How to export a Confluence space: PDF, HTML, XML, CSV (2026)

Who can export a Confluence space?

Atlassian's export guide for Confluence Cloud says space admins can export a space, or a group of individually selected pages, to PDF, CSV, HTML or XML. Space and site admins can also export content owned by deactivated accounts.

What you get depends on who runs it. Only content that is visible to you is exported, except for a CSV or XML export run by a site admin, which exports all content. If you are leaving Confluence, ask a site admin to run the final export so restricted pages are not missing.

Organization admins can also block exports for specific products or classification levels, so an export button that is missing may be a policy, not a bug.

What does each export format include?

These are the statements on Atlassian's Cloud export page. Where the page says nothing, the table says so.

Only the published version of a page is exported. Unpublished changes are left out. Team Calendars are not exported.

How do you export a space in Confluence Cloud?

These are the steps from Atlassian's export guide:

1. Select More actions (•••) next to the space name in the sidebar, then Space settings.
2. Open the General menu and select Export space.
3. Pick a format. For PDF you can choose all content or specific items. For CSV, all visible content is exported. For HTML or XML, select Next to export everything or specific items.
4. Select Export space and download the file when the process finishes.

Do the CSV export first. Then run a PDF or HTML export too if you want a readable copy for people who won't open the new tool right away.

Large exports can be slow. Atlassian says that if you hit delays or errors on a multi-page export, you should try smaller sets of pages, and that about 100 pages should generally finish within a few minutes.

How do you export a single page, or the whole site?

For one page or live doc, select ••• on the page, hover over Export, then choose Export to Word or Export to PDF. Word is for single pages only.

For everything at once, Atlassian's site backup article describes a different tool:

1. Open Confluence administration and go to Settings > Data management.
2. Select Backup manager.
3. Optionally select Backup attachments.
4. Choose Create backup for cloud.

Only one backup file is stored at a time, and a new backup overwrites the old one. The download link is available for 14 days. Atlassian lists a maximum of 30 GB for the backup, plus up to 800 GB of attachments.

Soft-deleted spaces (spaces in the trash) are not backed up, so restore any space you need first.

What is happening to XML export in 2026?

Atlassian's end-of-life notice says XML Site Export and XML Space Export in Confluence Cloud reach end of life on December 1, 2026. The features keep working for now. After that date, Atlassian stops fixing bugs, accepting support tickets and providing SLAs for XML export.

The notice says CSV Site Export and CSV Space Export remain fully supported on all plans (Free, Standard, Premium and Enterprise), and that XML import is not affected.

One gap: Atlassian says Cloud-to-Data Center moves are the exception, because the Data Center site restore accepts only XML and CSV cannot be imported into Data Center. For that case, the notice tells you to contact Atlassian Support. It also suggests keeping one final XML export as a transitional backup until your CSV workflow is validated.

What doesn't come out cleanly?

• Comments in PDF and HTML. Atlassian's export page says comments are never included in PDF and are not exported in HTML.
• Blog posts in PDF and HTML. Neither includes them. If your team uses blogs, export them one at a time, since Atlassian lists blog posts as exportable individually.
• Unpublished changes. Only the published version of a page is exported.
• Team Calendars. Not exported.
• Databases. Atlassian's site backup article says it can't currently export databases. Their content and functionality are lost, and they appear empty.
• Group permissions and user accounts. Atlassian's import article says user accounts are not imported with a space, and permissions tied to groups are lost unless a group of the same name already exists on the destination site.
• Whiteboards. Atlassian's import article says whiteboard content, data and functionality are not retained.

If you are moving to a tool that is not Confluence, none of these formats will map one-to-one. HTML is the easiest to read and search. CSV is the one Atlassian supports for moving a space between Cloud sites.

What changes on Data Center?

Confluence Data Center works differently. Atlassian's Data Center export article says you need the Export Space permission to use the space export tool.

• PDF and HTML: go to Space tools > Content Tools > Export, choose HTML or PDF, then Normal (whole space) or Custom (selected pages).
• XML backup: go to Space tools > Content Tools > Back up, optionally name the file and choose Save permanently, then download it when it finishes.
• Word: single pages only. Atlassian says only the first 50 images attached to a page are exported.

Atlassian's Data Center page says only one XML backup is processed at a time, and that you can only import a space into the same or a later Confluence version. Its comparison table also lists PDF as including images only, not other attachments. That page contradicts itself on blog posts in XML, so test a small export before relying on it for blogs.

A pre-switch checklist

1. Ask a site admin to run the exports, so all content is included.
2. List your spaces, including personal spaces and any in the trash.
3. Export each space as CSV. Open the zip and spot-check pages, comments and attachments.
4. Export a PDF or HTML copy of anything people need to read without the new tool.
5. Export blog posts separately if you use them.
6. Note anything that won't come across: databases, whiteboards, Team Calendars, group permissions.
7. If you need Data Center, run XML before December 1, 2026 and talk to Atlassian Support.
8. Run one more export after your cut-off date, then check page counts in the new tool before you cancel.

When one system makes more sense

If Confluence is your only wiki and the team uses it with Jira, staying on it or moving to another off-the-shelf wiki is usually the simplest path. Our Notion alternatives page compares the options, and the Notion vs Confluence pricing post covers what each costs for small teams.

If Confluence is one of several tools that hold notes about the same work, moving docs, tasks and the rest into one system on the same date means you migrate once instead of twice. The SaaS cost calculator and our software consolidation guide help you see whether that's worth it. FitMySaaS can move your exported pages in as part of that build.

Questions

Can I export a Confluence space without being an admin?

Atlassian says space admins can export a space. Any user can export individual pages and blog posts, and a space export only includes content visible to the person who runs it. Ask a space admin or site admin to run the space export.

Which format keeps comments?

CSV. Atlassian says CSV exports include attachments and comments by default. PDF never includes comments, and HTML does not export page comments.

Does a Confluence export include attachments?

CSV does by default, according to Atlassian. HTML puts attachments in individual folders. For the site backup, attachments are optional and you turn them on with Backup attachments.

Is XML export going away?

In Confluence Cloud, it reaches end of life on December 1, 2026. It keeps working, but Atlassian stops bug fixes and support for it. CSV export remains fully supported on all plans. Confluence Data Center has its own XML backup tool, covered above.

Can I export a Confluence space to Word?

No. Word is for single pages, live docs or blog posts, and the file opens only in Microsoft Word. For a whole space, use PDF, HTML or CSV.