Confluence Page Status Management

January 16, 2024
#Collaboration#How To#Project management#Confluence Tutorial#Reporting#Confluence#Case Study
16 min

Today, Confluence is widely used by many diverse teams for seamless collaboration and documentation management. This highly customizable tool facilitates knowledge sharing, project management, and effective communication. So, let’s dive into the typical workday filled with working with Confluence Cloud and see how Confluence page status management can enhance it.

Product and Content Managers: Challenges, Tips, and Tricks

To start, meet Betty and James, colleagues and Confluence Cloud enthusiasts who love to discuss their work and challenges during the coffee breaks. Despite working in different departments (Content and Product Management), their Confluence work organization challenges are alike. They both strive to find better ways to communicate their work status to their colleagues or indicate when the piece is ready to see the world. Whether it is the latest release or K-Base article, Confluence Page Status opportunities can help in both cases. It turns out that taking coffee breaks with colleagues has its perks and this time, the benefit is the discovery of the Handy Page Status macro from Handy Macros for Confluence app, which can save the day in case of fear of writing blog posts and planning multiple releases.

This article covers tips and tricks on how to set expectations for viewers and collaborators and locate required data in a heartbeat while on the Confluence page. See what James and Betty have learned on their journey and what highlights they had on the way. From how to indicate the Confluence documentation status to putting the Confluence Page Status data in custom reports to filter and search by it – all covered in the reading below!

Learn the Basics: Confluence Page Status

First, what is Handy Page Status, and what value does it bring to the table to the Confluence Page Status? Let’s say ideas are notes, Confluence is a sheet of music that fellow collaborators and viewers can review, and the music symphony is ready for collaboration and feedback. How can we keep everyone on the same music sheet and signal that the symphony was born? The simple solution is to customize and incorporate page status management that best serves your company’s needs.

So, Confluence Page Status is a game-changer for teams and professionals who:

  • Need to incorporate straightforward, accessible, and reusable tools that ensure transparency and clarity of the workflows and their timelines.
  • Deliver dynamic work exposed to active feedback or used immediately as a reference (Betty’s Example: Latest How-To K-Base Article; James’ Example: Content of 1.3.20 app release version).
  • Want to get control of the workflow and its lifecycle and make sure that the feedback is given on the specific timeline of which everyone is aware (Betty’s Example: Page Status: Under Review James’ Example: Page Status: 1.3.20)

Learn About Advanced Status Management: Handy Page Status

With Handy Page Status, both Betty and James can go the distance and level up their Confluence Page Status experience, In addition to native functionality, this macro can:

  • Create status options that work best for your company process and reuse these status sets across pages for status consistencyJames’ and Betty’s works are often parallel lines. Still, they benefit from each other’s Handy Page Statuses. James, assign each Confluence page with the bug report or feature request overview with the corresponding app version when it is planned to deliver them. Betty knows she needs the How-To Article in the blog ready precisely on the release date. All thanks to James’ Handy Page Status for Release. So she knows it’s safe to have the article in the ‘IN PROGRESS’ stage rather than ‘OPEN TO FEEDBACK.’
  • When making updates in one click, also see the update history.  The Handy Page Status history can help teams identify bottlenecks and encourage action. Maybe it’s time for another R’n’D session if the same bug fix has been postponed for three consecutive app versions. History also supports tracking time and seeing if Betty is in timing while changing her content from status to status.
  • Search and filter for specific page statuses and have a big picture of custom data in the form of the Handy Page Status Reports. Betty can create a custom report with a specific ‘READY FOR REVIEW’ status for selected spaces to signal feedback givers the article’s status before it goes live and public. James can review at a glance what will be released in version 1.3.20. It helps him decide whether the release can be locked, and the team can proceed with the following steps.

Boost Content Marketing and Product Management in Confluence

And now, here is an example solution. We will see how James and Betty put the Handy Page Status and Handy Page Status Report into practice. They immediately ace their daily workflows and relieve the pain that hits the nerve.

The solution only requires three easy steps:

  1. Сreate a new status set that reflects your needs.
  2. Have the time of your life assigning statuses to all relevant pages.
  3. Benefit from the Page Status Report to search and filter Confluence pages and have all the critical information ready at one glance.

Minimalistic Dark Mode Lovers – we’ve got you covered!

Minimalistic Dark Mode for Page Status Report

For those who live on the bright side, Handy Macros for Confluence has a variety of colors to choose from and play with!

Organize Confluence Page Status Data into Reports 

Those steps look easy enough. Still, they remain to be an effective tool for page status control. The Handy Macros for Confluence app has even more to offer, from Confluence dark mode support to multiple reporting criteria.

The data can be collected in a separate Handy Page Status report based on:

  • Confluence spaces where the status is set
  • Handy Page Status sets
  • Handy Page Status options
  • Confluence users who set the status
  • Handy Page Status dates

Handy Page Status report

Now it’s time to review how it goes on Confluence pages. We will see how you can track release versions and indicate content creation progress in Confluence Cloud.

Control App Releases: James’ Case

So, James keeps it simple with the release versions. Page Status is assigned to each feature/bug fix page, eventually forming a release. This way, users know when to expect the feature/bug fix to be delivered.

Workflow with Confluence Page Status

All the changes can be done directly in the mode. James and his team can always check for the dynamics if everyone has been waiting for the delivery for ages. James can view the history of the Page Status updates to validate the point or’ ages’ hypothesis in a few clicks. Sometimes, the path is straightforward; sometimes, it’s a bumpy road.All the changes can be done directly in the mode

With multiple Confluence pages actively and dynamically worked on, it is essential to silence the noise and focus on the priority task. James’ priority task is to lock the upcoming release 1.3.20.  He also needs to communicate critical release information to all relevant stakeholders. For that, he chooses appropriate space and a particular Handy Page Status; James can make the report author-specific and filter for status updates done only after a specific date. Let’s say one of the developers promised to confirm the app version on or after a particular date. The result can look like this and be customized and elaborated even further.

Page Status Report comes in HandyThe view-mode page status updates and the ability to craft a custom report in a matter of a few clicks and seconds has a lot of benefits. James and his collaborators can review the critical data at a glance and focus on the issues at hand. This saves the team a lot of time and enhances overall productivity, autonomy, and collaboration in their workflows.

Facilitate Content Writing: Betty’s Case

Writer’s block and fear of the blank space can be scary. Betty sees Handy Page Status as a game-changer (and a lifesaver). Often, the root cause of her writer’s block is that the feedback on the working piece is given well in advance while still being a work in progress. So, Betty invented her superheroes in the form of Handy Page Status to avoid the frustration associated with the feedback given well in advance by indicating clear expectations on the pages. And if you’re asking if she has a favorite page status, a ‘MESSY MIDDLE’ is Betty’s favorite.

Betty’s collaborators and readers love the new workflow as well. They know that while it is interesting to witness the process or see how the messy middle evolves, they’re invited to the party only when the ‘UNDER REVIEW’ and ‘READY’ page status is indicated.Facilitate Content Writing

Humble Drafts and Messy Middles are good, but those are also the ones that need a check-in or clean-up. How many of those does Betty have? What can be done about the ones in those states? And what if Betty needs to review her work only in a particular space after today? For this case, use the Handy Page Status report with the required search parameters.Handy Page Status Report data

With this solution and specific spaces for which Betty writes content, Betty can locate her not-so-work-in-progress items and see what can be done about them with just a few clicks. She is also having her superhero moment because now she needs to browse only through the Handy Page Status Report data vs. looking through her notes/manually exploring Confluence pages. Besides, her colleagues benefit a lot from the report. Everyone can see what’s new and ready to be read in the Blog space regularly without getting ‘content dupes’. Here the Last updated after field can help them with that even if they like only to read fresh blog updates each Friday.

Closure

Betty and James work in different departments, and their daily workflows are different, too. Still, they are impressed with the diversity and customization opportunities of Handy Page Status and Page Status Report functionalities. Moreover, Betty and James are eager to spread the word to the other teams who can benefit from incorporating the opportunities into different fields like project management or documentation review.

You can check out the Handy Page Status Management in action by trying it out in Confluence Cloud to see how you and your team can benefit from it. Feel free to check out Handy Macros for Confluence at the Atlassian Marketplace to see if this app can be a good fit for your needs and use cases.

Unlocking the Power of an LMS in Confluence for Efficient Employee Training

March 14, 2023
#Confluence#Learning Management
9 min

Employee training is an essential part of any business. It helps employees understand their roles, increase productivity, and stay current with industry trends.

To maximize the effectiveness of employee education, many companies turn to modern solutions for learning management. Of course, choosing the right solution for top-notch training can be challenging.

We think that one of the best ways to do this is to provide training tailored to each employee’s needs. As such, you can use the software that your team is familiar with, like Confluence. By adopting this approach, companies can reduce the time and resources they spend on training while also providing their staff with the tools they need to succeed.

Let’s see how to elevate employee education by leveraging a learning management system in Confluence.

Why use LMS in Confluence for employee training

Confluence is a remote-friendly team workspace that allows users to create and share content, collaborate, and access various learning resources. You get a centralized platform for managing content, reducing the need for multiple third-party tools. Furthermore, Confluence allows users to easily structure content in a cohesive way, which helps accelerate the learning process.

We bet that you already have a lot of information in your Confluence that training administrators can use for employee education. So turning your Confluence into a fully-fledged learning management system is a great idea. And it is possible with the help of izi – LMS for Confluence. This app requires minimal setup and makes Confluence more powerful and user-friendly, allowing companies to quickly get their courses up and running. And employees, in turn, get an interactive environment to engage in.

Create courses in Confluence

Setting up an LMS in Confluence is quick and easy. After installation of the app, creators and learners get immediate access to the Learning portal in Confluence.

lms-in-confluence

Learning administrators can create courses from the portal view or from anywhere in Confluence by clicking the Create button and using the Course template.

One of the main advantages is that izi LMS allows reusing the existing content and separate Confluence pages as training blocks of the course. Administrators can edit content if required to ensure each training module has a clear objective and the course is well-structured and easy to follow.

Populating training modules with images, videos, PDF files, and quizzes helps create engaging and interactive training materials. Moreover, administrators can update content for already enrolled course participants. In this case, employees receive the most up-to-date information when something has changed in the process covered in the course, or there is a new training module.

Check for content updates

To notify course participants about the necessity to finish the course, creators can set up automatic reminders for course participants.

Course reminders

Enjoy a smooth learning process

Confluence users can browse the Learning catalog of available courses and self-enroll in the ones they find interesting. Also, they see their progress in the courses they are taking.

My courses in Learning

Learners see every course as a set of training modules they need to study carefully and complete one by one. Courses can contain quizzes that help assess user knowledge and understanding. This allows course administrators to rapidly identify gaps in knowledge to pay attention to and adjust courses accordingly. Questions can be of four different types:

  • single choice
  • multiple choice
  • true/false
  • free text

Free text questions let participants share their thoughts on the question with the course creator, who then needs to review answers and mark them as correct or wrong.

Free text review page

Participants can self-enroll in quizzes with a link. This facilitates the task of inviting multiple users to a quiz without typing their names individually.

Quiz self-enrollment link

After course completion, participants get certificates they can download and share with their colleagues or on social media. It helps increase employees’ engagement and productivity.

Course certificates for participants

Read more about how to ace employee certification in Confluence with the help of courses.

Track participants’ progress with reporting

One of the most common challenges is ensuring employees are motivated to complete courses. To overcome this challenge, it’s crucial to track their progress and guarantee they are meeting the necessary objectives, as well as gain insights into where additional training may be needed.

izi – LMS for Confluence lets course administrators track participants’ activity, assess their performance and generate reports both for courses and quizzes they take.

For example, every course report shows statuses such as Not started, Started, and Completed. Moreover, hovering over the status, you can see the status change history. This feature provides course administrators with a birds-eye view of course progress among all the participants.

Course history of status changes

When it comes to quizzes, course creators can view answers participants gave while taking a quiz vs. correct answers.

Take advantage of an LMS in Confluence

With a suitable learning management system, businesses can ensure their employees receive the education and training they need to succeed. This approach benefits for both the company and its employees, as it allows them to manage their learning and development effectively.

Whether you’re looking for a way to master employee onboarding, level up compliance training, or improve self-directed employee education, izi – LMS for Confluence has got you covered. It allows you to set up courses, track employee progress, and measure their performance on the fly right in Confluence, the software you already know and enjoy using.

Try izi LMS for free and check how it can power up your training processes. The app is available for Confluence Cloud and Data Center.

Connecting Sharepoint and Atlassian Confluence together

February 18, 2021
#How To#Confluence
6 min

Did you know that switching between different systems and apps is not only annoying but costs businesses hundreds of billions of dollars annually due to wasted time? Enabling users to immediately find the information they are looking for is crucial to empower efficient teamwork.

Let us imagine you want to create an overview of an upcoming marketing campaign in your Confluence. Having all information and documents available on this specific page helps all employees, from marketing to sales, to get what they’re searching for with ease. But how do you accomplish such a comprehensive overview?

SharePoint Connector for Confluence

Communardo’s SharePoint Connector for Confluence is here to help! By integrating Confluence and SharePoint, you enable a seamless work experience and get the best out of both worlds. The app makes it possible to easily embed SharePoint content into Confluence.

Using the SharePoint document macro, you can either embed full-views or links of SharePoint documents as simple as posting the document URL. In case you got many files to share, you can even choose to embed a whole SharePoint document library. Now your colleagues can easily edit documents without the need to navigate to SharePoint first.

The SharePoint Connector for Confluence is available for all Atlassian hosting options (Cloud, Data Center, Server), as well as SharePoint Online (as part of Microsoft 365/Office 365) and on Premise (2016, 2019).

» Start my free trial of SharePoint Connector for Confluence

Smart Attachments for Confluence

If once you decide to finally migrate your document library from Sharepoint to Confluence, the Smart Attachments for Confluence app is the first option to consider. It integrates with Confluence and allows you to create local file storages within your Confluence spaces.

For those of you who migrate from Sharepoint, you can just drop all your existing folders with files and internal folder structure, and the app will recreate this structure from scratch. So that you can preserve all your folder structures and files as you have them in your Sharepoint.

You can perform all the basic operations on folders and documents, keep document revisions, manage labels, or move them between folders of yours. What stands this app from others is that it closely integrates with Confluence itself, so as a result, you can preview all the files and documents, edit them with Atlassian Companion, embed them into Confluence pages, and, of course, comment on them. This greatly simplifies the end-user experience and reduces the number of context switches, which leads to better productivity of your team.

By default, the file storage is available to all Confluence users, and the availability of specific features is regulated by space permissions, so you needn’t adjust anything in your access control policies and go as is. The app also lets you perform non-trivial tasks, such as:

  • lock a specific document against edits while you are editing or reviewing it
  • restrict access to folders with sensitive information
  • share a folder with documents with some external users who do not have regular access to your Confluence, for example, when sharing assets with your customers.

To minimize the necessity to constantly switch to the file storage, you can embed specific folder structures into Confluence pages. This way, you can instantly view, edit, and upload documents from your Confluence pages without losing your current page context or interrupting your activities.

» Start my free trial of Smart Attachments for Confluence

Bring Sharepoint capabilities into Confluence

It is no longer a problem to show Sharepoint content in Confluence. As of now, you can consider two options:

Which option to choose? Try both options and then decide which better fits your needs. Have any questions? Leave your comment and we will reply to you shortly.

How to Power up Page Properties Report in Atlassian Confluence

July 17, 2020
#Reporting#How To#Confluence Tutorial#Confluence#Document management
2 min

We’ve recorded this presentation for the online Team Up Forum hosted by k15t and Scandio.

Discover how to power up the Page Properties Report macro with the help of two apps:

You can easily filter and aggregate information on Confluence pages. Moreover, you can create your set of statuses and change them in the page view mode on the fly.

Discover our comprehensive list of apps to boost your project planning capabilities here!

If you have any questions, feel free to comment on this blog post below. Don’t forget to subscribe to email notifications about new articles in our blog.

5 New Confluence Apps to Work Better Together – First Quarter 2020

May 8, 2020
#Confluence
9 min

Atlassian vendors are doing their best to enhance our Confluence experience with new apps. We are checking what’s new on the Atlassian Marketplace every three months. This time we prepared a batch of fresh Confluence solutions that will help your team work better together.

Here is our list of the most interesting apps released between January 1st and March 31st:

Let’s take a closer look at each of them.

Metadata for Confluence Cloud

Metadata for Confluence Cloud is a nifty add-on for Atlassian users who miss some Server features in Confluence Cloud. This app allows you to organize and manage your content with the help of custom fields and macros. If you have a lot of Confluence pages, you can easily classify them and create page reports. You just need to configure metadata fields to keep track of your pages.

metadata in Confluence

Your colleagues will use the predefined page structure.

You can also use built-in macros if you want to display the metadata on your page, or you need to aggregate data from different pages. You can either show the metadata on a page or view a summary of multiple pages.

This solution will help your team not to get lost among thousands of Confluence pages.

Pricing: The Metadata for Confluence Cloud app pricing for Confluence Cloud starts at $10/mo for 20 users and ends at $1,535/mo for 5,000 users.

Image search for Confluence

It can be challenging to find some information in Confluence. And it seems almost impossible to find an image. Image search for Confluence comes to the rescue. The best thing is that you can search for both images and thumbnails.

This app adds the Image tab to the search, and you just need to start typing the name of the file you are searching for. Moreover, you will have a preview of all images that match your search query, and you can filter the results by space, creator, and date.

This way, you can find the required Confluence page because search results are linked to the pages your images are attached to.

Use this app to make your Confluence search smarter.

PricingThe pricing for Image search for Confluence Server starts from $75 for 25 users and ends at $4,200 for the unlimited number of users. 

Group Ambassadors for Confluence

Confluence administrators can delegate group management to the users they choose with the help of the Group Ambassadors for Confluence app. This way, the nominated group ambassadors can manage Confluence groups without administrative privileges.

Group ambassadors become group managers and can browse their current groups as members, rapidly add and remove users. However, administrators can restrict browsing in some groups ambassadors can see. These privileges can be granted and revoked easily. Administrators can check the list of current ambassadors in a blink of an eye.

This app is also available for Jira. Administrators can focus on their tasks, delegating group management to their colleagues.

PricingThe pricing for Group Ambassadors for Confluence Server starts from $140 for 25 users and ends at $8,000 for the unlimited number of users. The pricing for this app for Data Center starts from $1,250/year for 500 users.

Team Decision for Confluence

Today, we use a lot of messengers and tools to communicate with our teammates. We need to discuss so many things about our work and team-building activities and, of course, make crucial decisions.

Team Decision for Confluence is a handy solution that you can use for voting, gathering your team’s opinions right in Confluence. This app allows you to create simple polls right of different types:

  • Proposal
  • Check
  • Poll
  • Dot Vote
  • Score Poll
  • Time Poll
  • Ranked Choice

Decision for Confluence

The great thing is that detailed results of any poll are available in Confluence that helps you make decisions together with your teammates faster and smarter. You can rapidly review and respond to these decisions.

This app helps you avoid multiple emails and nerve-racking meeting when you need to find common ground with your team.

Pricing: The Team Decision for Confluence app pricing for Cloud starts at $10/mo for 20 users and ends at $570/mo for 5,000 users.

HTML include macro for Confluence Cloud

HTML include macro for Confluence Cloud allows you to include and embed different types of HTML content right into your Confluence pages. With the help of this app, you can add custom HTML and Javascript code to your pages.

Moreover, you can create content with videos, various forms, and surveys.

This simple app helps you create informative, useful content in Confluence.

Pricing: The HTML include macro for Confluence Cloud app pricing for Cloud starts at $10/mo for 20 users and ends at $570/mo for 5,000 users.

These were five of the new Confluence apps released in the first quarter of 2020. If you missed our previous list, check out apps that will help you power up your Confluence.

If you have any questions, feel free to comment on this blog post below. Don’t forget to subscribe to email notifications about new blog posts in this series!

Related posts

    5 New Confluence Apps to Refine Confluence Experience – Third Quarter 2019

    December 13, 2019
    #Confluence
    9 min

    As we do every quarter, we present you with the five new Confluence apps we like most. We have created this list to help you discover apps that will increase your productivity at work.

    So let’s discuss each app in more detail and see some examples of how you can benefit from using these solutions.

    New meeting experience for Confluence

    Meetical Meetings for Confluence helps you sync your events in calendars with your Confluence pages. You can easily prepare and hold meetings, so your team always knows what’s next. So how does it work?

    Confluence page will be created based on your event in Google Calendar and the link to the event will be automatically added to the event description. If you decide to change anything, this information will be automatically updated in Confluence. This app allows you to track the attendance status of your colleagues right in Confluence.

    This app groups recurring meetings and creates a parent report page keeping you up-to-date with all important events. This means that the overview of all your meetings is always at hand in Confluence. You just need to click the Meetings tab on the Confluence menu.

    Use this solution to effortlessly schedule meetings with your teammates.

    Pricing: Meetical Meetings for Confluence Server is free to use.

    Version control for Confluence templates

    Page Templates Change History Control provides Confluence with a version control feature for templates. Now you can monitor and control changes of page templates in any Confluence space and Global page templates.

    You can access the required information on a space level in the Space tools menu to have a detailed overview of page template history. You can also access the Global Templates History tab in the administration menu. In both cases, you will see the list of available templates. You can see the history of changes for each template in more detail: view the body of any template version, restore any version, or delete it.

    This app allows you to quickly get information about users who made changes, check when they did it, and view additional information.

    Pricing: The pricing for Page Templates Change History Control Server starts from $15 for 25 users and ends at $500 for the unlimited number of users.

    Multi-level navigation in Confluence

    Navigator for Confluence allows you to populate the Confluence header with useful links to your top-visited or work-related sites. You can create a multi-level structure and rapidly group the required links.

    After installation of this app, visit the administration page to configure it properly. You can add as many items to the menu as you need; in this case, parent tabs are not clickable.

    Pricing: The pricing for Navigator for Confluence Server starts from $95 for 25 users and ends at $1,770 for the unlimited number of users.

    Powerful search for Confluence

    iFinder Universal Search for Confluence takes the search capability of Confluence to the next level. With this app, you will find the content you are looking for because it doesn’t just search within Confluence. You can connect various tools you are using internally (like file shares, Jira, SharePoint, Office 365, and more)  to Confluence. In this case, the app will also search within these applications.

    The app indexes Confluence spaces, pages, blog posts, comments and attachments including their access rights for later full-text search. Users can only access information in accordance with their user roles and rights.

    iFinder provides users with a powerful searchbar that autocorrects and autocompletes your quires. This app allows you to view and informative list with your search results with highlights, useful filters, search tabs.

    You can use this solution to power up your Confluence and make your search experience more pleasant.

    Pricing: The pricing for iFinder Universal Search for Confluence for Data Center starts from $4,000/year for 500 users.

    Highlights for your Confluence pages

    vSearchHighlighter is a simple tool that highlights the word you are searching for within the page. This app provides users with a simpler and more powerful search experience in Confluence. When you search for something in Confluence, you need to choose the required Confluence page in the search results and the app highlights every occurrence of the search term within the page.

    It can be useful when you need to edit a long page in Confluence, you can easily find specific terms.

    This app enhances your search experience when you need to find any information in Confluence.

    Pricing: The pricing for vSearchHighlighter Server starts from $57 for 25 users and ends at $1,062 for the unlimited number of users.

    We hope that you will find all these solutions useful for your team and reveal their potential for getting work done most productively and effectively.

    If you have any questions, feel free to comment on this blog post below. Don’t forget to subscribe to email notifications about new blog posts in this series!