Direct answer
Confluence Cloud approvals are available on pages for Premium and Enterprise plans; Atlassian announced the feature as Open Beta on July 10, 2026. Native approvals cover page-level approval history, required approvers, due dates, and approval before publishing. That proves a page was reviewed. Compliance Glossary answers a different audit question: were the regulated definitions inside the documentation controlled, current, and supported by scan evidence? The two are complementary, not substitutes.
What each one covers
| Compliance documentation job | Native Confluence approvals | Compliance Glossary |
|---|---|---|
| Prove a page was reviewed and approved | Yes | Complementary |
| Enforce standard page reviewers | Yes | Complementary |
| Approval due dates and settings to keep approved content current | Yes | Complementary |
| Govern approved definitions as controlled records | No | Core job |
| Find undefined-term candidates or unapproved terms across a space | No | Core job: page scanner and findings |
| Show who approved a specific term definition and why it changed | No | Core job: term approval and version history |
| Prevent terminology drift across SOPs, policies, and product docs | No | Core job: scanner findings |
| Export term-level evidence for audit review | No | Core job: CSV evidence export |
What Compliance Glossary does
Boundary
Compliance Glossary is not a page-approval system and does not replace native Confluence approvals. Use native approvals for page sign-off; use Compliance Glossary for term-level governance and evidence. Native approvals details reflect the Open Beta announced by Atlassian in July 2026 for Premium and Enterprise spaces; check the Atlassian Community announcement for current availability.
Useful next checks
- If the audit question is "was this page approved?", native approvals are likely enough.
- If the audit question is "were the regulated definitions controlled, current, and supported by scan evidence?", add term-level governance.
- Confirm whether the same terms recur across more than one page, policy, procedure, or evidence record.
Common questions
What is the difference between Native Confluence approvals and Compliance Glossary?
Native Confluence approvals provides page-level sign-off built into Confluence Premium and Enterprise spaces. Compliance Glossary governs controlled term definitions in Confluence: approval evidence, version history, page scanning for terminology findings, and CSV evidence export.
Can Native Confluence approvals and Compliance Glossary be used together?
Yes. Native Confluence approvals covers page-level sign-off built into Confluence Premium and Enterprise spaces; Compliance Glossary adds term-level governance for the regulated vocabulary used across those pages and documents.
Does Compliance Glossary replace a QMS, GRC platform, or audit tool?
No. Compliance Glossary covers terminology governance only: approved definitions, review workflow, exact word-boundary scanner findings, and CSV evidence export.