How to migrate from Confluence without losing a quarter

The method, step by step

1. Inventory by usage, not by tree. Pull the list of pages actually opened in the last 90 days. Everything else is archive. Migrating a decade of dead pages is the single most common reason migrations stall.
2. Recreate the live space map. Create the spaces that survived the inventory, then their top-level pages, then nest. Rebuilding the shape first means content has somewhere correct to land.
3. Move newest-first. Copy content page by page, most recent first, so value lands early and momentum is visible. Paste as markdown — the editor's markdown shortcuts format it as you type.
4. Rebuild links as chips. Replace Confluence page links with @mention chips. Each chip is a live reference that re-resolves on rename, and the target page gains a backlink automatically.
5. Re-home the extras. Attachments become attachment blocks, embedded spreadsheets become tables or chart blocks, macros usually become callouts or toggles. Anything with no equivalent is a prompt to ask whether it was earning its keep.
6. Freeze, then cancel. Set Confluence read-only, announce one canonical home, and keep the archive for a quarter. Then cancel the seats — that is where the per-user saving actually lands.

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