Blueprints
What's a blueprint?
A blueprint is a set of page templates with added functionality to help you create, manage and organize content in Confluence more easily.
Create meeting notes, shared file lists and requirements documentation out of the box, and Customize the blueprint templates to suit your individual needs. You can even develop your own blueprints.
Create content using a blueprint
- Choose Create from template
in the Confluence header - Select a blueprint from the create dialog
- Hit Create
The editor will open, and, depending on the blueprint selected, a prompt to enter information or the page will appear. You can now follow the instructions built in to the blueprint to add content.
The first time a blueprint is used in a space, Confluence creates an index page and adds a shortcut to your sidebar (if you're using the default theme). The index displays a list of pages made with the blueprint, and information selected from your blueprint pages. For example, the meeting notes index displays a list of all meeting notes pages in the space, who created them, and when they were last modified. Here's the index page for the Meeting Notes blueprint:
- Easy to find: notes from all your meetings are listed here.
- Start a new meeting: create a new meeting notes page here.
Customize blueprint templates
Blueprints are made up of templates that can often be customized for an individual space or the whole site. This means you can adapt the content of the blueprint pages to suit your specific needs. For example, you might update the Meeting Notes blueprint templates to include a heading for apologies.
If you have space administrator permissions, you can customize blueprint templates for the spaces you are an administrator of. You must be a Confluence Administrator to customize blueprint templates for a whole site. See Administering Site Templates for more information.
To customize a blueprint template for a space:
Go to the space and select Space tools > Content Tools from the bottom of the sidebar
- Choose Edit beside the blueprint template you wish to edit
- Make your changes to the template and choose Save
Editing a blueprint template is very similar to editing a page template, except:
- Be careful not to remove any macros that the blueprint page or index page may use to store and display information
- You can't remove a blueprint template or change the template name
- Not all blueprints are customizable. Some, including the Team Playbook blueprints (health monitor, DACI, project poster, and experience) can't be edited.
- Currently, it's not possible to edit the labels of blueprint templates.
To reset a blueprint template back to the default:
Go to the space and select Space tools > Content Tools from the bottom of the sidebar
- Choose Reset to default beside the blueprint template you wish to reset
See Working With Templates and Administering Site Templates for more information on templates.
As with user created space and site templates, editing a blueprint template will not change existing pages, but any new blueprint pages will be based on the updated template.
Promote blueprints in the Create dialog
The promoted templates or blueprints will appear at the top, with all other content types, including Blank Page and Blog Post collapsed under them. To view the other types of content available choose the Show more link.
- Show more: see more templates and blueprints.
To promote a template or blueprint:
- Go to Space Tools > Content Tools
- Choose Promote next to the templates or blueprints you want to appear in the Create dialog. You can only promote templates created in this space.
Remember, by promoting a blueprint or template you'll be hiding all other items, including blank page and blog post, under the Show more link.
If you use the Show more link in the create dialog more than three times in a single space, the dialog will show you all templates by default from then on.
Add more blueprints
You can find more blueprints for Confluence in the Atlassian Marketplace. Blueprints are managed using apps (also known as add-ons, or plugins).
See Request Marketplace Apps for information on how you can search for new blueprint apps and send a request to your System Administrator.
If you are a System Administrator, see Managing System and Marketplace Apps for information on how to install new blueprint apps.
You can also develop your own blueprints. See our developer documentation on Writing a Blueprint.
Disable a blueprint
You may want to disable particular blueprints. For example, you may not want to see the Product Requirements blueprint in the create dialog in an HR or Social space. If you are a Confluence Administrator you can also disable particular page and space blueprints for the whole site.
To disable a blueprint in a space:
Go to the space and select Space tools > Content Tools from the bottom of the sidebar
- Choose Disable next to the blueprint you wish to disable in that space
You can re-enable the blueprint at any time.
To disable a blueprint across a whole site:
Select Administration
, then select General Configuration (You need Confluence Administrator permissions to do this)- Choose Global Templates and Blueprints
Choose Disable next to the page or space blueprint you wish to disable
The blueprint will not appear in the 'Create' or 'Create Space' dialogs.
Full list of blueprints
Here's the full list of blueprints bundled with Confluence.
| Page blueprints | Space blueprints |
|---|---|
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