Dibs for Confluence: documentation
Dibs lets people check out Confluence attachments while they edit them, so the rest of the team knows to wait, and catches it when someone uploads over a checked-out file anyway.
Get started
- Install Dibs from the Atlassian Marketplace. It works straight away in every space with the default settings: Restore mode, 3-day default expiry, 14-day maximum, page comments on.
- Open any page with attachments. In the byline under the title, click Dibs: check out files.
- Tick the files you're about to edit, add a reason, pick an expiry, and click Check out.
How it works (and what it can't do)
Confluence Cloud doesn't let apps stop an upload before it's saved. Every attachment event reaches apps after the new version already exists, whether it came from drag and drop, the attachments page, Atlassian Companion or the REST API. So Dibs can't block an upload. Instead:
- Before: everyone can see what is checked out, in a banner at the top of the page and in the page dialog.
- Right after someone other than the holder uploads a new version (usually within seconds,
occasionally a few minutes), Dibs:
- logs it (who, which version),
- posts a page comment mentioning the uploader and the holder, so Confluence notifies both,
- in Restore mode, uploads the holder's version again as the newest version. The other person's upload stays in the file's version history.
Moving a checked-out file to the trash is logged and announced but not undone; a space admin can restore it from the space trash. The check-out stays until it's released or expires.
Check out and release
- Bulk: tick any number of files (up to 100 at a time), or Select all.
- Reason: shown to everyone in the banner and the dialog. Up to 200 characters.
- Expiry: when the check-out releases itself. The choices depend on the space's maximum.
- Check in by uploading: tick "release when I upload a new version" and your next upload of that file releases it.
- Extend: in the dialog, next to your own check-outs.
- Release: the holder, a space admin, or a Confluence admin. Releasing works even if the license has lapsed.
- Tell me when free: on someone else's check-out. When it's released or expires, Dibs mentions you in a page comment.
- My checked-out files: Apps > My checked-out files lists everything you hold, with Release all.
Modes (Space settings > Integrations > Dibs)
| Mode | When someone else uploads a checked-out file |
|---|---|
| Restore (default) | Logged, both people mentioned, holder's version restored as the newest version |
| Record | Logged and both people mentioned; the new upload stays current |
| Off | Nobody can check out files in this space; existing check-outs are only recorded |
Space admins can also set the default and longest expiry, allow check-outs with no expiry, and turn the page comments off. Use site defaults removes the space's own settings.
Admins (Confluence settings > Dibs)
- Checked out: every check-out on the site, with Release.
- Activity: the latest 50 events, and a CSV of up to 5,000 (kept for 365 days).
- Defaults: the settings every space starts with.
Limits
- Pages and blog posts. Attachments on other apps' custom content are not covered.
- Automatic restore for files up to 100 MB.
- The restored version is uploaded by the app, so Confluence shows Dibs as its author, with the comment "Restored version N: this file is checked out."
- Up to 50 people waiting per file.
Troubleshooting
- No byline item: the app needs a moment after install; reload the page. On blog posts it appears in the same place.
- "You need edit permission": check-out needs edit rights on the page.
- A restore failed: see Activity for the reason; restore by hand from the file's versions.
- Banner missing: it only shows when at least one file on the page is checked out.
Privacy
Dibs runs on Atlassian's Forge platform and sends nothing outside Atlassian. See the privacy policy for what it stores.