Knowledge management migration
Migrate Your Knowledge Managementfor enhanced collaboration and discovery
Moving a knowledge base is mostly a question of what deserves to move, then keeping permissions and links intact. For Confluence Data Center teams, there is also now a date to work towards.
The deadline many Confluence teams are working to
Atlassian has set the end of life for Data Center products, including Confluence Data Center, at March 28, 2029. New customers could no longer buy Data Center subscriptions after March 30, 2026. Existing customers can buy new subscriptions and expansions until March 30, 2028. When a subscription expires, Atlassian says the instance becomes read only: you can still access your data, but can't add anything new. Atlassian also says it will offer extended maintenance to certain customers by exception.
That leaves time, but not as much as it looks like, because the choice of what to move to and the content clean-up both take months in a large organisation. Bitbucket and Bamboo are treated differently, so check Atlassian's page if you run those too.
Prune before you move
Most knowledge bases hold a lot that nobody reads: old project spaces, superseded policies, pages from people who left years ago. Moving all of it costs money and makes search worse in the new system. Use view statistics and last-edited dates to build a list, and have each space's owner choose what stays, what gets archived and what gets deleted. Anything without an owner goes into the archive by default.
What usually breaks
- Macros and rich content. Content that depends on an app, or on features unique to the old platform, may arrive as a placeholder or lose its formatting. Moving from Confluence to SharePoint or Notion, for example, has no one-to-one equivalent for many of them.
- Internal links. Pages link to each other by old URLs and IDs. Atlassian's own migration guide warns that some URLs in migrated apps may still point at the old instance, so we crawl after each trial and list what's broken.
- Permissions. Space and page restrictions rarely map exactly. Check the sensitive spaces, HR and finance in particular, by logging in as an ordinary user. A page that becomes visible to everyone is worse than one that goes missing.
- Attachments and versions. Page history and large attachments drive the size and duration of the move, so decide how much history you actually need.
- Identities. Authors and mentions depend on user accounts that match in the target. Departed staff need a decision, or their names go missing.
- Search and habits. Bookmarks, wiki links in tickets and links in code comments all point to the old address, so keep redirects running where you can.
How we would run it
We would start with an inventory: spaces, page counts, attachment sizes, the apps and macros in use. Next, a trial with one awkward space, chosen because it uses the most features, so you see the worst case early. Vendor migration tools handle what they can, and custom scripts cover the rest through each platform's API. After that, owners review their own spaces in the target. People notice errors in content they wrote that no automated check would catch.
If your knowledge base contains personal data or regulated records, retention rules should be settled before the move. Migrations often copy these into a second location without anyone deciding to.
What we can show you
We have no published knowledge-management migration. We do build on content platforms and APIs, including headless WordPress content for a client's product site, but that is a different kind of work. Your first step in any case is the inventory and pruning, and you can do that without us. Ask us when you reach the point of needing scripts or link repair.
Knowledge base migration questions
Do we have to leave Confluence Data Center now?
Not immediately. End of life is March 28, 2029, and existing customers can buy subscriptions until March 30, 2028. A large instance should start planning well before then, mainly because content clean-up and target selection take time.
Will our pages look the same after the move?
Simple pages generally will. Pages built on macros or third-party apps may not. Test your most complex space first, since it shows the real limits for your content.
What are you on, and how much of it is still used?
Tell us the platform, the rough size and where you want to go. We will tell you honestly which parts are worth paying someone to do.
We reply within one business day (IST).