Confluence Hosted - Getting Started with a Wiki

This content was originally contributed by Global Business Network (GBN), who prepared this documentation for one of their clients using Confluence Hosted. However, it may now contain edits from other visitors to this page.

Table of Contents

• Overview
  • Purpose
  • Typical Use
  • Other Tips
  • Login Names and Passwords
  • That's it for now. Enjoy the site!
• Working with Pages
  • Adding pages
  • Editing existing pages
  • Deleting pages
• Working with Links
  • Linking to another Web site or External Web Page while in Edit Mode
  • Linking to another Wiki Page
• Working with Attachments
  • Adding an Attachment and Link to it at the Same Time
  • Adding Attachments to a Page for Future Linking
  • Downloading Attachments
  • Deleting an Attachment

Overview

Purpose

The purpose of the CLIENT Wiki is to allow Team members to share new information about current and future trends in a highly collaborative, and efficient, manner. Rather than just send information via email, which often get lost over time, the Wiki will allow the Team to create a more permanent archive or record for ongoing use. It also opens up the possibility of sharing the Team's work with others outside the Team itself.

There is a big difference between a Wiki and a traditional Web site. With a traditional Web site, the structure and content are usually managed by only a limited number of people and the information flow is generally one way. With a Wiki, each visitor to the site can not only download or read the content, but can also add their own information share. You can even edit text that is posted---for instance, to clarify something someone else wrote, or simply add to it. Note that the Wiki will keep track of all these changes. Those of you who have used
Wikipedia to look up a topic are already familiar with how rich the content can be on a Wiki!

The other nice thing about the Wiki is that it lets you, the Team members, decide how to organize the information. While we at GBN have created some starter pages and content, this is by no means the "right" way to organize it. So, please, feel free to tinker once you are comfortable doing so. There are no specific "owners" of this site...you all own it!

Typical Use

There are a number of features available on the Wiki. This document does not even come close to covering all of them. However, you can find more features on your own using the "User Guide" link at the bottom of every page. Browsing and reading content on the site works in the same way as any Web page. This document outlines the basic features that most of you will want to know to post and share new content.

Adding Pages: Pages are the main building blocks of the Wiki. Each page, in general, is a discrete topic or piece of content. You should create a new page whenever you want to create a whole new category of content or discussion, if you want to add a set of related content that makes sense to group together in one place, or if you want the content to be accompanied by a longer description and it would take what feels like too much space on an existing page. It also makes sense if you expect this content to be relevant across multiple categories. Once a page exists, you must link to your page from at least one other page so that people can find it. Then you can link to it from as many other pages as you would like as well. Feel free also to add links to other related pages from your own new page---there is no defined hierarchy, per se.

Adding links to pages: On any page, you can add as many links as you wish. The links may be:

• A link to another page on the Client Wiki, e.g. related content that someone else posted
• A link to another web site / page (not on the Wiki) or URL address, e.g. articles, organizations, other reference
  information, reports posted on other web sites.
• A link to a downloadable attachment, e.g. a file you post to the Wiki to share with others.
  These work just like normal web links. You can add as much text around the link as you wish to describe it.

Adding attachments: On any page, you can add as many attachments as you wish. For example, PDF files of reports, or images. Note that you can also make images appear directly on the page. If the attachment you wish to share is already hosted on another Web site, sometimes it is best to simply link to the original Web page where you can download the document. This is easier to do than uploading an attachment yourself.

Other Tips

• It may take a few trys to get the hang of posting content, but once you do, you will find it really powerful. So, practice is encouraged. You can always edit your work or revert to previous version!
• If you find you are adding a lot of content to an existing page, think about whether or not it deserves its own page.
• If you can't figure out where to put some content, just ask others for help right on the page, e.g. "Hi, this is a great article but I'm not sure what category it belongs to." By the way, some links or content may belong under multiple categories, so feel free to link to it from multiple places.

Login Names and Passwords

Login names and passwords will be as follows...

When you first log in:

When you first log in each time, you will likely reach the "Dashboard page." Do not be
confused by all the links there. Rather, look for the link called "Client" on the left hand side
and this will take you to the Team's shared space.

*That's it for now. Enjoy the site!*

Working with Pages

Adding pages

The 'Add Page' link is located on the top right of each page.

1. From a related page, click on the 'Add Page' link. This will bring up a new screen.
2. Enter a 'Title' for your page in the field at the top (it will say "New Page" in light text). This is how it will be referred to from other pages.
3. Type in the first piece text for your page in the Rich Text editor box below the title. You will see some buttons at the top of the box that look like buttons in Word or other office applications at the top of this area.
4. Click the 'Save' button on the right hand side to add the new page. This will save the page with the initial content and will display the new page as it will look to others.
5. Click on the 'Edit' tab towards the upper left of the page to add more content. It will bring you into edit mode, described below.
6. (Note that the references to 'Parent Page' just refers to what page the system will track this new page from, like a tree. However, you can link to this new page from any page you wish.)

Editing existing pages

1. Go to the page and click on the 'Edit' tab. This will bring up the edit screen.
2. Make changes to the content or add new content as you would when you create a new page. Use the Bold, Italic and Underline buttons as you would with any document. Use the format drop down menu to create sections of the page. Use bullets and numbers for lists. You can even insert images, select text color, and add links (described below).
3. Click 'Preview' to view your changes, and click 'Save' to keep them. We highly suggest that you save fairly often, especially when adding a lot of content.
4. On the same line as the Bold, Underline, Link, etc. buttons, there is a "Toggle to Fullscreen Mode." When clicked, it changes the window so the the editing area fills up the whole computer monitor, which may be easier if you are working on a long page.

Note that because you are using a Web-based editing tool, and not an application on your own computer, there may be more of a delay than you are used to.

Deleting pages

1. Go to the page and click on the 'Edit' tab.
2. Click on the 'Remove' link located at the top of the page.

Working with Links

Linking to another Web site or External Web Page while in Edit Mode

Creating this link allows the person to go from the Wiki directly to a web site you wish them to look at.

1. From the page and location you wish to link from, click on the 'Insert Link' button on the toolbar (the one that looks like a globe with chain link in front of it). A pop-up screen will appear.
2. In the pop-up screen, in the field called "Link," type or copy in the URL of the Web page you wish to link to. It should be of the form: http://www.website.com. Note that the easiest thing to do is to have this Web site/page open in a different browser and to copy the address at the top of the browser. Then paste it into this field.
3. In the field called "Alias," enter the words you wish to appear to represent the link on the actual page. For instance, you might type "click here to see a great web site," or simply someone or something's name. The link can appear on its own or in the middle of a paragraph, and may simply be part of a sentence.
4. Another way to enter the words that will form the link is to highlight the words in the edit window before clicking the 'Insert Link' button. These words will automatically appear in the "Alias" field and all you have to do is enter the URL.
5. When ready, click the "OK" button at the bottom of the pop-up screen.

Linking to another Wiki Page

Creating this link allows the person to go from one page of the Wiki to other related pages.

1. From the page and location you wish to link from, click on the 'Insert Link' button on the toolbar (the one that looks like a globe with chain link in front of it). A pop-up screen will appear.
2. In the pop-up screen, in the field called "Link," type in the name of the page exactly as it appears on that page. If it is not exactly worded, you may be linking to nothing! One way to make this easier is to click on the "History" tab in that same pop-up screen. It will show you the most recent list of pages you visited, and if you have looked at the page you wish to link to recently, it will appear here. Then you can just click it and its name will show up in the Link field above. You can also search for pages or look under Recently Modified in this pop-screen to get the right page name.
3. In the field called "Alias," enter the words you wish to appear to represent the link on the actual page. For instance, you might type "here is the latest report," or simply the document's title. The link can appear on its own or in the middle of a paragraph, and may simply be part of a sentence.
4. Another way to enter the words that will form the link is to highlight the words in the edit window before clicking the 'Insert Link' button. These words will automatically appear in the "Alias" field and all you have to do is enter the Wiki page name.
5. When ready, click the "OK" button at the bottom of the pop-up screen. There are also ways to link to a particular section of another page, but you can read the user guide if you wish to try this.

Working with Attachments

Adding an Attachment and Link to it at the Same Time

1. From the page and location you wish to link from, click on the 'Insert Link' button on the toolbar (the one that looks like a globe with chain link in front of it). A pop-up screen will appear.
2. In the pop-up screen, click on the tab labeled "Attachments." To add a new attachment, click on the "Browse" button to get to files on your computer, and select the appropriate file.
3. Next click on the "Attach" button, and the file will upload. It may take a moment or two, depending upon the file size. When done, it will show up just above the "Browse" and "Attach" buttons in a list. This is a list of all the attachments to that particular page. Your attachment may be the first and only one at this point.
4. Select the attachment you just uploaded from the list and a reference to it will show up in the "Link" field at the top of the pop-up screen.
5. In the field called "Alias," enter the words you wish to appear to represent the link on the actual page. For instance, you might type "click here to see our information on religion," or simply someone or something's name. The link can appear in the middle of a paragraph, and may simply be part of a sentence.
6. Another way to enter the words that will form the link is to highlight the words in the edit window before clicking the 'Insert Link' button. These words will automatically appear in the "Alias" field and all you have to do is add the attachment info.
7. When ready, click the "OK" button at the bottom of the pop-up screen.

Adding Attachments to a Page for Future Linking

1. Go to the page and click on the 'Attachments' tab.
2. Browse through your files and select the file you'd like to attach.
3. Enter a description for the attachment in the 'Comment' text field (optional).
4. Click 'Attach more files' if required.
5. Click 'Attach File'. The file will now appear on the list of attachments for that page.

You can link to it in the future as described above.

Downloading Attachments

From a link on a page:

1. Option 1: Click on the link and the file will download and open.
2. Option 2: Right-mouse click on the link and select 'Save Link As'. This will open up a
   dialog box. Select the folder into which you want to download the file and click 'Save'.

From the list of attachments on given page:

1. Go to the page and click on the 'Attachments' tab.
2. Option 1: Click on the link and the file will download and open.
3. Option 2: Right-mouse click on the link and select 'Save Link As'. This will open up a
   dialog box. Select the folder into which you want to download the file and click 'Save'.

Deleting an Attachment

1. Go to the page that contains the attachment.
2. Click on the 'Attachments Tab'. This will display a list of the attachments in the page. Click on the 'Remove' link beside the attachment you want to delete.
3. Click 'OK' to confirm your action.