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If you are using an earlier version, please go to the documentation home page and select the relevant version.

Confluence Notation Guide Overview

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Confluence pages are stored internally in a simple content-formatting language called Wiki Markup, based on Textile.

The Wiki Markup Editor allows you to edit Confluence pages directly in wiki markup language. This has the advantage of being faster than the Rich Text Editor for some formatting tasks.

A quick notation guide, Notation Help, appears beside the edit screen when you choose the Wiki Markup edit tab. You can then click the full notation guide link in the help window to view the full Notation Guide. This shows you the entire list of formatting and other complex operations that Confluence's notation permits, along with the markup detailing how to perform them.

Try it now

Because wiki markup is designed to be simple to learn, the quickest way to learn wiki markup is to edit an existing page, switch to the wiki markup editor and experiment.

Below are some links to more information on wiki markup editing:
Full Notation Guide
Working with Headings
Working with Text Effects
Working with Text Breaks
Working with Links
Working with Anchors
Working with Images
Working with Lists
Working with Tables
Working with Macros
Confluence Emoticons

What does the Notation Guide contain and why is it not part of the Confluence User Guide?

The Confluence Notation Guide is included as part of the Confluence code and is dynamically generated when you view it. Its contents depend upon:

  • the macro plugins available in the Confluence installation
  • the documentation included by the plugin developer for the installed version of the plugin.

If you view the Full Notation Guide from the Atlassian Confluence site, you will see the information for the macro plugins currently installed on this site. If you view the Full Notation Guide from your own Confluence instance, you will see information for the macro plugins installed on your site.

The plugin developer writes the help file and includes it in the macro code.

Examples of Markup

Here's a short example of some typical markup:

What you type What you get 
h4. Confluence Markup

Ideally, the markup should be _readable_ and even *clearly understandable* when you are
editing it. Inserting formatting should require few keystrokes, and little thought.

After all, we want people to be concentrating on the words, not on where the angle-brackets
should go.

* Kinds of Markup
** Text Effects
** Headings
** Text Breaks
** Links
** Other



Confluence Markup


Ideally, the markup should be readable and even clearly understandable when you are
editing it. Inserting formatting should require few keystrokes, and little thought.

After all, we want people to be concentrating on the words, not on where the angle-brackets
should go.

  • Kinds of Markup
    • Text Effects
    • Headings
    • Text Breaks
    • Links
    • Other

Here, in comparison, is how that would look if you had to edit the page in HTML: 

<h4>Confluence Markup</h4>
<p>Ideally, the markup should be <em>readable</em> and even <strong>clearly understandable</strong>
when you are editing it. Inserting formatting should require few keystrokes, and little thought</p>
<p>After all, we want people to be concentrating on the words, not on where the angle-brackets should
go.</p>
<ul>
   <li>Kinds of Markup
     <ul>
      <li>Text Effects</li>
      <li>Headings</li>
      <li>Text Breaks</li>
      <li>Links</li>
      <li>Other</li>
     </ul>
   </li>
</ul>



RELATED TOPICS

Full Notation Guide
Rich Text Editor Overview
Writing Confluence pages
Creating a New Page
Working with Macros

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Comments (5)

 

  1. May 26

    Christian Bering says:

    How do I remove the notation guide from being displayed on the side of the editi...

    How do I remove the notation guide from being displayed on the side of the editing screen? My users will mainly be editing in the rich text editor and the notation guide is taking up valuable screen space from those with low screen resolution.

    1. Jun 02

      Zed Yap [Atlassian] says:

      Hi Christian, As far as I know, I think this might be related to this bug repor...

      Hi Christian,

      As far as I know, I think this might be related to this bug report:

      Also, could clarify that which theme are you using?

      Best rgds,
      Zed

      1. Jun 02

        Christian Bering says:

        Hi Zed Using the left navigation theme. The notation guide/help tips is constan...

        Hi Zed

        Using the left navigation theme. The notation guide/help tips is constantly displayed when using the editor.

  2. Jun 08

    Anonymous says:

    When making a new template using the Wiki Notation, the notation guide/tips is n...

    When making a new template using the Wiki Notation, the notation guide/tips is not displayed on the right side. How does one get it up as per when editing?

    Thanks!

    1. Jun 14

      Zed Yap [Atlassian] says:

      Hi, I am afraid that the feature requested is not available yet. However, there...

      Hi,

      I am afraid that the feature requested is not available yet. However, there is feature request being raised in JIRA:

      Please add your comments to the discussion, vote on it and add yourself as a watcher for future updates. Also, please bear in mind the following document on how we schedule features for inclusion in our products: Implementation of New Features and Improvements.

      Hope that helps.
      Best rgds,
      Zed

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