Change a Username
Confluence-managed users
If you manage your users in the Confluence internal directory, you can rename your user in Confluence. You'll need Confluence Administrator permissions to change a username.
To change a username:
- Choose Administration
> User management - Search for the user or choose Show all users
- Select the user you'd like to edit and choose Edit Details
- Enter the new username and choose Submit
That person will need to use their new username to log in to Confluence from now on. The new username will also be reflected throughout Confluence, including in @mentions.
Users managed in an external directory
If you don't manage your users in the Confluence internal directory, you may still be able to change someone's username. Confluence can't update external users, but it will detect changes in usernames coming from some external directories.
The following table shows the instances where you may be able to change a username in your external directory and have the change detected in Confluence.
| User directory | Where to rename the user |
|---|---|
| Internal directory with LDAP authentication | Rename the user in the LDAP directory, Confluence will detect the renamed user. Note: you must have 'Copy User on Login' enabled. See Copying Users on Login for more information. |
| Jira 6.1 or later | Rename the user in Jira, Confluence will automatically detect the renamed user. |
| Atlassian Crowd 2.7 or later | Rename the user in Crowd, Confluence will automatically detect the renamed user. |
| LDAP | Rename the user in your LDAP directory, Confluence will automatically detect the renamed user. |
Notes
Some important things to note about changing usernames:
- Mentions and page history – Any user mentions in current pages will automatically reflect the user's new username, but any mentions in page versions created prior to Confluence 5.3 will include the user's old username.
- Personal Spaces – If a Confluence Administrator renames a user who has a personal space, the space key for that space will remain as the original username. For example, if jsmith's username is changed to jbrown, their personal space key will remain ~jsmith.