Highlights of Confluence 4.0 Beta 2:

More:

• Read the Upgrade Notes for important information about this release.
• See the full list of issues resolved in this release.

Brand New Editor

We've rebuilt the Confluence editor from the ground up, bringing you an editing experience that's simpler, faster and more intuitive.

The new Confluence editor delivers many advantages:

• Just one editor!
• Align left, centre or right, without using macros.
• Indent paragraph blocks and lists from the toolbar.
• A new color picker.
• A New, streamlined user interface.

Simplified Editing Experience

Confluence 4.0 introduces macro placeholders, a visual representation of your macros while editing. Create rich content with new and existing macros, without the tools getting in the way.

Simplified Macro Editing

Makes macros easier to manage when editing.

• A more visual experience
  Making it easier to visualize what the page will look like when you publish it.

• Macro properties panel
  Every macro has a properties panel. The property panels for particular macros, such as the Status and View File macros have additional functionality, described below.

• Quick access to macro editing
  Double-click the macro to open the Macro Browser for parameter editing. Contents of some macros can be modified directly from the editor.
  

Improved Image Handling

• Paste Images From Clipboard (Firefox and Chrome only)
  Just copy any image to your clipboard and hit CTRL-V in the editor. The image will get attached and embedded directly into your page. There's nothing to install on your desktop, it just works!

• Turn Images into Links
  Now you can turn images into links. This is especially handy for turning images into a button like the Atlassian Documentation team is known to do. Previously, this was only available in wiki markup but can now be done in the shiny new Confluence 4.0 editor via the properties panel. We're still working on the link icon.

• New Default Image Sizes
  We've received a lot of feedback indicating that there isn't much difference between the preset image sizes. So, we've tweaked the sizes so that you can choose from a wider range of options. The small option remains the same at 100 pixels, medium has increased slightly to 300 pixels and large has changed to 500 pixels.

• Custom image sizes
  If you don't like the preset image sizes, you can now specify an exact image width.
  

• Search Images
  You can now embed and search images through a new "Search" tab in the image browser. Previously, this could only be done through Autocomplete (!).
  

Advanced Table Editing

We've made table operations better in Confluence 4.0 with the following features:

• Drag to Insert Tables
  Inserting tables is now easier and truly "WYSIWYG" with this new feature. Just click on the New Table dropdown and drag your mouse to choose the number of rows and columns you'd like in your new table. Oh, and don't worry if you like inserting tables with your keyboard, you can still use autoformatting or CTRL+SHIFT+I to insert a table.
  

• New In-Context Table Toolbar
  The new table toolbar removes the need for a context menu and only appears when you add a table to the page.
• Merge and Split Table Cells.
• Highlight cells, rows or columns.
• Cut, copy and paste table rows.
  

New Macros

We've bundled more macros with Confluence, and made some of the existing macros better, to help you easily include and present relevant content:

• Status Macro
  The Status macro displays a colored lozenge in the editor, so you can see the status directly. You can use the properties panel to change the status while editing, without having to use the Macro Browser.
  

• Expand Macro
  The Expand macro allows you to add a dynamically expandable section of text to your page.
  

• Profile Picture Macro
  The Profile Picture macro displays a users profile picture on a page. Useful for creating Team Pages.
  

Faster Editing Experience

Write Wiki Markup ... Fast!

Many of Confluence's biggest fans are avid wiki markup users. For you aficionados, we wanted to give you the fastest editing experience possible, while preserving the speed and efficiency of your existing wiki markup skills. So, we present you with Autoformatting!

Autoformatting lets you type wiki markup into the editor this new feature will "auto-format" your text on the fly. To learn more, click on the "?" help button in the editor and select the Wiki Markup tab.

Try these and see what you think:

• Font Formatting
  Bold, underline, strikethough, italic, superscript, subscript – just type the markup, such as *Bold*, and watch it convert to Bold on the fly!

• Basic Tables
  Try typing |||||| , or || Heading 1 || Heading 2 || , then hit enter to to instantly see this:

  Heading 1	Heading 2

• Emoticons
  All of our emoticons convert on the fly. Try typing (/) in the editor to instantly see this: .

• Lists
  For numbered lists, type # and a space at the start of each line.
  For bulleted lists, type * and a space at the start of each line.

• Headings
  Type h4. then some heading text to see a level 4 heading.

Instant Links, Media and Macros

Introduced in a previous release of Confluence (see details in this blog post), adding links, media and macros can be quickly added by typing [, ! or { in the editor to add various kinds of content to your page. There's also some small improvements added onto previous autocomplete functionality:

• The first item in the list is pre-selected to make editing faster,
• The macro autocomplete list now loads much faster,
• The macro autocomplete list now inserts most macros directly, without launching the Macro Browser, unless the macro requires a parameter.
• New Page Links
  Quickly insert a link to create a page with Autocomplete for links. Simply type '[' in the editor and as you type, Confluence will display a Create Page link if a page with that title does not already exist in your current space.
  

Introducing @mentions

Confluence 4.0 includes the new @mentions feature. This allows you to easily bring collaborators into a conversation: if you are mentioned in any Confluence content (a page, blog, comment or status update), you will be notified by email.

To mention someone, type @ and their name, when editing. Mentions will instantly suggest people you are following in your network, so you can quickly find and involve your friends.

Improved Page Comparison Functionality

We've got a better way to view changed content in Confluence.

Improved Page Diffs

We've simplified page diffs to make them easier to read. Additionally, page diffs now show changes to both formatting and macros.

Diffs in Email

Where possible, email notifications now show page differences exactly as they appear in Confluence. These are now rendered in your email view with the correct diff color coding.

Email Notification Improvements

New Email Design

All email notifications in Confluence now have a new design. This works in major email clients as well as on the iPhone.

Follow Notifications

Confluence now sends email when someone follows you.

New Confluence Installer and Guided Upgrades

Much to the delight of any sysadmins that are installing any new instances of Confluence, the Windows (.exe) and Linux (.bin) guided installers are now available.

Simplified Installation Process

• Guided installer: The guided install wizard has been implemented for Confluence 4.0 on both Windows and Linux operating systems. Installing a new instance is a breeze.
• Windows UAC support: You will be prompted for elevated privileges in order to permit the full array of install options. 
• New instance vs Upgrade selection: You can choose to install a new instance or upgrade an existing instance.
• Install & Home directory selection: Default folders are provided depending on the user being an admin/root or standard user (based on respective OS write permissions). 
• Port selection: Choose your ports during the guided install process. Also, the ports in Confluence have changed! Take note: The default running port is now 8090 with the control port at 8009.
• Install as a service: Assuming you have elevated privileges, you have the option on both Windows and Linux to install Confluence as a service. This is practical for production instances.
• Evaluation license generation: As a recap, we added a simplified workflow in Confluence 3.5 to assist in generating licenses for evaluators.

Easy JIRA Integration

• Setup wizard process improvements: Hook Confluence up with JIRA, right within the in-application setup wizard.

New Guided Upgrades

The new Linux and Windows Installers from our EAP release now include an option that allows you to upgrade an existing Confluence 3.5.x or later installation. This upgrade automates the following tasks for you:

1. Backs up the Installation and Home Directories of the existing Confluence installation to be upgraded,
2. Installs Confluence 4.0.xwhile migrating the following from your existing Confluence installation to the new installation: 
   • TCP port values in your existing Confluence installation's server.xml file,
   • The upgrade feature detects and notifies you of any other files in the confluence subdirectory of your existing Confluence Installation Directory, which had been deleted, added or modified from a 'default' Confluence installation. This informs you of any customizations you will need to migrate manually over to your upgraded Confluence installation directory.

New Editor Plugin Points for Developers

We've added more editor plugin points for developers. Notable improvements include:

Extend the Macro Property Panel

Plugin developers can add buttons to the Macro Property Panel in the editor.
For example, insert a Gliffy diagram.

Render an Image in the Macro Placeholder

A plugin developer can now render an image instead of a placeholder for bodyless macros.

Custom Parameter Rendering in Placeholders

You can choose to display any parameter in the macro placeholder in the editor, instead of having the placeholder automatically show the first few parameters.

New Pluggable Format Menu

Plugin developers can add items to the editor's Format menu.

View Storage Format

To assist with plugin developers and help with developer issues, developers running in Dev mode and Confluence administrators can view the page storage format form the "Tools" menu in Confluence.

New API Changes

We have disabled the getPage() and getBlogEntry() read methods in the XML-RPC/SOAP API. If you have a script that primarily reads or appends to existing pages, it will break. Creating pages and overwriting existing pages will still work.

Plugin Developer Resources

We have created a landing page for Confluence 4.0 planning. This includes resources for plugin developers to help you create new plugins and make use of the new plugin points available as well as upgrade your existing plugins.

Infrastructure Changes

This release includes a number of improvements in the APIs and under the covers as well.

• Anti-XSS Mode
  Anti-XXS mode is now enabled by default for plugins.
• Alignment and Border Parameters
  The alignment and border properties in the macro definition template have been removed.
• Thumbnail Settings
  The 'Thumbnail maximum height' and 'Thumbnail maximum width' settings have been removed from the General Configuration page.
• Link Browser
  The Link browser is no longer built in GWT and is now built in core JavaScript.
• Integration Platform 2.12.0
• Upgrade to AUI 3.5.0

Other Improvements

As always, we have made various small improvements to Confluence screens, functionality and supported platforms.

• Microsoft Office 2010 support
  The Office Connector now supports Microsoft Office 2010.
• Chrome and Internet Explorer 9 Support
  See the upgrade notes for more information about browser support.
• Administrator's task list in the Admin Console
  This new task list in the Admin Console helps administrators get started after a new install.
• New keyboard shortcuts:
  • CMD+S to save a page from the change comment field.
  • CMD+SHIFT+e to preview when you are in the editor; hit 'e' to get back to the editor.
  • CMD+SHIFT+d to display the Wiki Markup dialog.
• Option to disable the "secure" cookie
  When using HTTPS, you can disable the "secure" cookie, just for the login page.
• Help tips in the administration screens
  The help tips have been moved into the field descriptions.
• Backup and Restore page
  The Backup and Restore page has been redesigned.
• 404 page
  The 404 page now has a dashboard breadcrumb.
• Quicknav Improvements
  Quicknav now indicates the space the page is coming from. This helps you find a page that might have the same title across multiple spaces, as well as selecting the first search result by default, making it quicker to open the link.
• New Emoticons
  Confluence 4.0 comes with a shiny new set of emoticons.
• Remember Last Tab
  Some of the feedback you gave us:
  "...I find it frustrating that "add a web link" is an extra click away after I open the link dialog. I use that at least as often as I link to another Confluence page..."
  We've taken some of the pain out of this process, by having the link browser remember the last tab you clicked. So if always use web links, it will always open to the web links tab for you. We're investigating taking this a step further, by allowing users to insert a web link from the "search tab as well."

• Advanced Linking
  We've updated the Link dialog to cater for these link types: shortcut links, anchor Links, and undefined links (which you can do via Autocomplete).
  To round out this improvement, we've implemented an "Advanced" tab in the Links Dialog. This basically covers the "remaining link types" that were available in Wiki Markup.
• Improved Conflict Merging
  Make this one sentence: Now if you're editing a page at the same time as someone else, Confluence will intelligently merge your changes with the other person's change when you save. This means you'll be seeing the "another user has made changes to this page since you started editing" warning a lot less often. In the cases where Confluence cannot merge the changes, it will show the diffs and prompt you to either overwrite or discard your changes. We've also made merging table conflicts much more reliable.

Helping You Transition to Confluence 4.0

We've created a set of resources to help you manage the transition away from wiki markup. We know your people have become experts with using wiki markup in Confluence, but we think you'll really appreciate the new editor, and we want to make it as easy as possible for you to make the change.

Support for Macros that are not yet Confluence 4.0 Compatible
You can upgrade to Confluence 4.0 with macros that are not yet 4.0 compatible. If you upgrade and a macro is not yet 4.0 compatible, wiki markup will be maintained for that macro. Once these plugins are 4.0 compatible, an administrator will receive a new task in the administration console to run an update. We will have some more information on this shortly.

Copy and Paste Wiki Markup

Many people tell us they like to take notes in wiki markup, then paste them into Confluence. We've also spoken to customers who have lots of scripts that produce wiki markup and are manually inserted into pages. For these folks, we present the Insert Wiki Markup dialog. Simply select 'Wiki Markup' from the 'Insert' menu to launch the Wiki Markup dialog. From there you can insert any wiki markup, even macros.

"View Source" for the new editor

Some of you might be thinking, "what about the view wiki markup?". A lot of people used the View Wiki Markup option to see how pages were made and to copy the underlying markup. We've implemented "view source" (accessible from the Tools menu) so that you can see what macros were used to create the selected page and copy them to your own page.

We Welcome Your Feedback

To make it easy for you to provide EAP feedback we've created a simple "Got Feedback" button in the Confluence navigation bar:
Let the Confluence team know what you think of the EAP by providing feedback!