Confluence 101

This page is a crash course in how to use Confluence (a.k.a. "the wiki").

On this page:

Navigation

There are two basic ways to navigate around a wiki: the page tree, and the search function.

Page Tree

The sidebar on the left side of every Confluence page displays space shortcuts, and the space's page tree. Click on a link to navigate to that page.

Open

The items listed in the page tree are "top level" or "parent" pages. Many of them will have "child" pages. Top parent pages are indicated by an arrow to the left of the page's name. Click on the arrow to display child pages linked to that page. Navigating to a parent page will automatically expand that page's entry in the page tree.

Open

Parent and child pages are used to group related pages together and keep the wiki space organized. Sometimes a parent page will contain lots of information, sometimes it will be a "hub" that lists all of the child pages; it depends on the purpose of the page and how the information needs to be organized.

Search

If you can't find a page in the page tree, or don't know where to start looking for something, use the search box in the top right corner of the page.

Menus

The blue ribbon at the top of wiki pages contains several drop-down menus that help navigate and use Confluence.

Hamburger Menu

The "hamburger menu" provides shortcuts to areas outside of Confluence. It is identical to the "hamburger menu" on JIRA pages. See (url redacted)#HamburgerMenu.

Spaces Menu

The spaces menu shows the wiki spaces you visited recently. The Space directory option at the bottom of the list will take you to the Space Directory, where you can browse through or search all of the available wiki spaces.

People Shortcut

Click the People shortcut to open the People Directory. You can browse all of the registered wiki users, or search for specific users and accounts on this page.

Calendars Shortcut

Click the Calendars button to open the My Calendars page. 

By default, the calendar on this page will be empty. Click on the + Add Calendar button to create a new calendar. Click on the arrow next to + Add Calendar for more options:

• Add new calendar - Create a new calendar. New calendars are public

• Add existing calendar - Browse through or search existing calendars and add them to your "My Calendar" space.

• Import calendar - Import a calendar from an ICS file.

• Subscribe by URL - Subscribe to a calendar, if you know that calendar's URL.

These are some recommended calendars to add to your "My Calendars" space:

• (Department calendar)

• (Calendar with milestone dates)

• (Related department) Team Calendar

• Company Holidays

Create Buttons

There are two buttons that are used for creating new wiki pages:

Create Blank Page

Click the Create button to open a new Blank Page template. By default, the new page will be a child of the page you were viewing when you clicked the Create button (the location can be changed before the page is published, or the page can be moved after it has been published).

Blank pages are completely blank and have no pre-set formatting. Pages creating using the Blank Page template must be built entirely from scratch.

Create From Template

Click the ellipsis button next to the Create button to open the Create modal. From here, you can browse the various available templates, or type the name of a specific template in the Filter text box.

Click on a template, then click the Create button to begin creating a new page using the selected template. Templates add pre-set formatting (and sometimes text) to a new page. They may also contain instruction text with directions about how to use the template. Templates make building new pages easier by doing some of the formatting and organization work for you.

Help Menu

The question mark icon opens a drop-down with shortcuts to the various help options available.

• Online Help - The official Confluence Server documentation. You can search for information and instructions about how to use Confluence and create wiki pages here.

• Keyboard Shortcuts - View a list of the available keyboard shortcuts usable in Confluence.

• Feed Builder - The Feed Builder allows you to build a custom RSS feed of Confluence content that you can view in an RSS reader. See the official Confluence documentation for more information.

• What's new - View the release notes for the current version of Confluence.

• Available Gadgets - Opens a list of the gadgets available to use in Confluence.

• About Confluence - Display the license information and version information for Confluence and installed gadgets.

Notifications Menu

Click on the inbox icon to open the notifications menu. Unread notifications are highlighted in yellow. Confluence notifications include updates to pages you created or are watching, comments on pages, page likes, action items you're tagged in, and any @ mentions of your username in general. Click on an item in the menu to view more information about the notification.

Profile Menu

The drop-down menu that appears when you click on your profile picture in the upper-right corner of a Confluence page gives you access to various useful shortcuts.

• Add Personal Space... - Select this option to create a personal Confluence space.

  • Anything you add to a personal Confluence space could be considered company property. Please use this space responsibly; don't post anything inappropriate for a work environment, and don't post anything you don't want the company to own.

• Recently Viewed - Open a modal that lists the Confluence pages you recently viewed. Filter the results by typing in the "Filter" field in the modal.

• Profile - Open your profile. Your profile shows your most recent Confluence activity, and displays your name and company email address.

  • Change your profile picture by clicking on the Picture link on the left side of the profile page and following the on-screen instructions.

• Tasks - Display outstanding action items you have been tagged in.

• Saved for later - Displays pages you have "starred" to "save for later" ("bookmarked").

• Watches - Displays a list of the pages you are watching.

• Drafts - Display a list of unsaved Confluence page drafts you have worked on.

• Network - Display a list of users whose Confluence activity you are watching.

• Settings - Customize your Confluence settings, including your password and time zone.

  • It is highly recommended that you check your time zone setting! If you are in the Houston office, set the time zone to "(GMT-0600) Central Time (US & Canada)".

  • HipChat is no longer used by (The Company). Ignore the "HipChat OAuth Sessions" option.

• Log Out - Log out of your account.

Page Tools

Every wiki page has this set of icons in the upper right corner:

• Edit - Open the page in the page editor. This is how you make changes to a page.

• Save for later - Click this icon to save the page in your saved for later list. The star icon is filled in on pages that are already in your list of saved pages; click it again to remove the page from your saved list.

• Watching - Click to manage your watch options; choose to watch or unwatch the page, or watch/unwatch all of the content in the current wiki space.

• Share - Share the page with a specified user (or multiple users). Type the desired user's name in the first field, add a note to them in the second field, and click "Share" to share the page.

• ... (Ellipsis) - The ellipsis button opens a drop-down menu with more options pertaining to the page. From this menu, you can view the page's attachments (if it has any), the page history, page information, resolved comments, page source (formatting elements), export the page in various formats, import new content, and copy, move, or delete the page.

  • Do not delete pages without specific instructions to do so. Do not move a page without instructions, unless you are the page author and are moving the page from a draft area to a live area.

Edit a Page

See Wiki Editing 101.

Comments

Commenting on a wiki page is useful for asking questions about page content, or quickly providing new information without updating the page itself. There are two ways to leave comments on a wiki page.

Page Comments

The bottom of every Confluence page contains a text entry field where you can leave a comment.

Click in the Write a comment... field to activate it (the keyboard shortcut is "m"). You can use the rich text editing options in the ribbon at the top of the comment box to format the text of your comment.

• Preview - Preview what your comment will look like without publishing it.

• Save - Publish your comment for everyone to see.

• Cancel - Cancel and discard your comment without posting it (no draft will be saved).

Inline Comments

Inline comments are a useful way to leave a comment about a very specific portion of a wiki page. To leave an inline comment, highlight the text you want to comment on/about and hold your mouse cursor over the highlighted text to open an option panel.

Click on the "Add inline comment" icon to open a comment entry modal. Type your comment in the text field of the modal.

Click the Save button to publish your comment. Click the X icon in the upper right corner of the modal to cancel and discard your comment without posting it (no draft will be saved).