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How to see how much Confluence storage you can free up before deleting attachments

Confluence tells you how much storage is used. It does not tell you how much a cleanup would give back. Here is what the built-in views show, where they stop, and a read-only way to get the number first.

Hullspark · updated 2026-10-30

Short answer

  • What the built-in view shows: used and remaining storage for each app, refreshed about every 4 hours [1]. Atlassian's article does not describe a per-space or per-file breakdown.
  • What it does not show: which files nothing uses, or how much you would get back by removing them.
  • Why it matters: deleting is not freeing. Attachments of deleted items stay until the trash is purged, and archiving frees nothing [1][2].

What Confluence shows

The storage page in your site settings gives used and remaining storage for each app [1]. That answers “how full are we?”. Atlassian's storage article does not describe a list of files or a split by space, and I did not find one there. Your own Confluence may show more than the article describes, so look at your site before relying on this. Even a per-space or per-file size, if you have one, is a size and not a verdict: it does not say whether a page still shows the file.

Atlassian also says archiving content that contains attachments frees no storage [1]. Deleting moves content to the space trash, and the space is freed when the trash is purged, which cannot be undone [2].

The gap before you delete

Before you delete, you want three numbers: how many files nothing uses, how big they are in total, and where they sit (which spaces, which kinds of file, how old). The built-in views do not give you these. The usual workaround is to guess from the biggest files, or to open pages one by one. A large file can be in use, and small unused files add up when there are thousands. Our guide to finding the largest attachments covers the manual routes.

One option: the Reclaim report in Attachment Sweep

I make a Confluence Cloud app, Attachment Sweep by Hullspark [3]. A scan finds attachments that no scanned page, cover image or page property points to. After a scan, the Scan tab shows a Reclaim report for those files. As the current code describes it:

The report reads the scan result and deletes nothing. It notes that files moved to the trash keep using storage until the trash is emptied. If the result table is cut at its row limit, the report says its figures cover the first rows only. Files newer than the minimum age (7 days by default) are not listed, comments, templates and whiteboards are not checked, and only site administrators see the app, as in the getting-started guide.

The workflow is: scan, read the report, decide what to move, run a dry run, then move to the trash. Purging is yours to do; the app never purges.

See it on the Atlassian Marketplace Product page

Questions

Does Confluence show how much storage deleting attachments would free?

Atlassian's storage page shows used and remaining storage for each app. Its documentation does not describe a figure for what a cleanup would free.

Does moving files to the trash free storage?

Not yet. Attachments of deleted items stay until the trash is purged, and a purge cannot be undone.

Does the Reclaim report delete anything?

No. It reads the scan result and shows figures. Moving files to the trash is a separate step that needs a dry run and a confirmation.

Does the Reclaim report include the size of earlier versions?

No. Confluence does not give the size of earlier versions in the attachment list, so the report counts them and does not add them to the total.

Sources

Claims about Confluence come from Atlassian's documentation, checked 2026-10-30. Atlassian changes screens.

Confluence and Atlassian are trademarks of Atlassian. Attachment Sweep is made by Hullspark and is not made or endorsed by Atlassian. Questions? Support or support@hullspark.com. Privacy policy