Finding information in Confluence can eat up more time than it should. You type a few keywords into the search bar, click through a list of pages, and hope one of them is still current. If that sounds familiar, you’re not really using what Rovo can do.

Since Rovo launched, it’s been shown to deliver 60% more successful results than leading enterprise search tools, in direct testing. And it hasn’t stood still since – Atlassian has kept improving how it searches every few months.

Here’s what actually changes when you stop typing keywords and start asking Rovo a question instead.

Why You Still Can’t Find What You Need in Confluence

The usual problem – too many pages, no idea which one is current

Most Confluence spaces grow the same way: someone creates a page, another person copies it to make an updated version, and the old one never gets deleted. A year later, there are three pages about the same process, two of them outdated, and no clear sign of which one to trust. Searching by keyword just returns all three – it can’t tell you which one is right.

What changes when you search with Rovo instead of the search bar

Instead of matching keywords, Rovo tries to answer your actual question. Ask it something like “what’s our current process for X” and it looks across recently viewed pages, who’s been editing or commenting on what, and other signals to figure out which version is the one people are actually using right now – not just the one that happens to contain your search terms.

What Rovo Does Differently When You Ask It a Question

It reads across spaces, not just the one you’re in

If the answer lives in a different space, or in a file someone shared on Google Drive instead of Confluence, you won’t find it – you’d have to know it exists and go search for it separately.

Rovo doesn’t work that way. It’s connected to over 50 apps, including the rest of the Atlassian portfolio and third-party tools like Google Drive, SharePoint, and OneDrive. So when you ask a question, it’s not just checking the one space you happened to be in. It’s checking everywhere you have access to, and pulling the answer from wherever it actually lives.

That last part matters: Rovo only searches what you personally have permission to see. If a document lives in a Google Drive folder you don’t have access to, Rovo won’t show it to you either – it respects the same access rules as everything else. This also means the connections have to actually be set up first. Someone with admin rights needs to turn on and authorize each third-party connector (Google Drive, SharePoint, OneDrive, and so on) for your organization before Rovo can search those tools at all. If your team has only connected Confluence and Jira so far, Rovo will only search across those two – not the other apps it’s technically capable of connecting to.

So the real answer to “how far does Rovo’s search reach” is: as far as your admin has connected it, and only within what you already have permission to see.

It gives you an answer, not a list of pages to open and check yourself

With regular search, you get a list of links and it’s on you to open each one, skim it, and figure out which one actually answers your question. Rovo skips that step. It reads across your team’s work – who’s been editing what, who’s commented on it, which pages are actually being used – using what Atlassian calls the Teamwork Graph, and gives you a direct answer along with links to where that answer came from. So you can trust it enough to act on it, but you can also check the source if you want to.

Example: asking one question instead of digging through five pages

Say you want to know how your team currently handles incident escalation.

The old way:

1. Search “incident escalation” – get eight results

2. Open the top three

3. Realize two are outdated

4. Check the comments on the third to see if it’s still accurate

5. Ask a teammate to be sure

With Rovo:

1. Ask directly – “what’s our current incident escalation process?”

2. Get an answer based on the most relevant, currently-used page, with a link to it

3. Need more detail, like who approves escalations? Just ask the follow-up prompt Rovo suggests – no new search needed

The difference isn’t just speed. With the old way, you’re the one deciding which result to trust. With Rovo, you get one answer, backed by a source you can check – and a natural next question already waiting if you need to go deeper.

It also cuts down on people re-answering the same question

Searching isn’t the only thing that eats up time. Answering the same question twice does too.

Someone asks something in Slack. A teammate answers it. A few weeks later, someone else asks almost the same thing – worded slightly differently – and gets a brand new answer typed out from scratch, even though the first one is sitting in Confluence somewhere.

With Rovo, the person asking can check first instead of posting straight to Slack: ask the question directly, and if it’s already been answered somewhere, Rovo surfaces that instead of leaving them to start a new thread. It doesn’t replace quick chats with teammates – but it means fewer of those chats are spent re-explaining something that’s already written down.

Small Changes That Make Search Work Better

Why messy, outdated pages give you worse answers

If your space has three pages about the same process – one current, two outdated – that’s not just clutter, it’s confusion Rovo has to sort through too. Without anything distinguishing them, it’s guessing based on activity alone, and sometimes it guesses wrong.

The fix is simple: get rid of the outdated duplicates instead of keeping all three pages around. One clear, current page works better than three competing ones – for people searching manually, and for Rovo trying to figure out which one to trust.

Simple things you can do to your space so search actually works

Search quality isn’t only about how you write pages – it’s also about what Rovo can actually reach. If your team relies on a tool that isn’t on the list of 50+ built-in connectors, don’t assume it’s a dead end.

Admins can either build a custom connector using Forge, or check the Atlassian Marketplace – there’s a good chance someone’s already built one for the exact tool you’re missing. Either way, it’s worth checking before deciding that a tool is simply outside Rovo’s reach.

Common Questions About Rovo Search in Confluence

Why does Rovo sometimes miss something I know exists?

Usually it’s one of two reasons: the tool it lives in isn’t connected yet, or you don’t have access to it. Rovo only searches what’s been set up by an admin and what you’re personally permitted to see.

Do I need to change how I write pages for Rovo to work well?

Not really – but keeping pages active helps. Comments, edits, and recent activity signal that a page is current, while old, untouched duplicates can confuse the results.

Is this included in my current plan, or is it extra?

If you’re on a paid edition of Atlassian Cloud, Rovo Search is already included at no extra cost. It’s rolled out across Enterprise, Premium, and Standard editions.

Does Rovo Search work if we’re on Confluence Data Center, not Cloud?

Yes. There’s a separate Data Center connector built specifically for this, so Rovo can search your on-premises data the same way it does for Cloud instances.

Closing Thoughts

None of this requires a big shift in how your team works – just a different first move. Instead of typing keywords and hoping, ask the question directly. Early Rovo users report saving 1–2 hours a week on average, and nearly 80% say it helps them find the right information at the right time, with almost 75% saying it helps them get work done faster. That’s not a dramatic overhaul – it’s a small habit change that adds up, one search at a time.