Issue #116
From Chaos to Confluence: Your Content Migration Game Plan

In this issue, we’re looking into the best practices for migrating documentation from other tools into Confluence.

All Roads Lead to Rome Confluence

Many teams are stuck with scattered documentation – PDFs shared by emails and Slack messages, folders in G‑Drive, documentation websites created with legacy content management systems, old intranets and knowledge bases. The information exists, but it’s fragmented and hard to trust.

You need a single source of truth. Migrating into Confluence is a chance not just to move content, but to improve it.

Let’s start with the benefits of moving the resources to a single platform.

• Single source of truth – everyone knows where to look and what to trust.

• Better governance – clear ownership and content live cycle management.

• Less effort, lower cost – one tool and one license.

• Happier readers – clear navigation, consistent formatting, unified experience.

Think of the migration as of a two phase process: Phase 1: Move & Improve, then Phase 2: Polish & Govern.

Why Move Everything Into Confluence?

For starters, Confluence is efficient in accommodating content from static websites, HTML files, and similar resources. For example, importing HTML is really easy.

But there’s more. By migrating your content into Confluence, you will gain the following:

• Unified environment – authoring, reviewing, publishing, and reading takes place in a single tool.

• Content features – pages, whiteboards, diagrams, databases.

• Integrations – Teamwork collection (Jira, Loom videos, Rovo) + Jira Service Management.

To learn more, check our guide on How Confluence Makes Documentation Faster, Easier & Collaborative.

Create a Migration Game Plan

When it comes to migrating content from one tool to another, there’s no magic button. NEVER. But with a good plan, migration will result in much better documentation.

1. Create the existing content inventory.
   List where content lives today, what types you have, and who owns it.

2. Clean up before you move.
   With SMEs, decide what’s still needed and accurate. Aim to describe the current reality, not history. If nobody can justify a page, archive it instead of migrating it.

3. Align styles and structure.
   Define basic templates and patterns – the more consistent the source content, the smoother any automated or semi‑automated import will be.

4. Pick the right import method
   Use a mix that fits your situation:

   • Copy & paste for low‑volume, one‑off moves.

   • HTML import when you can export clean HTML and want to keep structure.

   • Word imports are fine for small cases, risky as a main strategy due to styling issues.

   • Programmatic (XML/APIs) for large, structured documentation sets where automation pays off.

5. Deprecate old resources.
   Create a deprecation plan and ensure that old content is not accessible to most users.

Looking for guidelines for Data Center to Cloud migration? We've got you covered.

After the Move: Don’t Skip Cleanup

Every migration, manual or automated, requires a cleanup, often called ‘sanity check’, in the target environment. Once content lands in Confluence, you need to do a couple of things:

• Fix navigation, formatting, and apply appropriate macros.

• Ensure that internal links point to the new locations in Confluence, not to original content.

• Merge duplicates and clarify ownership.

Also, when you have everything in Confluence, think about how to connect and integrate previously separated resources.

Keep Docs Alive While Migrating

Work doesn’t pause during migration. Decide:

• Where new/updated docs should live during the transition.

• When teams should switch over to creating and updating only in Confluence.

Take into consideration factors like your release cycle, frequency of updates, number of resources that you need to update, and so on.

Yes, it will require extra time and resources. But the benefits will soon emerge. Treat migration as an opportunity: from scattered docs without ownership to a focused, trustworthy knowledge hub in Confluence.

News

Confluence PDF exports just got a little better

Atlassian is rolling out an open beta of the new PDF exporter that will allow you to adjust parameters such as font type and size, page orientation, margins, etc. without tweaking CSS. In other words, it’s a no-code option for nicer PDF exports of your Confluence content.

Read more → 

Meanwhile, our Scroll PDF Exporter for Confluence got a little better too. You can now stamp a custom watermark on Confluence PDF exports to tell your audience that content is, for example, Top Secret, Beta Version, or Deprecated. If you need more control over your exported content, work with custom templates and branding, make sure to check it out.

Live Event:

Join Matt Reiner and Kristian Klima on March 18, 2026, as they discuss the content migration and consolidation as a part of your documentation strategy and explore use of AI and Rovo in getting your content from other resources into Confluence:

Planning what to migrate (and what to leave behind). Structuring your spaces and pages before and after you import. Handling Word and Google docs. Cleaning up and importing HTML content. Normalizing formatting, headings, and page structure. Using AI to speed up cleanup and restructuring.

💭 Planning what to migrate (and what to leave behind)
🧱 Structuring your spaces and pages before and after you import
📄 Handling Word and Google docs
🌐 Cleaning up and importing HTML content
🧹 Normalizing formatting, headings, and page structure
🧠 Using AI to speed up cleanup and restructuring

Register here.