User's Guide

This guide is for Confluence users who want to understand how Content Retention Manager affects their content and how to use the app's end-user features.

Info

The features described in this guide are available to non-admin users in Standard edition only. In Lite edition, the app is only accessible to admins.

Accessing Content Retention Manager

In the Confluence left side navigation, select Apps, then select Content Retention Manager.

Opening Content Retention Manager from the Confluence Apps menu

What You Can Access

What you can do depends on the permissions your Confluence admin has configured:

• Content Audit tab: view retention status and act on content you have access to, including classifying, archiving, and deleting.
• Classification panel: view and change the classification level on individual pages you have edit access to (if the admin has enabled user classification permissions).

Admins control which of these capabilities are available to regular users through the User Permissions sections on the Policies and Classification tabs.

Understanding Retention Status on Your Content

Every piece of content in Confluence has a retention status that reflects where it is in its lifecycle. See Retention Statuses and Discoverability for the full definitions.

The statuses most relevant to you as a user are:

• ENDING: Your content is approaching the end of its retention period. Review it and contact your admin if you believe it should be retained longer, or allow it to expire.
• ENDED: Your content has expired. Depending on your organization's automation settings, it may already be deleted or scheduled for purging. Contact your admin if you believe this content should be retained.
• EVERGREEN: An indefinite extension is applied. This content will not expire under any retention policy.

Per-Content Classification

You can view and change the classification level on any page you have Edit permission on, provided your admin has enabled user classification permissions.

To open the Classification panel on a page:

1. Open the page in Confluence.
2. Click the apps icon in the page toolbar.
3. Select Classification.

The panel shows the current classification level and where it comes from: a per-content override, a space rule, or the site default.

To change the classification level:

1. Use the dropdown in the Classification panel to select a new level, or search for a level by name.
2. The selected level is saved immediately and overrides any space rule or global default for this page.

Example of a Classification Level display on a page

Example of a user selecting a new Classification Level

Tip

Selecting Use Default removes your per-content override and restores the effective classification from space rules and the global default.

AI Classification Suggestion

If your organization uses automated classification, the Classification panel may show an AI-suggested level. The level name includes an (AI) label (for example, Restricted (AI)), and the panel prompts you to confirm or override it.

Classification panel showing an AI-suggested level with Confirm and Reject options

• Confirm: saves the AI-suggested level as your own classification. The (AI) label is removed and the Classification Source updates to User.
• Reject: dismisses the prompt and shows the standard dropdown, letting you select a different level.

Content Audit

The Content Audit tab shows content where you are the creator, contributor, or owner, along with each item's retention status, classification level and source (if your admin has enabled classification visibility), and applied policy (if your admin has enabled policy visibility).

Content you have access to but haven't interacted with won't appear in the Content Audit tab. Only content where you've taken an active role is listed here.

Use Filters and Search to narrow down to specific items, and Export to download the current view as a CSV.

Content Audit tab in Content Retention Manager for Confluence

Classifying Content

Select one or more items and click Classify to set a classification level in bulk. This requires your admin to have enabled user classification permissions. Like the per-content panel, a bulk classification overrides any classification rule or global default for each selected item.

Archiving and Deleting Content

Select one or more items to archive or delete them directly from the audit view.

• Archive: moves selected content to an archived state. Requires Confluence Premium or Enterprise.
• Delete: moves selected content to the trash. Content remains recoverable by space and Confluence administrators.