives us an option to hide the users, not what is being typed.

[Vargas_ Heather _CHICO-R_]

I tried again and it doesn't hide the other users text, just their names. I am not the owner of this board but everyone could see the text, was there something else you did in the screenshot above to hide the text?

[Tomislav Tobijas]

@Vargas_ Heather _CHICO-R_ erm, nope. I haven't changed anything. Just opened a new whiteboard and enabled private mode. 👀

Are you maybe using a bundled release track? Although I haven't seen any change related to this under 'App updates' page in Atlassian Administration 🤔

You could try reaching out to Atlassian Support and granting them access so they can investigate the issue in the background. 

If it helps, the cloud site where I've checked this is on build number 100289 (with build date 2025-09-12), so it's pretty much the latest thing. You can check your server info by following these steps.

[Tomislav Tobijas]

Hey @Vargas_ Heather _CHICO-R_ ,

Nice idea. We used the same template a couple of weeks ago, and it would actually be quite a nice-to-have thing.

Anyway, I've raised a new feature request related to it, so you can drop a vote and set yourself as a watcher if you wish to receive updates: CONFCLOUD-82644: Feature to have private mode in Whiteboard to hide text being written 

Cheers,
Tobi

[Vargas_ Heather _CHICO-R_]

Hello @Tomislav Tobijas - Thanks for your response and for the new feature request link. I will vote for it! :)