How does it work?
User Anonymization is done by removing all references to a Confluence user and replace them with a new anonymous technical user.
You should first create an anonymous technical user in your own Confluence instance. Then you can use our "User Anonymizer for Confluence" app to change the references of a user to your new anonymous user. Optionally, you may delete the user or remove the user from an external user directory sync after the anonymization process, depending on your requirements.
Where does Confluence store personal data?
There are plenty of places where Confluence does store personal information. The following elements are supported to be anonymized by "User Anonymizer for Confluence".
| Pages / Blogposts | creator | replace with anonymous user |
|---|---|---|
| last modifier | replace with anonymous user | |
| like | remove user | |
| watcher | remove user | |
| text mentions | replace with anonymous user | |
| mentions in inline tasks | replace with anonymous user | |
| user in restrictions | remove permissions | |
| mentions in historic versions | replace with anonymous user | |
| Comments | creator | replace with anonymous user |
| last modifier | replace with anonymous user | |
| like | remove user | |
| text mentions | replace with anonymous user | |
| mentions in historic versions | replace with anonymous user | |
| Attachments | creator | replace with anonymous user |
| last modifier | replace with anonymous user | |
| Macros | mentions in core macros | replace with anonymous user |
| user as macro parameter | replace with anonymous user | |
| mentions in macros with static body that support Wiki content | replace with anonymous user | |
| user in parameters of "Content by Label" macro | replace with anonymous user | |
| user in core macros in historic versions | replace with anonymous user | |
| User Follows | follower | remove user |
| following | remove user | |
| Spaces | space creator | replace with anonymous user |
| blog watcher | remove user | |
| space watcher | remove user | |
| personal space | remove space | |
| user in restrictions | remove permissions |
If we anonymize a user in a page, space or blogpost permission and the user is the last one who has admin permission to the page/ blogpost/ space and there are also no granted groups, the group 'confluence-administrators' will be assigned with 'admin' permission.
Preparation
Installing the App
The app is available on the Atlassian Marketplace. To install the app, log in as a system administrator and navigate to the app management in the administration console (choose Cog icon > Apps at top right of the screen. In the menu on the left click the “Find New Add-ons” link. Alternatively, use the keyboard shortcut: press 'gg' then type 'Find new apps'). Search for “user anonymizer for confluence” to display our app “User Anonymizer for Confluence (GDPR)”. Click the Buy Now or Free Trial button to install the app.
If the installation was successful, a new section “User Anonymizer” appears in the administration. This is where the anonymization of user profiles takes place. If this section is not visible, please ensure that all required modules of the add-on are enabled. To do that you should select the “User Anonymizer for Confluence (GDPR)” from the list of installed apps.
Licensing
The add-on needs a valid license to have all the provided features working. Valid licenses include full licenses, renewal licenses, or 30-day trials and are available on the Atlassian Marketplace. The license model is the same as the one Atlassian uses for its products – for further information see Atlassian’s documentation.
To get a license and provide it for the plugin, please carry out the following:
- Go to the license settings page (Administration > Apps > “Manage apps”: Extend “User Anonymizer for Confluence (GDPR)”)
- Use the links to create a new license at the Atlassian Marketplace (use “Free Try” to get a new trial license or “Buy Now” to purchase a full license), or copy a license you got from Communardo.
- Enter the license key in the license screen.
Without a valid license, the user anonymizer shows the message “Invalid or missing license key” instead of the user anonymizer configuration screen.
Prepare your Confluence System
To use "User Anonymizer for Confluence (GDPR)" you should first create a technical anonymous Confluence user. Go to Confluence User management and create a user, for example with the username "anonymous". Once created please edit the user properties and set the user inactive.
You may choose the name freely, but it should clearly be identified as an anonymous technical user. It is also possible to create more than one anonymous user with different names.
But remember, every anonymous user should be set inactive to avoid logins. Anonymous users may have advanced permissions (for example if set as space administrator by the anonymization process).
Anonymization process
To perform the following steps you need to be in the group confluence-administrators.
You can access the configuration in the Confluence Administration via the menu item Anonymizer Management -> User Anonymizer in the panel on the left side.
Choose Cog icon > Apps at top right of the screen.
Alternatively, you may use the Confluence search. Click into the search field or use the keyboard shortcut: type "gg", then "User Anonymizer".
Image 1: User Anonymizer User Interface
Configure User Anonymizer
Please enter one or more users you want to anonymize (1) in the User Anonymizer form (see Image 1).
Set the technical anonymous user (2) you created manually before.
Optionally, you may choose to include or exclude selected spaces (3) to limit the anonymization process to a subset of Confluence content. If left empty the anonymizer will anonymize all the spaces.
Test Anonymization
Click "Test anonymization" (5) to test the anonymization with the currently selected options. In this step no personal data will be changed, it is safe to click this button.
As a result you get a list of the elements that matches your selected users that will be anonymized (Image 2).
You will receive an email when the test anonymization is complete. You can close the browser tab once you have started the test anonymization.
Image 2: Result table of "Test anonymization"
Execute Anonymization
The result table of "Test anonymization" (Image 3) gives you an overview of the elements that will be anonymized.
Click "Execute" (6) to anonymize the personal data.
Anonymization cannot be undone. You will not be able to restore previous personal data. Please check your settings twice.
As the anonymization process may take a while depending on the amount of content, the current progress will be shown and updated automatically.
Image 3: Running Anonymization progress
SINCE VERSION 1.3
Starting with version 1.3 you will be notified via email when the anonymization is complete. You can therefore close the browser tab once you have started the anonymization process.
The email will contain an overview over the results of each anonymization step.