Welcome to Linchpin Essentials!
This guide was created to help you with the setup of Linchpin Essentials. See what can be configured and how you can do it.
Linchpin connects people, tools and all of the relevant information in your organization in one place. It enables and encourages open communication and collaboration, and supports self-organized teams.
For more information, make sure to view the Linchpin Essentials documentation.
Installation & licensing
Please refer to Atlassian's installation instructions:
Installation via the Universal Plugin Manager
Step-by-step instructions
Log in to your Confluence instance as an administrator.
- Open the Confluence general administration.
- Click on the Find new apps link in the sidebar.
- Click on the Find new apps link in the sidebar.
- Enter "Linchpin Essentials" in the search field (marked by the text "Search the Marketplace"), then press Enter.
- Click on "Free trial" to test the app for 30 days, or click on "Buy now" if you want to purchase a license for Linchpin Essentials.
- You'll be prompted to register for or log into MyAtlassian.
- Linchpin Essentials will be automatically downloaded and installed after you log-in.
Update Linchpin with your specific design.
With the inclusion of Linchpin Theme, you can customize the look of your Linchpin instance.
You can, for example, disable the default Confluence dashboard, use the Theming Wizard to create a first theme in just two steps, configure the footer etc.
Access the settings
Navigate to Confluence administration → Linchpin Essentials → First Steps.
Create your first theme with the help of the Theming Wizard.
The Theming Wizard will create a first theme for you. All you need to do is provide him with two resources - a logo and a primary color.
Upload a logo
Click on the Upload file button and select your image (PNG/JPEG). The size of the image should not exceed 560 x 140 px.
When you are ready, click on the Next button.
Select a primary color
A primary color is the main color of the theme. It is used for buttons, links and other highlights.
The wizard pre-selects a primary color based on the logo you uploaded. If you are happy with the wizard's selection, you are done.
If you wish to change the pre-selected color, then enter the color's hex value manually or click on the colored square to enter the built-in color picker.
Save the theme
When you are done, click on the Save button.
Style your dashboard.
Choose a background for your dashboard, enable or disable additional buttons and enable tile layout, if you wish.
Dashboard style
You can turn the default Confluence dashboard back on, if you wish. Generally, you can choose from two options.
Linchpin dashboard
The Linchpin dashboard is a full-width dashboard layout. The default Confluence sidebar is removed and you can style the whole width of your screen.
Default Confluence dashboard
The dashboard is divided into two sections. The content of the left section is predefined. You can fully customize the content of the right section.
Enter the value for the width of the right section (Linchpin dashboard). You can enter anything between 0% and 100%.
Dashboard background
You can either upload a background image or select a background color.
Tile Layout
Enable the Tile Layout checkbox to give every macro a white background.
This is a very useful feature because some macros have a transparent background. Also, Tile layout adds some white background around the macros. This way, headings and texts around those macros also receive a background.
Dashboard buttons
Enable the Dashboard buttons checkbox to hide the "Create Space" and "Invite User" buttons on your dashboard. This option helps to make the dashboard look more "clean".
Create your own dashboard template.
To configure the dashboard's content, you have to edit the Default Welcome Message inside the Confluence administration.
You can use the macro 'Layout Box' to create very versatile dashboards.
Please visit the documentation on how to create dashboards to read the full guide.
Style your header.
Intranet name
Enter the name of your intranet. Once you have entered the name, the options for text color and font size will appear.
The intranet name you enter here will appear next to the logo (if you have a logo for your intranet). It also becomes clickable and a link to the dashboard.
Position of the logo and intranet name
You can display your logo and intranet name on the left or the right side of the header.
Left position
The logo and the intranet name appear on the left side of the header. The user menu and the search field appear to the right.
Right position
The logo and the intranet name appear on the right side of the header. The user menu and the search field appear on the left.
Define the layout of your header.
Header height
Define how big your header should be. The height can be adjusted from 80px up to 140px.
Background
Choose a background color or and/or upload a background image.
The maximum size for the background image is 3000x140px.
If you decide to upload a header background image, you can decide if the header background image is visible on all pages or only on the dashboard.
Color used for header icons
Select a color for the icons (like search or settings) inside your header.
Notification color
Select a color for Confluence workbox notifications and favorite icons.
Search and create buttons
The single ( + ) button 
will always open the creation wizard. There you can choose what type of page you wish to create. You can also choose the space, in which your page should be published.
The double Create button 
has two functions.
Click on "Create" to quickly create a blank page in the space you are currently in.
Click on the "three points" button to open the advanced creation wizard.
The smaller search button 
will open the search in a sidebar.
The bigger search button 
with an input field is a quick search. You can type in what you are looking for directly into the field.
Configure the layout of the sidebar.
Display settings of Linchpin sidebar
Activate the Show button to show the sidebar.
Activate the Hide button to hide the sidebar.
Scroll behavior of the sidebar icons
Activate one of the two checkboxes.
The first checkbox gives the sidebar a fixed position.
The second checkbox will make the sidebar scroll with the rest of the page.
Background color of the sidebar icons
Set the background color of the icons which are displayed when the sidebar is collapsed.
Color of the sidebar icons
Set the color of the sidebar icons which are displayed when the sidebar is collapsed.
Module configuration
Follow the link and select which elements should be included in the sidebar.
Expert finder
Follow the link to configure the 'Custom User Search' macro.
Please refer to our 'Custom User Search' documentation for a detailed documentation on this macro.
Set up your navigation menu.
You can fully customize your navigation menu. Choose the content, the layout and the colors.
Activate your menu
Navigate to Confluence administration → Linchpin Theme → Configuration → Navigation.
Under Menu bar and Display navigation, active the show button.
Add menu items to your menu
Navigate to Confluence administration → Linchpin Navigation Menus → Menu Structure.
Main menu item
To add an item to the main menu, click on the + Main menu item button.
The new item will be added to the bottom of the list.
Configuration
Enter a title (for example About us) and the link to the page this item should lead to. You can also choose an icon for this link.
Enter the attributes which are defined in menu personalization. Those information are connected to user profiles. If you enter "USA" as a country, the menu item will only be shown to employees with "USA" chosen as a country insider their user profile.
Activate the Open in new tab 
checkbox if you want that the link opens in a new tab.
Reorganize your menu.
To convert items into others, use the Arrow buttons inside the Position tab.
The Right arrow → button will convert a main element into a child element.
The Left arrow ← button will convert a child element into a parent element.
Alternatively, you can use drag and drop to convert menu items.
Configure profile fields.
The Linchpin User Profiles addition to Linchpin Essentials allows to create meaningful profiles. You can add a lot of information to user profiles. This should make work more efficient and allow every user to express themselves.
Create profile categories.
Profile categories are headlines inside the profile. Use categories to group similar profile fields.
To create a new profile category, click the Create a new profile category button underneath the Profile area headline.
A creation mask will open. In the Category field, enter the name of the category.
In the Group restrictions field you can restrict this profile category to certain users only. Enter a group name to limit the access to this category. Leave this field empty, so that all users can have and edit profile fields in this category.
Click on the Save button to save your changes.
Create profile fields.
Navigate to the profile category of your choice. Then, click on the Create new profile field button.
An editor will open.
Basic data
Field label
Enter the name of the profile field here.
This is the name your users see in their profiles.
Help text
If you enter any text here, it will appear as a help icon for all users who edit their profiles. Use this field to guide your users.
Only plain text is allowed here (no HTML etc.).
Category
Select the correct category for your profile field. The correct category may be preselected already. Categories act as heading.
Field type
Select the correct field type. Many field types exist. They range from default text areas to date selects or imported LDAP data.
Depending on the field type, users will be able to enter different information into the profile field. In some cases, like with the field type "dependent field", the field value is fix and can not be changed by users.
For a complete list of field types, please follow this link.
Please note that the configuration screen can include more options than described here. Some field types carry additional configuration. More information under the link above.
Field options
In profile
Select the Show radio button to display the profile field in the user's profile.
Select the Hide radio button to hide the profile field in the user's profile.
In vCard
Select the Show radio button to display the profile field in the vCard macro.
Select the Hide radio button to hide the profile field in the vCard macro.
Required
Activate the Required checkbox to make a profile field mandatory. This can be useful when the personalization depends on this field or the field is important in some other way.
Required profile fields will be shown inside the Profile Completion Assistant (2.21 and older), if you choose to activate it.
Personalize your navigation menu.
One of the biggest advantages of Linchpin is personalization.
Personalize your intranet so employees see what they need based on their profile data.
Navigation tailored to a user's needs
When every user gets exactly the menu items relevant to them, that's personalization. Menu items relevant to their location, their language or their department.
Linchpin turns your Confluence into a real intranet.
Personalization isn't part of Linchpin Essentials, but it's part of the Linchpin Intranet Suite. Read more about the Linchpin Intranet Suite.
Safety Guidelines
We strongly recommend the following Confluence configuration settings to avoid potential security risks:
Make sure people are not allowed to register their own accounts, especially without restriction to your domain.
If you allow anonymous access, make sure anonymous users don't have permission to create or edit anything anywhere (pages, blogposts, comments, attachments etc. in any space).
If you configure your instance differently, you do so at your own risk.
More Features
A choice of more features which you can find in the full documentation.
To view the full feature list, visit the Linchpin Essentials documentation.
Link to this page: https://seibert.biz/linchpinessentials-firststeps