Transfer Refined from test to production

When transferring Refined settings and configurations from one Confluence server to another, some parts need to be manually synced between the two environments, and some can be exported and imported.

Not everything can be exported, downloaded, uploaded and imported, because of how Confluence is technically built and how databases index its content.

For the manual steps we advise to use two browser windows side by side, one as the master and one as the copy.

Guide

1. Refined settings and configurations

Start with your basic Refined settings. These are the ones that are in the Refined Administration that does not concern the Site Builder and Themes.

For each tab, manually copy the settings from your test or staging environment to your production environment.

2. Themes

Next, go to your test or staging environment and download any theme that is active. To do this, go to Refined Administration > Themes & Styles > hover any active theme > choose Export from the settings cog.

Active themes are marked in the Theme Gallery with a label, hovering or clicking the label will show you where the theme is applied in the Site Builder. The theme will be downloaded.

Import the theme in your production environment by going to the same tab > scroll down > click the Import button.

Select the file you downloaded in the previous step and upload it.

3. Site Builder

Depending on the size of your site, this may be where you will spend most time. Due to technical reasons, it is currently not possible to export and import any site builder which means you will have to manually recreate what you have.

3.1 Site settings

1. Start by entering the sites you have, it may be that you only have the one marked GLOBAL .

2. Edit each site by going to the settings cog and clicking edit. ⚠️ Note that there are several expandable areas in the settings.

3. Please note that the additional sites to the global one will inherit the settings of the global one, unless changes have been specifically made to the site. The global site gets the settings from the main configuration in Refined.

   

Site building

1. When your sites are added, add your items to each site whether this is a category or a link.

2. For each item in your site, edit the item by hovering over it > clicking the settings cog > edit. ⚠️ Note that there are several expandable areas in the settings.

3. Also add in any category users you may have set up for a category.

   

When your site building is done, you can start with your layouts.

4. Layouts

Every layout that you have edited in your site can be exported from the layout. As you have your site building done, each item exists in your site. Go through and export your layouts.

Go to the first layout you wish to edit and use the pen in the top right corner to edit it.

In the layout, click the Import/Export button. A file will be downloaded. Please note that the last published version is downloaded: drafts will be discarded.

In your production environment, use the same path to edit the layout, click Import/Export and upload your file. Publish the layout and it is now transferred from one environment to the other.

Repeat the steps for each layout in your site builder.

5. Footer

The footer needs to be manually copied. Please note that there is one global footer and then each site can have an edited footer too.