How to use Missing Attachments Scanner for Confluence
Introduction
The Missing Attachment Scanner performs a comprehensive background scan on all the attachment files in all spaces (including those in trash).
By identifying the missing attachments, it helps to
prevent (unknown) data loss
facilitate data recovery with earlier discovery
identify any underlying issues
reduce the errors logged in Confluence backend
fix broken links in the Confluence pages
How to know when attachments are missing
It is not possible to eyeball missing attachments from the Confluence page.
If they are rendered on the Confluence page, you may spot “? Unknown Attachment”
Otherwise, you only detect it when a user clicks on the link to download it.
The following error message like this will appear in atlassian-confluence.log
getAttachmentData Could not find data for attachment:
Attachment: image2022-1-8 11:48:26.png v.1 (873607111)
Some possible reasons for missing Confluence attachments
Files being removed accidentally
Files not fully copied over during server migrations or space imports
Malicious attacks caused by trojans or ransomware
Files quarantined by virus scans with updated virus definition files
Errors during the file uploads/deletion
Incomplete page move operations ( before Confluence 8.1)
File/Folder permissions set wrongly
Confluence disk space full
You can also check the Large Attachment Checker to identify the contributors to disk full issue
How to access Missing Attachment Scanner
It can be accessed from the admin sidebar.