Which Confluence macro to use ?

[Pete P]

I am new to Confluence Macros and am not sure what I need to use.  I have a page where we list all our products and various team members (architect, owner, QA lead, etc.).  I would like to create a macro for each of the roles by product.

•  Product 1 (P1 architect, P1 owner, P1 QA lead, etc.)
•  Product 2 (P2 architect, P2 owner, P2 QA lead, etc.)...

On a different page, in a different Confluence Space, I would like to reference a subset of these values and have them displayed.  When the source page is updated, the target would be updated automatically.  

What sort of macro do I need to use?

I am looking at: https://confluence.atlassian.com/doc/macros-139387.html

I am hoping there is something like Quick parts used by Microsoft Word:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/quick-parts-4ffef7c5-7596-4e95-9faf-41c771847a7b

[__ Jimi Wikman · Accepted solution]

First of all, I would do the opposite and fetch the information from each product/service space to a central one. That way, each product/service can manage the roles themselves and the central view will simply provide the collective overview.

Then I would set the standard on each product/service area so it matches the one you want on the central view.

The base information on the product/service pages I would use the Page Properties macro on. That way, you can manage this as meta information and even control if it is visible in view mode or just edit mode.

On the central view, I would then fetch this metadata using page properties report. That way you get control over what metadata you want to fetch in your columns and you get a nice list from it dynamically.

I have a short video on how these macros work here if that can help: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S72BGU55kiY

[Pete P]

Thanks @__ Jimi Wikman  for quick reply and also the YouTube.  Very informative.  :)

[Max Foerster - K15t]

Hey @Pete P

I noticed too late that you're still on the server, so my suggestions apply to Confluence Cloud. Are you considering moving to a new platform anytime soon? 😉

To tell you the truth, you will have difficulty implementing this on Server, DC, or Cloud anyway if you want to have one source table/database that you will reference in other parts of Confluence. The first thing that comes to mind to manage this kind of data is page properties. But they have the disadvantage of working the "other way around".

You maintain the data on each page and can then create a read-only page properties report about the data. So this is not what you have in mind.

To structure and relate data like this, you must look at solutions on the Atlassian Marketplace. I personally don't know the Quick parts in Word, but I'm familiar with tools like Notion and their databases.

We at K15t published an app on the Atlassian Marketplace that exactly fits your use case, and it's called Orderly Databases for Confluence.

The advantage over tables and page properties is that any information is centrally stored in an easy-to-use database and can be viewed, created, edited, and filtered anywhere in Confluence. Changes made anywhere in Confluence will be reflected throughout the instance, so information doesn't get disconnected. It's like page properties on steroids. 💪🏽 😄

If you create the primary source of truth to list all your products and various team members (architect, owner, QA lead, etc.), it could look like this:

And on each of the linked product pages, you can display the specific product data entry

If you want to limit the information, you can set filters to display only the relevant information and also decide what fields to present:

Please excuse that this might not help you right now, but maybe you will move on to Cloud, and then you will already know how to achieve your goal. 😄

Best, Max

[Pete P]

Thanks @Max Foerster - K15t for the detailed information.  Orderly Databases for Confluence sounds like it will be a great solution once we move to the cloud (6-12 months from now).  After experimenting around with page properties and reports they are too limited in the way the data is displayed.  

[Max Foerster - K15t]

You're welcome, @Pete P! Then I definitely wish you a successful migration to the cloud. And if you are on cloud and have any questions, feel free to contact me here in the community or any other channel 🤘🏼