Copy a Confluence page with all its child pages
Short answer: open the top page, choose More actions (•••) → Duplicate, pick the destination, tick Include children, rename the copies and confirm. It works within a space and between spaces. In current Confluence Cloud the action is called Duplicate; older guides call it Copy.
Steps
- Open the page (or live doc, or other item) at the top of the tree. Leave edit mode first: the option is not offered while you are editing.
- Select More actions (•••), then Duplicate.
- Choose the space the copies should go to. It can be the same space.
- Choose the new parent: the item in that space that the copied tree will sit under.
- Tick Include children, then select Next.
- Name the new items. By default Confluence calls each copy "Duplicate of …". Titles must be unique within a space, and you can change them in bulk. Per item, choose whether to keep its restrictions and labels.
- Select Duplicate.
What is copied
Copied
- The page and every child page below it
- Attachments
- Labels (optional per item)
- Page restrictions (optional per item)
Not copied
- Comments
- Version history (the copy starts fresh)
- Watchers and stars
- Anything outside the tree: blog posts, other trees, space settings
Permissions you need
- You need permission to add pages in the space to see Duplicate at all.
- To copy into another space you need that permission in both spaces.
- You can only copy pages you can see. If some child pages are restricted from you, ask their owner or a space admin.
Titles: the "Duplicate of" problem
Because titles must be unique within a space, a copy in the same space always needs new titles. Copying to a different space lets you keep the original titles, as long as that space has no pages with the same names. Use the bulk rename in step 6, for example to put a client or project name in front of every title, rather than fixing titles one by one afterwards.
Links inside the copied pages
Atlassian's article does not say how links are handled. Users on Atlassian Community report that when a whole tree is duplicated in one operation, links between pages in that tree point at the copies, while pages copied one at a time keep pointing at the originals. Macros that name a space or page, such as Include page or Content by label, are worth a look after any copy. The links guide lists what to check.
Doing it with automation
Confluence automation has a Copy page action that publishes a copy of a page in a chosen location. Atlassian's list of actions says labels and view and edit restrictions are copied by default, and that comments and attachments cannot be copied by it. It does not say whether child pages are included, so test it before relying on it for whole trees.
Common problems
| Problem | What to check |
|---|---|
| No Duplicate in the menu | You are in edit mode, or you lack permission to add pages in this space. |
| Cannot choose the other space | You need permission to add pages there too. |
| Cannot publish a copy | Its title clashes with a page already in that space. Rename it. |
| Links open the old pages | The pages were copied in separate operations, or the links are full addresses typed by hand. See the links guide. |
| A very large tree | Atlassian lists no page limit. Try one branch first and check the result before copying hundreds of pages. |
When you need more than one tree
Duplicate works on one tree at a time. If you want a whole space, with its blog posts, page templates and permissions, read how to copy a whole space. Spacewright, our app, does that in one job and fills in names such as {{client}} across every page title and page; it is optional, and everything on this page works without it.
Sources
- Atlassian: Move, copy, and hide content items
- Atlassian: Actions in Confluence automation
- Atlassian Community: Broken links when copying pages from one space to another (Jan 2026)