Space Layout: Unable to "update" and save any changes we try to make to it as of recently

[Dan Heroux]

Hi,

We have a self-hosted instance of Confluence that's been running well. It's version number is: 6.15.6.

However, as of recently when we go to edit our main Confluence page, specifically the "Space Layout", it gets stuck in a never-ending loop when we try to save / update the new entry.

Example:  

1. Go to main page for Space in Confluence, logged in as an admin

2. Click on the drop-down at the top, select under "ADMIN" the "Space Layout" choice

3. Click on the "Add" button that shows up whenever we hover over an empty space

4. Pop-up appears fine, allowing us to enter text / image / whatever

5. Click "Update" in the bottom-right corner of the pop-up

6. Pop-up goes entirely white, and the spinning gray wheel appears above it.

7. Spinning wheels continues indefinitely, never updating and staying like that until we cancel (we have left it as long as 20min, nothing happens)

8. If you go back to the "Space Layout" listing, you'll see the new item was added as a spot --but nothing that we included (i.e.: it's blank, no text / images / whatever)

Thoughts?  This is driving us crazy as we can't update these parts our main page.

[Diego · Accepted solution]

Hello there, @Dan Heroux!

Thanks for explaining the step-by-step of the workflow that triggers the issue. However, I believe that this feature is not natively available for Confluence.

It is likely that we are dealing with some third-party plugin. I believe that this behaviour pertains to Refined:

• [Refined] Space Layout

Can you confirm that you have this plugin installed and that it is being used in your instance?

If you do have this plugin, we could start by checking if there are no updates available for this plugin. Also, if possible, you could try to clear the plugin cache. Here is our documentation on this procedure:

• [Confluence Server] How to clear Confluence plugins cache

Clearing the plugin cache can help us to rule out issues with the plugin data that Confluence stores within its folders. The procedure to clear the cache will require some instance downtime.

Let us hear from you, Dan! Looking forward to your reply.

[Dan Heroux]

Hi Diego - We'll test it out today and report back.  Yes, we do indeed have the "Refined" theme installed.

[Diego]

Wonderful, @Dan Heroux! Thanks for the feedback on the thread.

Waiting for your findings.

[Dan Heroux]

The "Refined" theme plugin (all plugins for that matter) are up to date. They have been for a few days and before this issue actually.

As for clearing the plugins cache, we did that early this morning as well, but the same problem persists.  

So, no luck. 

[Diego]

Thanks for getting back, @Dan Heroux !

We could try to enable safe mode and then re-enable the Refined plugin only. Here is the step-by-step:

1. Enter Safe Mode
2. Here is the documentation on how to Enable Safe Mode
3. Re-enable Refined
4. Check if the issue is still present

Now, if the issue is not present while the other plugins are enabled, we can go and enable them one by one and check if the issue comes back each time.

One warning though. With Safe mode enabled, all user-installed plugins will be disabled and unusable while it is on. It is a good idea to schedule a downtime for the instance so users are not affected by the procedure.

Let us hear from you!

[Dan Heroux]

Before doing that, I heard back from "Refined Theme". Issue resolved.

For anyone else facing this issue in the future, here's what they responded (and it worked):

https://docs.refined.com/display/rwot/Can%27t+edit+the+dashboard+or+space+layouts#Can'teditthedashboardorspacelayouts-Yougetanerrorthattherearemultiplepages

You get an error that there are multiple pages

Symptom: The main or category dashboard can't be edited. There is just a spinning wheel. 

Cause: The pages RefinedTheme uses to edit the dashboard have been duplicated.

Resolution

1. Open the browser log (here is how to do it: Getting the Browser Log)
2. Try to edit the page, and then check the browser log to see if there is information about contacting RefinedWiki Support, that there are multiple page (if you get "no-pages", please contact us at RefinedWiki Support). 
3. Go to http://YourURL.com/collector/pages.action?key=rwlayoutkey (so add collector/pages.action?key=rwlayoutkey to the end of your Confluence URL). 
4. Look for any pages that are duplicates. 
5. If you have any attachments to the temp- pages, make sure you download them. 
6. Delete the temp- pages.
7. Try editing the dashboard again.

[Diego]

This is some wonderful information you shared with us, @Dan Heroux.

Your reply is sure to help other customers in the same predicament as you. If you ever need something again, come share it with us!