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How to change page restrictions on many Confluence Cloud pages at once

Someone left the company, a team was renamed, or an auditor needs read access to one branch of the wiki, and the restrictions on dozens of pages have to change. This guide covers what Confluence Cloud does on its own, how far a restricted parent page takes you, a REST API route for people who script, and where an app helps.

The short answer

Confluence Cloud has no built-in way to edit page restrictions in bulk. Atlassian's suggestion CONFCLOUD-59659, "Bulk update page restrictions: add, remove, edit page restrictions", was opened in 2018, had 137 votes and was still in "Gathering Interest" on 23 October 2026. Its workaround is a script against the REST API. For one page, or a handful, the native dialog is enough.

Native: the Share dialog, one page at a time

Atlassian's article Change who can find content and what they can do with it describes the steps. Open the page, select Share, and set General access to one of its states. Under Restricted, only the people and groups listed in Specific access can view or edit. To take someone off, open their dropdown and select Remove. Restrictions cannot be set on the Free plan.

Two details from the same article save work or avoid mistakes:

  • Remove all is not "lift the restriction". On a restricted page it clears the access list and makes the page private to you. To open the page again, change General access back to an open state.
  • Teams are not supported in this sharing experience yet; add people and groups.

Native: restrict the parent instead

The same article explains inheritance. View restrictions added to a parent page or folder are inherited down to every item nested under it, and a child with no restriction of its own shows "Restricted by a parent". If the goal is to hide a branch from most people, one change on the top page may do it.

Editing does not work this way. Atlassian says that restricting editing on a parent does not restrict editing on the children, so edit restrictions must be set on each page. A child with its own restriction adds another layer: even people who can use the parent cannot open it unless they are also listed on that page.

For scripters: the REST API

The ticket above names the content restriction endpoints: add (POST), update (PUT) and remove (DELETE) on /wiki/rest/api/content/{id}/restriction. Read the content restrictions reference before using PUT: it removes the existing restrictions and replaces them with the ones in the request. A script therefore has to read each page's current restrictions, merge the change, write, and then read back to check. It also needs the list of page IDs under your top page, and a test on a throwaway page first.

Where doing it by hand stops

  • Replacing one person with another on 80 pages is 80 visits to the Share dialog, each with a remove and an add.
  • Edit restrictions have to be repeated on every page, because they do not inherit.
  • The articles above do not describe a preview of a multi-page change or an undo for it. A mistake is found afterwards, page by page.

Option: Bulk Page Restrictions for Confluence

Disclosure. Atesen Software, which publishes this guide, makes Bulk Page Restrictions for Confluence, an app on the Atlassian Marketplace. The native routes above work without it.

You choose a top page. As the Bulk Page Restrictions user guide explains, the change covers that page and every page, folder, whiteboard and database below it, at any depth. You can add, remove or replace a person or group, copy the top page's restrictions down the tree, or remove restrictions, for view, edit or both.

  • Preview first. It lists each page with who is on its restrictions now and after the change. You can untick pages you want left alone.
  • Re-read before writing. Each page is read again just before it changes. A page edited in the meantime is left alone and reported.
  • Undo and a record. One click undoes a change. A CSV report lists every page, and changes stay in a 30-day history.
  • Your own permissions. It runs as you, so pages you cannot see are not listed.

Good to know. It is for Confluence Cloud only. Confluence requires the person who changes a restriction to be named on it, so the app adds you where needed and shows "+ you" in the preview. Pages with 200 or more people or groups in one restriction are skipped. Keep the window open while a change runs; an interrupted change can be resumed from History. It is paid through Atlassian, and the Pricing tab of the listing shows the current plans.

See Bulk Page Restrictions on the Atlassian Marketplace

Which route fits

  • One page or a few: the Share dialog.
  • Hiding a whole branch from viewers: a view restriction on its top page.
  • You already maintain scripts and can test them: the REST API.
  • The same person or group changing across a large tree, or an edit restriction on many pages: an app with a preview and undo.

Atesen Software is independent. Atlassian and Confluence are trademarks of Atlassian, and this page is not affiliated with or endorsed by Atlassian. The Atlassian pages and ticket cited here were checked on 23 October 2026; menus and options can change.

Questions about this guide: support@atesensoftware.com.