How to make make Confluence pages public?

[Gil]

Hi all.

I've just signed up for a JSD and Confluence trial period.

During the JSD setup, I linked it to a Confluence space which is a knowledge base space.

While doing so, I thought that this space will be available for our customers, but it's not.

Our customers are only able to raise support issues if they are signed in to our portal (using self signup).

I was under the impression that using the same credentials will allow them to access the knowledge base which is linked to the JSD project.

However, they are forced to create a Confluence account for that, which is something I have to avoid doing.

Did I get this wrong? or, is there a way to make the knowledge base available for the customers in the same way they can raise a support issue?

I wanted the KB space to serve as their website to browse around for articles for onboarding, how-to's and troubleshooting.

The current permission settings are:

"Any active user can view pages in this space, including users who don't have a Confluence license. This was enabled through Jira Service Desk so people can view knowledge articles when raising a help request."

+

"Everyone with access to your service desk can read articles without a Confluence license. This option is best if you want to share knowledge base articles with your customers."

Thanks.

[Deleted user]

Hi Jill,

If you don't yet have a solution to the issue described above, it's worth checking out Scroll Viewport (which will be available very soon on Confluence Cloud).

You can use the app to create a public help center site from your Confluence documentation which anyone can access, then you can connect it with Jira Service Desk.

More info: https://www.k15t.com/software/scroll-viewport/scroll-viewport-for-confluence-cloud

Thanks,
Gabriella

[Sid]

hi @Gil,

Public access can be enabled at each level and each page. If it is enabled at Global level, it allows users to enter into your site without a login. You can always turn public access on/off at the space level to make it public/private. Within those spaces, you can also use page restrictions to restrict otherwise public content to only some or all logged in users. Page restrictions allow you to control who can view and/or edit individual pages in a space. Restrictions are actually inherited, which means a restriction applied to one page will cascade down to all child pages. That way it reduces your need for managing permissions on a page by page basis but also has implications as you will not be able to amke a page publicly access if it is a child of a restricted page.

 Note: JIRA service desk customers can access confluence KB without purchasing Confluence license.  Confluence licenses are only required for authors in the case of integrating with JIRA Service Des without purchasing Confluence license.  Confluence licenses are only required for authors in the case of integrating with JIRA Service Des

thanks

[Gil]

So currently Confluence is integrated with JSD.

I know how the space and page permission works.

But JSD customers cannot access the KB space unless they have a confluence account.

They can only access articles that are written in that space via the customer portal, which is different than accessing the KB space.

I want the ability for customers to access the KB space but not in a public manner that every one in world can view it. I need it to be accessed with the same username/password they use to raise issues in JSD.

[Sid]

Hi @Gil,

Seems there are changes made to service desk portal users accessing KB specifically for the cloud instance - https://jira.atlassian.com/browse/JSDSERVER-4901?page=com.atlassian.jira.plugin.system.issuetabpanels%3Aall-tabpanel . 

[Firas Amer]

@Gil. You can add a link of your KB homepage to the portal's announcement box, and add several macro links to other parts of your knowledge base to the homepage. It is a kinda workaround, and I don't think it is suitable for the entire structured product documentation due to the fact how confluence articles are shown within a frame in service desk. However for knowledge base articles in form of Q&A, FAQ, how to and troubleshooting articles could be a nice view from within service desk (in this case you don't have to purchase a Confluence licence for each customer, which could be very expensive ...)

[Gil]

The announcement hack is nice, I'll try it, though I'm not sure if I can make look nice by not exposing the actual URL.

[Gil]

Just an update, I used the 

"Introduction text (optional)"

Under portal settings. I used the Jira format:

[TEXT|URL]

I also used * to make the link in bold, so the final look would be:

[*Google Search Engine*|https://www.google.com]

For me, this is better than taking over the Announcement option.

[Firas Amer]

Right, I did the same, the bold hack is nice I did not think about it :)

[Gil]

you can also use h1.[text|url] to make it stronger :)