Highlights of 9.0.0-rc2

Released 22 July 2024

Contains:

• Minor bug fixes

Highlights of 9.0.0-rc1

Released 15 July 2024

Contains:

• Minor bug fixes

Highlights of 9.0.0-beta3

Released 8 July 2024

Contains:

• Minor bug fixes

Highlights of 9.0.0-beta2

Released 1 July 2024

Dark theme is here!

For: END USERS

We’re excited to bring you one of the most requested features from users everywhere: Dark theme.

To enable Dark theme, select your avatar in the top right corner of the screen. Then, select Theme and Dark. Alternatively, if you’re already using Dark theme as your system default, you can select Match system, and Confluence will automatically adjust to Dark theme.

Animated screenshot: Enabling Dark theme 

Dark theme in Confluence delivers a fresh look to a familiar experience. We’ve updated the header navigation and made other changes to improve ease of use and accessibility.

Screenshot: Light theme header navigation

Screenshot: Dark theme header navigation

We also refreshed the text color and background color palettes in table cells to improve accessibility contrast. The new colors adjust depending on whether you’re viewing the page in Light or Dark theme.

Screenshot: Light theme text color palette

Screenshot: Dark theme text color palette

Theme options also include Original and Light. Although both themes represent the usual, lighter-colored user interface, they are slightly different from each other. Original theme presents the classic look and colors of Confluence prior to Confluence 9.0. We plan to remove Original theme in a later release.

Confluence 9.0 has Light theme set by default. It's the direct, lighter-colored alternative to Dark theme. Both Dark and Light themes use the same design elements to give you a consistent experience when switching between themes.

We’d love you to try Dark theme and share your thoughts with us on the feedback page.

Check out our guide on how to set up Dark theme

Word count for pages and blogs

For: END-USERS

Need to check that you’ve hit the minimum word requirement for your paper, or that you haven’t exceeded the maximum number of words for a proposal? Confluence is your friend!

The editor now keeps track of the number of words on your page or blog while you type, and displays either the total or selected number of words you have highlighted in the bottom toolbar.

Screenshot: Checking the number of words or characters

And if you need to count characters instead of words, the editor does that too. Just switch over using the dropdown - easily done!

Discover how to use the word count

Estimated page read time

For: END-USERS

In today’s world, many of us read a lot of Confluence pages every day. To help you judge how long it will take to read a page, you’ll now see the estimated read time underneath the title of a page or blog. Use this insight to better plan your day and commit to reading the right pages, without the need to scroll. Estimated read time is currently based on a reading speed of 265 words per minute, which is common across many languages.

Explore how to check the estimated read time

Screenshot: Estimated read time under the Confluence page title

Images are now more accessible

For: END-USERS

We’ve made more improvements to the accessibility of Confluence Data Center — specifically when interacting with images. Keyboard navigation and screen reader support now enable users to access image previews and the Insert files and images dialog. Moreover, elements within the dialog are now accessible, allowing users to select or deselect files, and to preview images.

New REST APIs for content management

For: ADMINS

Access more REST APIs to help you automate, script, and scale tasks related to:

• watchers

• labels

• attachments

• page moves

Visit our new REST API documentation for the new methods to use.

REST API documentation upgrade

For: ADMINS

We’ve modernized the look and feel of our Confluence Data Center REST API documentation by migrating it to Swagger. In addition to the refreshed look and feel we’re getting from the Swagger API documentation framework, this migration will make our API docs easier for you to navigate, find examples, and copy snippets from.

Screenshot: Updated look and feel of Confluence Data Center REST API

OpenSearch now an opt-in search engine

For: ADMINS

OpenSearch is now available as an opt-in, alternative search engine to Lucene. OpenSearch provides more advanced indexing options, leading to less processing requirements and faster search results.

While OpenSearch can be used as an alternative to Lucene, Confluence 9.0 will still use Lucene by default.

To get started, visit the OpenSearch configuration guide.

Almost out of user licenses? Get an early alert

For: ADMINS

Monitor your Confluence Data Center license limits before you run out of licenses. This health check will alert you as you approach your license seat limit. This early alert lets you take action before you run out of seats, so you can upgrade your license, or reduce your existing user count while you still have spare seats. You can set the health check to alert you when you reach your preferred warning number — or percentage — of seats left. By default, this is set to 10%.

For more details, visit Health Check: Confluence license limit.

New health check for improved backup security

For: ADMINS

The Atlassian Troubleshooting and Support app (ATST) has been upgraded to version 2.0.0 and equipped with a new check for Local Backup Security. This health check warns about any stored backups in Confluence’s file system, which may expose confidential data in the event of an attack.

The new health check will be available by default in Confluence Data Center 9.0.

Version 2.0.0 of the app is available only for Confluence versions 9.0 and beyond. If you’re using Confluence 8.9 or earlier, you can still use version 1.x.x, which you can install and upgrade through Atlassian Marketplace.

Upgrade notes

Bug in application link creation between Confluence 9 and Jira

There is a known bug affecting the setup of new application links between Confluence 9 and Jira. However, all existing application links will continue to function correctly after the upgrade.

The Jira Data Center team is currently working on the fix, which will soon be available in both the Long Term Support (LTS) version and the upcoming bug fix release.

Removal of custom language syntaxes from Code Block macro

We've removed the Add New Language feature from the Code Block macro and all associated back-end APIs. This change improves the security and stability of our platform.

If custom languages have already been added to your system, we recommend that you manually uninstall them because they will no longer work. 

If your system has no custom languages, there is nothing you need to do.

Note that this change was made in the recently released Confluence 8.9.4.

Explore more information about the Code Block macro

Removal of JAACS setup via setup wizard in Confluence 9.0

To reduce technical debt and simplify the installation flow, we've removed the option to set up Jira as a Crowd Server (JAACS) from the setup wizard in Confluence 9.0. This change simplifies the setup process and prioritizes features most valued by our users.

Administrators looking to integrate user management between Confluence DC and Jira DC can now configure JAACS post-setup through Administration > General Configuration > User directories > Atlassian Jira.

Find out more details on how to connect Confluence to Jira applications for user management

Removal of the legacy backup and restore system

In Confluence 8.3, the backup and restore system underwent a complete upgrade with visible improvements to performance, stability, functionality, and appearance. The benefits of the upgrade include:

• faster XML backup and restore operations with performance that is up to 10 to 50 times faster, based on the instance size

• the ability to backup and restore multiple spaces, instead of the entire site

• more visibility and control with the ability to cancel backup and restore jobs

• improved reliability and reduced resource consumption

Learn more about these changes in the Confluence 8.3 Release Notes.

As part of Confluence 9.0, we’ve removed the legacy backup and restore system. This means that scheduled backups, which used our legacy system, are no longer available. Scheduled XML backups were disabled by default in Confluence Data Center.

We don't recommend relying on XML backups as a main backup method. Instead, we recommend regularly backing up the database, installation directory, and home directories. See Production Backup Strategy for recommended methods.

For backups of test sites, or in addition to database and directory backups, we recommend using the upgraded backup and restore system’s documented API that makes managing these tasks easier and also allows for the automation of heavy or large site merges and space migrations.

Trusted Application endpoint access restricted

Access to Trusted Application endpoints is now limited to system administrators. We recommend using OAuth for application links since the deprecation of Trusted Applications.

Explore our more detailed upgrade instructions for updating application links to use OAuth

Supported platforms changes

End of support for Java 11

As previously announced, Java 11 is no longer supported.  You won’t be able to start Confluence 9.0 if you use Java 11.

You must use either Java 17 or 21 runtime to start Confluence 9.0.

Support for Java 21

You can now run Confluence with Java 21. Java 21 is a Long-Term Support version, so you’ll have several years of access to regular bug fixes and security updates.

In this release, we continue to bundle the Eclipse Temurin 17 JRE, but you can choose to switch to Java 21 now.

Explore our guide about switching your Java version or vendor

Support for PostgreSQL 16

Added support for PostgreSQL 16.

Advance Notice: Two-step verification in Confluence

We’re working on improving the security of our login experience for Confluence by allowing customers to add a second authentication layer.

The new login process will support a built-in two-step verification (2SV) capability using time-based one-time password (TOTP) as a second factor.

We’re happy to announce that we’re launching an Early Access Program (EAP) to seek feedback for the prototype of this solution and invite you to take part in this. See the recent Atlassian developer changelog entry for updates, useful links and videos.

Infrastructure changes

Confluence 9.0 contains changes that may affect apps. Head to Preparing for Confluence 9.0 to find out how these changes will impact app developers.