When should you uninstall an add-on vs just disabling it?

[Ian Smith]

I'm new to supporting confluence (less than a month). We are planning an upgrade from 5.8.18 to 6.7.  There are several add-ons which will not be supported in the new version. I'm trying to confirm if they are actually used in our install or if they can be removed.

There are a few that I have found will be bundled inside of other add-ons and should now be removed. ie. RB-filtering/storage/supplier/support are associated with Service Rockets Linking add-on and are inside the new release of Linking.  So I will uninstall the old RB... add-ons. 

For others that do not support the new 6.7 version, or we are choosing not to upgrade, is it better to just disable them?  Or is it standard practice to uninstall any unused add-ons.  What is the affect on content if the associated add-on is disabled or uninstalled?  

Examples would be (don't limit answers to just the effect on these specific add-ons);

1. Checklists Macro. Previously free, now a paid upgrade. 

2. Label Tools. Now requires Scriptrunner for confluence. 

I'm guessing that if a page was built with either of these, and we now disable or uninstall the add-on. Either way, that original page will cease to function properly.  Or is the add-on only required to make the page, and would removing the add-on just stop us from building new pages?  Would disabling, but not uninstalling allow the old content to continue to function?

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist- · Accepted solution]

You should generally switch off an add-on to test if it does what you expect, and then remove it if you know you don't need it.

With the two add-ons you mention

1. Pages using the macro will work ok, but will just display an unknown macro placeholder for you to edit and remove or update it to another
2. The label tools are active things that people do (like bulk label or remove labels), they don't live on pages, so removing them will just remove their functions.

[Ian Smith]

Thank you.  

[Jobin Kuruvilla [Adaptavist]]

I am not sure about the add-ons you mentioned but disabling or uninstalling the add-ons usually have the same impact in terms of the plugins functionality. In both cases, the functionality is lost.

I would suggest uninstalling an add-on vs disabling it because some of the system resources will be used as long as the add-on is still installed.

You might want to test the mentioned add-ons though.

[Ian Smith]

Thank you.