Get started with the Blueprint Creator and build awesome Confluence pages
For many Confluence users, the Blueprint Creator is the ideal tool when it comes to creating new content. But in the beginning it can be difficult to find the right things at first. Since the application's fields of this app are very broad and form-based page creation is often the starting point for creating new pages, you are welcome to refer to first steps here.
Create a blueprint
You can either create a global blueprint (Confluence Administration > Global Templates and Blueprints) or a space blueprint.
For creating page blueprints proceed as follows:
- Go to the space and choose Space tools > Content Tools from the bottom of the sidebar.
- Click 'Create New Template' on the top right in templates section.
- The Confluence editor opens up and you can start creating your new template.
Add placeholders to your blueprint
The Blueprint Creator provides you with a configuration sidebar on the right if the Confluence editor. Aside from enabling you to define meta information in the settings it allows you to add placeholders to your blueprints.
In order to lower the threshold for content creation you can use placeholders. These act as form fields in the Create dialog that help your user to provide the information you determine necessary for your standardized documents.
- Click on
-icon on the top of the sidebar You can choose from various field types that fit your information type best.
Text
Multiline text
Select
Multiselect
Date
User mention
Provide meta information
To promote your blueprint for the intended use cases you can add a simple description that helps your users determine to choose the right blueprint from your selection. Furthermore you can add instructions that guides users when filling out the custom data entry form, automatically add a prefix to a page title and visualize your blueprint with an icon and specify the content type (page or blog post).
You get to choose from different parameters:
Text
Date
Space key
Space name
Create a Space Blueprint
You can create a Space Blueprint (Confluence Administration > Manage Space Blueprints) to access the Space Blueprint Overview. Click 'Create Space Blueprint' under the table.
The 'Create Space Blueprint' dialog will open up allowing you to add a name, select an icon, enter a description and even restrict the usage of your Space Blueprint to user groups. This gives you the possibility to to provide only certain user groups with specific Space Blueprints.
New Space Blueprints are disabled per default to give you the chance to customize it before users can start creating new spaces with it. You can enable by clicking on the toggle on the bottom of dialog.
Edit your Space Blueprint
After creating a Space Blueprint you can edit it by clicking on the given name of the Space Blueprint. You will be forwarded to your Space Blueprint which technically is a space that cannot be accessed aside from the Space Blueprint Overview.
You can customize the Space Blueprint as you are familiar from normal spaces: You can edit the space dashboard, create children pages, upload attachments, add macros and labels, etc. All this information will be copied when creating spaces using the Space Blueprint.
Add Placeholders to your Space Blueprint
When in Edit Mode you can format the page as you please. In order to lower the threshold for content creation you can useplaceholders.These act as form fields in the create dialog that help your user to provide the information you determine necessary for your standardized spaces. The placeholder feature is accessible through a sidebar on the right side of the editor.
- To add a new placeholder click on the icon at the top of the sidebar.
- You can create as many placeholders of different field types.
Once created placeholders can be reused on all pages within the Space Blueprint.
Build overview pages
Using the Page Properties macro in your blueprints allows you to label the pages which are created with that specific blueprint.
In the editor, choose Insert > Other Macros > Page Properties (Alternative: Use the ‘{‘ key to bring up the macro browser without having to use your mouse and just type in "page properties")
Create an Index (Overview) page by
To make sure that all information that will be entered by users when creating a new page using your blueprint will end up on one single page you need to create a new blank page and add the page properties report macro. Since the placeholders on your Blueprint work as labels the index page will collect all the pages with the same label.
You can customize your index page as you please. Just make sure it contains the page properties report macro.
Built in Confluence blueprints come with predefined index pages. These list all pages that were created with their respective blueprint in an overview. This exact result can be used by a combination of the Page Properties and Page Properties Report macros. They work together to show summary information from one page on a another page.
Restricting Global Page Blueprints
The Blueprint Creator allows you to limit Blueprints at space level so they are only available in selected spaces. This is especially helpful when you want to make a blueprint available in multiple (not all!) spaces, but don't want to create the same blueprint in multiple spaces. In order to restrict global blueprints to spaces you must make sure that they are categorized.
Adding Space Categories
You need space administrator permissions to add categories to a space.
- Go to the space and choose Space tools > Overview from the bottom of the sidebar
- Choose Edit next to Space Categories.
- Under Space Categories, enter your category name and choose Add.
Alternatively, choose a category in the list of Suggested Space Categories. - Choose Done.
To restrict global blueprints:
- Choose the cog icon
, then choose General Configuration - Choose Restrict Global Blueprints in the left-hand panel
You will be displayed an overview of all your global blueprints. Global blueprints with no restrictions are visually indicated by an open grey lock. Already restricted blueprints have a red lock.
