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Smart Links in Confluence

Smart Links make it easy to create, edit, and view work across Atlassian and third-party products. With Confluence, Jira, and other Atlassian products, every link is a Smart Link.

Insert a Smart Link in Confluence

Smart Links allow you to create and interact with links to:

  • Hover over links to display rich information and interact with link elements like changing the status of Jira issues

  • Control how links appear in pages you create with dynamic display options

  • Collaborate on tasks and projects without leaving the Confluence page

Most links (also known as hyperlinks and URLs) will automatically unfurl or convert into a Smart Link when you paste them in a Confluence page.

You can cancel this by using keyboard shortcuts:

  • For Mac: Cmd + Z   

  • For Windows: Ctrl + Z

You can also select the link and choose your preferred display view from the Smart Link toolbar.

Highlight words or phrases then use Cmd + K for Mac or Ctrl + Z for Windows to convert them into links. You may also select the link icon from the top menu.

To insert a link leading to a specific heading or section of a page:

  1. Hover over the heading until the link icon appears.

  2. Select the link icon. This will copy the URL of the heading link.

  3. Use the URL you copied to create the link.

Link to a heading

To insert a link leading to a comment from Confluence page:

  1. Hover over the comment date until the link icon appears.

  2. Select the link icon. This will copy the URL of the heading link.

  3. Use the URL you copied to create the link.

Link to a comment

To insert a link that will create a message directed to a specific email address:

  1. Use Cmd + K for Mac or Ctrl + Z for Windows, or select the link icon(icon).

  2. Type ‘mailto:’ followed by the email address in the link field. For example: 'mailto:iamawesome@email.com'

  3. Choose the text to display.

  4. Select Insert.

Link to an email address

To link to an Anchor macro on the same page:

  1. Make note of the name of the anchor to which you want to link. The name is displayed on the anchor when editing the page.

  2. Highlight the text you want to use as the link.

  3. Select the link tool .

  4. Enter the name of the macro prefaced by a # symbol. If your Anchor Name is topofpage, you'll enter #topofpage when creating your link.

To link to an Anchor macro on another page:

  1. Copy the URL of the page whose anchor you want to link.

  2. Make note of the name of the anchor to which you want to link. The name is displayed on the anchor when editing the page.

  3. Go to the page where you want to add the link and edit the page.

  4. Highlight the text to be used as the link.

  5. Select the link tool .

  6. Paste the URL to the copied page in the link field followed by a # symbol and the anchor name.
    Example
    page name = Project notes

    Anchor name = notes from today
    Link = sitename.domain/wiki/Project+notes#notes-from-today

Pro tip — if you are adding a link to an anchor from a Gliffy diagram, you must use the entire URL, not just the pagename#anchorname portion.

To link to a page’s attachment:

  1. Go to the published version of the page containing the attachment to which you want to link.

  2. Go to More ••• > Attachments.

  3. Right-click on the file name of the attachment, and select Copy Link Address.

  4. Go to and edit the page where you want to link to the attachment.

  5. Paste the URL in the link tool pop-up, and give it a more friendly name if desired.

To link to the latest version of an attachment on another page:

  1. Go to the published version of the page containing the attachment to which you want to link.

  2. Go to More > Attachments.

  3. Right-click on the file name of the attachment, and select Copy Link Address.

  4. Go to and edit the page where you want to link to the attachment.

  5. Paste the URL in the link tool pop-up, remove any text after the file extension in the URL, and give it a more friendly name if desired.

Sometimes you want to link to a Confluence page that doesn't exist yet. To do this, you can add an undefined link and come back to it later. When you select on the link, Confluence will create a draft page with that title for you to then add content to and publish when you're ready.

Undefined placeholder links can't be added to templates.

  1. Type [Placeholder Page Name]()
    This follows the syntax as the keyboard shortcut for adding defined links [Link] (http://a.com).

  2. Press Enter or Return to create the placeholder.

  3. Select Close to keep the page as a DRAFT or select Publish… or Update.

Using a keyboard shortcut is the only way to accomplish this right now. In the coming months, the ability to add undefined links will be added to the editor toolbar and slash command menu.

A link to an undefined page is shown in red. Until you actually publish this newly created page, anyone with create permissions in that space can select on the link, while viewing or editing, and it will continue to create new draft pages. 

View undefined pages in a space

The Undefined page shows you all the undefined pages in your space. 

To view a list of the undefined links in a space:

  1. Go to the space in Confluence Cloud.

  2. Select Space Settings from the sidebar.

  3. Select Undefined from the Manage pages card.

The undefined page links have a green badge to remind you that these pages haven't been published yet. Select an undefined page link to create a draft and add content to it.

Display options

Once you type in or paste a link when editing a Confluence page, you can choose how it appears after you publish.

To change the Smart Link display:

  1. Type in or paste a link, or use the /link command. You may also use Cmd + K for Mac or Ctrl + Z for Windows:

  2. Select the link.

  3. From the Smart Link toolbar, select your preferred display option:

Link picker for Confluence editor

Inline view

Instead of a URL, inline view shows only the title of the link. This is useful when you want to insert multiple links in a table.

Smart Link inline view

Card view

Card view offers more context by showing metadata like project details and summary. When your readers hover over Smart Links displayed in card view, they can interact with link elements or preview the content. Select Open preview to view the link at near page-width without leaving the page.

Smart Link card view

Embed view

Embed view allows you to view pages, boards, lists, timelines, or calendars in other products without having to leave the page. Watch a video from YouTube, read and edit documents, leave comments in your design files and more, all within your current page.

Smart Link embed view

You may insert links from other products and convert them into Smart Links.

For example:

Other products that use Smart Links:

Atlassian products:

Non-Atlassian products

  • Atlas

  • Atlassian Analytics

  • Bitbucket

  • Compass

  • Jira

  • Jira Roadmaps

  • Jira Align

  • Trello

  • Adobe XD

  • Asana

  • Azure Devops

  • Box

  • Dropbox

  • Figma

  • GitHub

  • GitLab

  • Gliffy

  • Google Drive

  • Invision

  • Microsoft OneDrive (personal only)

  • Miro

  • Mural

  • Salesforce

  • Slack

  • Stripe

  • YouTube

  • Zeplin

  • Zoom

You must be logged in to non-Atlassian products that require authentication before you can diplay the Smart Link in your page. You’ll only need to do this once, and that product’s links will work across all of Atlassian Cloud.

For links to non-Atlassian product that requires access to view, readers need to be logged in for Smart Links to display in the correct view.

You can set your preferences on how links are displayed across Confluence, Atlas, Jira and soon for other Atlassian products. Your chosen link display option appears when you edit pages or comment on issues.

Go to link preferences from Confluence:

  1. Select your avatar from the top-right menu, then go to Settings.

  2. Under Settings, select Account preferences.

  3. From the left-side menu, select Link preferences.

Go to link preferences from Jira:

  1. Select the settings cog [cog image] on the top-right menu.

  2. Under ‘Personal settings, select Atlassian account settings.

  3. From the left-side menu, select Link preferences.

You can choose how to display links you create:

  1. From Link preferences, go to the Default display section.

  2. Choose your preferred display option.

Links created by other users will appear depending on the display option they choose.

Remember to refresh active editor sessions after you update your preferences.

Exceptions for specific domains

You can set different display options for links from specific domains:

  1. From Link preferences, go to the section labeled Exceptions for specific domains.

  2. Type or paste in a domain or URL.

  3. Choose your preferred display option from the dropdown.

  4. Select Submit.

  5. Add exceptions for other domains if needed.

Exceptions for subdomains

You may enter subdomains as your URL to set default display options for links from specific sections of a website.

For example, if you set a preference for links from google.com to display as a card, all subdomains will follow the same rule.  

If you only set an exception for slides.google.com, the other Google domains display as the default setting or any custom preferences you may have set.

If a domain cannot be displayed as an embed, your link will default to inline.


Legacy editor

This section provides the details for adding links and anchors to your page using the legacy editor.

Here's how to link to content from within Confluence

If it's a page in the same space:

  • From the toolbar, select Link > Search then enter part of the page name. Select the page when it appears in the list.

  • From the toolbar, select Link > Recently viewed and select a page from the list.

  • Type [ and enter part of the page name, then select the page from the list.

  • Paste the URL of the page onto your page (Confluence will automatically create the link).

If it's a page in a different space:

  • From the toolbar, select Link > Search and from the space dropdown, either select the space the page lives in, or All Spaces. Then enter part of the page name, and select the page when it appears in the list.

  • From the toolbar, select Link > Advanced then enter the space key followed by the page name spacekey:mypage.

  • Type [ and enter part of the page name then select the page from the list. (You can hover over each suggestion to see which space the page is from).

Link to a blog post

  • From the toolbar, select Link > Search and enter part of the blog post name, then select the post when it appears in the list.

  • Type [ and enter part of the blog post name then select the blog post from the list.

On this page:

  • From the toolbar, select Link > Attachment then upload or select an attachment from the list.

  • Type and enter part of the attachment file name then select the attachment from the list.

On another page:

  • From the toolbar, select Link > Search and enter part of the attachment name, then select it when it appears in the list. (You can hover over each suggestion to see which space the page is from).

  • Type [ and enter part of the attachment file name then select the attachment from the list

  • From the toolbar, select Link > Web Link then enter the website URL.

  • Type or paste the URL onto the page (Confluence will automatically create the link).

  • From the toolbar, select Link > Web Link then enter the email address.

  • Type or paste the email address onto the page (Confluence will automatically create a 'mailto:' link).

Choose Link > Advanced then enter the heading in one of the formats below. Heading text is case sensitive and must be entered without spaces.

  • For a heading on this page: #MyHeading.

  • For a heading on another page in this space: Page Name#MyHeading.

  • For a heading on another page in another space: spacekey:Page Name#MyHeading.

 Be aware that these links will break if you edit the heading text. Consider using the Table of Contents macro or an Anchor instead.

  • Go to the comment, right-click the Date at the bottom of the comment, copy the link, and paste it directly into your page.

  • Type [$ then enter the Comment ID (12345 in this example):  [$12345]

Use anchors to enable linking to specific locations on a page. These can be especially useful for allowing your readers to jump to specific parts of a long document. Anchors are invisible to the reader when the page is displayed.

  • Anchor names, including the space key and page name, are case sensitive.

  • Enter page and anchor names with spaces when you link to them in the same Confluence site

  • If you're linking to an anchor on a different page that has special characters in its name, where the URL displays a page ID rather than a name, you should still enter the page name when linking to it

  1. Select some text or position your cursor where you want to insert the link

  2. From the toolbar, select Link in the toolbar or press Ctrl+K

  3. Select Advanced and enter the anchor name in the Link field, following the format below.

Anchor location

Link syntax for anchor

Examples

Same page

#anchorname

#bottom

#importantinformation

Page in same space

page name#anchor name

My page#bottom

My page#important information

Page in different space

spacekey:pagename#anchorname

CONFCLOUD:Mypage#bottom

CONFCLOUD:Mypage#importantinformation

4. Enter or modify the Link Text (this is the text that will appear on the page. If this field is left blank, the page name or URL will be used as the link text)

5. Select Save

Sometimes you want to link to a Confluence page that doesn't exist yet. To do this, you can add an undefined link and come back to it later. When you select on the link, Confluence will create a draft page with that title for you to then add content to and publish when you're ready.

  1. From the toolbar, select Insert > Link or press Ctrl+K on your keyboard.

  2. Select Advanced from the left navigation

  3. Enter the name of the page to be created in the Link field.

A link to an undefined page is shown in dark red. Until you actually publish this newly created page, anyone with create permissions in that space can select on the link, while viewing or editing, and it will continue to create new draft pages. 

 

View undefined pages in a space

The Undefined Pages view shows you all the undefined pages in your space. 

To view a list of the undefined links in a space:

  1. Select Space settings in the sidebar, then choose Content tools

  2. Select Undefined Pages.

The undefined page links have a green badge to remind you that these pages haven't been published yet. Select on the link for an undefined page to create a draft and add content to it.

  • From the toolbar, select Link > Search then enter the user's name and select their personal space overview or their profile from the list.

  • Type then enter the user's name and select their personal space overview or their profile from the list.

  • Paste the Jira issue URL - Confluence will automatically create a Jira Issue macro.

If you have configured shortcut links on your Confluence site, then you can link to an external site using a shortcut link that looks like this:CONF-17025@jira.

To add a shortcut link using the Insert Link dialog:

  1. From the toolbar, select Link > Advanced and enter or paste the shortcut link into the Link field (shortcut links are case-insensitive)

  2. Modify or enter link text (this is the text that will appear on the page)

  3. Select Insert

You can also type [ and choose Insert Web Link > Advanced  to enter a shortcut link.

Here's how to link to Confluence content from other websites and in emails.

Example

http://myconfluence.com/display/spacekey/pagename#pagename-headingtext

Example

http://myconfluence.com/display/spacekey/pagename?focusedCommentId=commentid#comment-commentid

To find out the comment URL and comment ID:

  1. Go to the comment you wish to link to

  2. Select the Date at the bottom of the comment and examine the URL

The number after comment- is the Comment ID

Example

http://myconfluence.com/display/spacekey/pagename#pagename-anchorname 

Some important details to keep in mind:

  • The page name is repeated in the URL, after the # sign. The second occurrence of the page name is concatenated into a single word, with all spaces removed.

  • There is a single dash (hyphen) between the concatenated page name and the anchor name.

  • The anchor name in the full URL is concatenated into a single word, with all spaces removed.

  • The anchor name is case sensitive. You must use the same pattern of upper and lower case letters as you used when creating the Anchor.

  1. Select the link text or image

  2. Select Unlink from the link properties toolbar to remove the link

  3. Select Edit from the link properties toolbar to modify the link, make your changes, and choose Save

Additional Help