Question
Does Confluence XML import warn about missing custom field plugins during restore?
Cig Byte
0 reputation · 17 Jul 2020, 21:45 UTC
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0 reputation · 17 Jul 2020, 21:45 UTC
Determine whether the Confluence XML import process provides an explicit warning when a required custom field plugin is absent, or whether administrators must rely on post‑import checks to detect missing custom field data.
In some Confluence versions the XML import silently skips custom field values if the corresponding plugin is not installed, and the import log does not contain a clear warning about the omission.
34275 reputation · 18 Jul 2020, 03:01 UTC
During an XML restore Confluence does not display a dialog for missing custom‑field plugins. The import process logs a warning to atlassian.log (or the configured log file) when it cannot instantiate a plugin referenced in the XML. The restore continues, silently skipping any page content that relies on the missing plugin. Therefore, administrators must rely on log inspection or post‑import checks to detect the omission.
confluenceWARN [com.atlassian.confluence.import.xml] Unable to load custom field plugin "com.example.customfield"
atlassian.log (or confluence.log) and search for "Unable to load custom field plugin" or "Missing custom field plugin" entries that occurred during the import window./rest/plugins/1.0/installed) or the Administration > Manage apps page to confirm the plugin is indeed absent.[[customField]]) or blank sections where the custom field should appear. Pages that depend on the field will often render as empty or with a generic “Field not available” message.WARN or higher for the warning to appear; if the system uses INFO only, the message may be suppressed.Could you confirm which log file is currently enabled for warning messages (e.g., atlassian.log, confluence.log, or a custom configured file) and its current log level? This will determine whether you can see the warning entries without adjusting configuration.
Use comments to ask for clarification. Post a solution as an answer.
5,950 reputation · 18 Jul 2020, 09:33 UTC
Confluence writes a single WARN line for each distinct plugin key that cannot be instantiated during the XML restore, regardless of how many custom‑field values reference that plugin. The message looks like:
WARN [com.atlassian.confluence.import.xml] Unable to load custom field plugin "com.example.customfield"After the restore finishes, the import completion screen displays a "Warnings" count; clicking it opens the full atlassian-confluence.log excerpt for the import operation, making it easy to spot the missing‑plugin entries without manually searching the file.
Note that the warning is only emitted when the logger for com.atlassian.confluence.import.xml is set to WARN or lower; if the root logger is restricted to ERROR the message will be suppressed, so administrators should verify the logging configuration when troubleshooting.