Guide · Confluence

Read and understood in Confluence: how to get proof, not just page views

Attestation Flow for Confluence 3.1.0 is the production version (30 October 2026). Last updated 1 November 2026. On the Atlassian Marketplace.

By Bartosz Stankiewicz, founder, Stanki Guild.

People search for this as Confluence read confirmation, read and understood, or mandatory reading. The scenario: a security policy, an employee handbook, an SOP. Management needs to show that named people read it. The document lives in Confluence. The question is what Confluence can actually prove.

The short answer: a page view says nothing about understanding, and Confluence Cloud has no native read confirmation. Everything beyond that is a workaround or an app. This guide walks through the options in order of effort.

On Standard and above, Confluence shows page insights such as views and unique viewers; on Premium and Enterprise, content analytics also list who viewed a page, unless an administrator has turned on privacy mode (View insights on pages). When the goal is acknowledgement, three problems remain:

1. A view is not a confirmation. Someone opened the page, perhaps from a link in chat, perhaps for four seconds.
2. A view is not tied to a page version. The policy changed last week: did the person read the old version or the new one?
3. Analytics are reporting, not a per-person record you can hand to an auditor, and what you can see depends on your plan.

Fine for "is this documentation used at all". Not fine for "prove that these 200 people acknowledged version 4".

• Likes: a weak, public signal that is not tied to a version.
• Comments: asking readers to comment "read and understood" works at small scale, stays manual forever, and a comment can be edited or deleted by its author.
• Confluence approvals (Premium and Enterprise): named approvers sign off a page, and a space can require approval before publishing (Request and manage approvals). They record that approvers approved the content, not that the finished page was read by everyone who must follow it.
• No read confirmation: Community answers to this question have said for years that there is no native feature, for example in "How to create Read & Acknowledge function on a page?" and, in 2026, "How to invite a user to bulk sign Confluence pages".

1. The comment roll call: "everyone comment 'read and understood' below". No cost, and fine for one page with five readers. At 50 readers it falls apart: someone has to compare the comment list with a headcount by hand.
2. A table on the page: one row per person with name, date and version. Better, because the table is the record. Worse, because readers can edit each other's rows, and every page edit raises the question of whether to clear the table.
3. An external form: a link to a form tool or the HR system. It works, but the record of who read which version of a Confluence page now lives outside Confluence, without a link to the page history.

Each of these can pass an audit at small scale. They fail in the same two situations: the policy changes (which version did people confirm?) or the company grows (who is still missing?).

Write these requirements down before you choose a tool, including ours:

• Bound to a version: the record names the page version the person confirmed.
• Write-once: the reader cannot edit or withdraw it, and neither can an administrator quietly change it.
• The outstanding list: who has not confirmed yet, on demand, exportable.
• Re-ask on change: a page edit asks readers again, and earlier confirmations stay as history.
• Names and times: the person, their account and the timestamp.

Marketplace apps in this niche are small. Install counts read from the Marketplace API on 12 October 2026: QC Read and Understood (335), Comala Read Confirmations (268), Read & Confirm by MiddleCore (26) and Policy Acknowledgement by Rethought (3). Small numbers are normal for a niche category (newer figures for the apps we track are in the table below); our comparison lists prices and features with sources.

When you evaluate one, ask: is the confirmation bound to the page version; can anything inside the app rewrite it; can it show outstanding readers per space; does it ask again after edits; how does it remind people; and can it export the report for the audit folder? If the policies are part of an ISMS (ISO 27001, SOC 2), also ask whether it can check understanding with questions, not just a click.

For a read and understood app in Confluence, these are the points that separate a record from a click counter: the confirmation is bound to the page version, nothing inside the app can rewrite it, readers are asked again after an edit, the outstanding list can be shown and exported, reminders exist, and understanding can be checked with questions when the policy is part of an ISMS. The table shows the annual list price at 10, 50 and 100 users.

Read confirmation apps in our tracked list, as read from the Marketplace data:

Read from the Atlassian Marketplace data on 31 October 2026. Prices are the annual list price in USD for the first year at 10, 50 and 100 users. The rows are the 5 most-installed of the 8 read confirmation and acknowledgement apps for Confluence in our tracked list, ordered by installs; this is not the order of the Marketplace search results, and apps outside our list are not shown. A blank install figure means the data held none. Star ratings are left out on purpose: the star field in the Marketplace data does not always match the rating shown on the listing, so open the listing for the current rating.

The Marketplace data does not say which of these apps binds the confirmation to a page version or how it handles edits, so check each listing against the points above. Attestation Flow is ours and is the last row.

Attestation Flow is our Confluence app. In the Attestation Flow macro you name the required readers of a page; each of them clicks I have read and understood, and the app stores a write-once receipt with their Atlassian account, the page, the page version and the time. When the page is edited, readers are asked again for the new version, and the earlier receipts stay as history. Every acknowledgement and change is also added to a SHA-256 hash-chained log for the page. All of this works in every edition; without an active paid licence, one page per space can carry a requirement.

With a paid licence you add Confluence groups as readers (membership is read live), a re-acknowledgement window of 30 to 730 days, up to 10 questions that must be answered correctly before confirming (checked on the server, and a wrong attempt is told how many answers were right, not which), a minimum reading time, reminder page comments that mention outstanding readers, and the compliance report per space or across spaces with CSV, Excel and PDF export. Attestation Flow is free for up to 10 users with every feature, then from USD 0.75 per user per month for the first 100 users. See the documentation and the 16 policy pack templates.

One honest limit: this is an audit trail, not a legally binding electronic signature, and we make no claim of 21 CFR Part 11 compliance. If you need qualified e-signatures, look at e-signature apps instead.

How can I see who read a policy in Confluence?

Natively only as views: on Premium and Enterprise, content analytics can list who viewed a page, but a view is not an acknowledgement and is not tied to a page version. For a record of who confirmed which version, you need a read confirmation app. Attestation Flow is ours.

Can Confluence tell me who has not read a page?

Not directly. On Premium and Enterprise, content analytics can filter people who have and have not viewed a page, but a view is not an acknowledgement and is not tied to a page version.

What should happen when the page is edited?

That is the crux. With version-bound records, an edit means readers are asked again for the new version, and the old confirmations stay as history. A process that does not record versions silently keeps stale confirmations alive.

Which Confluence apps do read confirmation?

Several, and all are small: the table above lists those in our tracked list with their annual list prices. Among them are QC Read and Understood and Comala Read Confirmations. Attestation Flow is ours.

Can I require a quiz instead of a click?

Not natively. Attestation Flow can, with a paid licence: up to 10 multiple-choice questions that must all be answered correctly (or reach a pass mark you set) before the confirmation is accepted, and the receipt records the result.

Does this work for people outside the company?

Readers need an Atlassian account that can open the page. For audiences without accounts, such as customers, use a separate process and keep that record separately.

• Attestation Flow for Confluence documentation
• Confluence policy templates
• Attestation Flow compared with other Confluence apps
• Confluence policy: owner, review date and next review
• Policy acknowledgement evidence for ISO 27001 and SOC 2 audits: what to keep, and how to produce it from Confluence
• ISO 9001 documented information: showing a review in Confluence
• ISO 27001 awareness for staff: how to run a quiz, and keep the evidence
• Policy acknowledgement nudges in Slack and Microsoft Teams with Confluence Automation
• Comala Document Management alternative for Confluence: when Attestation Flow fits and when it does not
• When is "everyone has read it" actually true? Testing read and understood in Confluence