Problem

The macro browser pop-up dialog box remains loading infinitely when trying to add a macro in the Confluence Editor.

The following appears in the atlassian-confluence.log

TIMESTAMP WARN [THREAD] [confluence.util.profiling.DefaultActivityMonitor] close Exceeded the threshold of XXXX ms: ActivitySnapshot{startTime=1465419498350, threadId=2210, threadName='http-nio-8080-exec-92', userId='sgibbs', type='web-request', summary='/plugins/macrobrowser/browse-macros.action?detailed=false&macroMetadataClientCacheKey=XXXXXXXXX'}
 -- referer: https://HOST/CONTEXTPATH/display/SPACE/PAGE | url: /plugins/macrobrowser/browse-macros.action | userName: USER

The error above is thrown when Confluence is trying to access the following URL in order to load the macro browser:

http://<confluence-url>/plugins/macrobrowser/browse-macros.action

Diagnosis

Diagnostic Steps

HAR File

• Generate a HAR file while trying to open the macro browser in a Confluence page. 

• Notice that the following REST will likely fail and have an HTTP status of 0

  GET http://<Confluence URL>/plugins/macrobrowser/browse-macros.action

Try to call REST API through Postman

• Log in to Confluence as an administrator in a Google Chrome browser
• Download Postman for your browser (or use your own if you have an alternate REST client)
• Open Postman

• Get this full URL and input it into Postman under the "Normal" tab, with "GET" from the dropdown. Since you are logged in already in the same browser, the authentication should work without an issue.

  http://<Confluence URL>/plugins/macrobrowser/browse-macros.action?detailed=false

• This should return some text such as the following, letting us know that the REST call is working along with some timing information. Note that if the timing is significant you are likely running into this issue.

  POSTMAN RESULTS:
  
  Request:
  http://<Confluence URL>/plugins/macrobrowser/browse-macros.action?detailed=false
  Time: 68000ms
  
  Response:
  {
      "macros": [
          {
              "aliases": [
                  "news",
                  "blogs",
                  "blogposts",
                  "blogpost",
                  "blog",
                  "blog-post"
              ],
              "buttons": [],
              "hidden": false,
              "anyParameterRequired": true,
              "icon": null,
              "description": "View, summarise or list the most recent blog posts in the space",
              "pluginKey": "confluence.macros.advanced",
              "title": "Blog Posts",
              "bodyDeprecated": false,
              "alternateId": null,
              "macroName": "blog-posts",
              "gadgetUrl": null,
              "categories": [
                  "confluence-content"
              ],
              "alwaysShowConfig": false
          },

Cause

There are some gadgets that cannot be retrieved from JIRA or any other applications integrated via application links. The timeout happens when the Confluence Macro Browser tries to retrieve the gadget details.

Workaround

Remove any external gadgets + gadget feeds in Confluence Admin >> External Gadgets and see if the macro call is faster. There is usually a gadget that is no longer valid and removing/re-adding the gadget works around the issue. Additionally, this can be caused by slow network communication between applications configured through application links.

Resolution

Make sure there are no major network communication issues between Confluence and the applications configured through application links. It's recommended to follow the guide Application links diagnostics to iron out any configuration issues.