This page describes the drag-and-drop functionality in Confluence, and the browser configurations needed to support that functionality.

Overview of the drag-and-drop features

Confluence supports these forms of drag-and-drop:

  • Drag-and-drop within the editor. Working inside the editor panel, you can drag an image or a macro and drop it into a different location on the page.

  • Drag-and-drop for external images and files. You can drag a file from a location outside Confluence, and drop it directly into the editor. For example, try it with images, video files, audio files, Office documents, and PDF files. The contents of the file will be embedded into the page or blog post.

Drag-and-drop within the editor

Working within the editor panel, you can drag an image or a macro from one location on the page and drop it into a different location on the page. Hover your cursor over the image or the macro placeholder. The cursor changes to a drag-and-drop icon  and you can click the image or macro and drag it to a new location.

If you want to abandon the drag-and-drop action, press Escape. The image/macro will return to its original position.

Requirements for internal drag-and-drop

For the drag-and-drop of images and macros in the editor, Confluence supports the following browsers: Chrome, Firefox, and Internet Explorer 9. (Drag and drop in the editor does not work in Internet Explorer 8.)

On this page:

Related pages:

Drag-and-drop for external images and files

You can drag files from your computer or file system onto your browser and attach them to your Confluence pages or blog posts. You can drag and drop:

When you drag and drop files onto the different Confluence views, you get the following results:

Confluence View

Result

Attachments

Files are attached

Page

Files are attached

Edit

Files are attached, and embedded at the cursor position

Requirements for external drag-and-drop

  • Your browser must support the drag-and-drop functionality of HTML5.

  • Some browsers, such as Internet Explorer 9, Firefox 3.5 and Safari 4 do not support the drag-and-drop functionality of HTML5. For these browsers, Confluence will attempt to use the drag-and-drop functionality provided by Google Gears.

    • The first time you try to drag and drop a file into one of these browsers, Confluence will prompt you to install Google Gears into your browser. Refer to the prompt below for more information. For more details on the installation requirements for Google Gears, refer to Google's own How to install instructions.
    • Please check the Google Gears website for the most up-to-date browser support details.
      (tick) To check if Google Gears is already installed on your computer, refer to Google's own How to check if Gears is installed instructions.

      Note about supported web browsers: Please ensure that you are using one of the web browsers supported by Confluence. If you are using an unsupported browser or browser version, some features may not work correctly. You can find the list of supported web browsers and browser versions on this page: Supported Platforms.
  • Some older Confluence themes do not support Confluence's drag-and-drop feature.

    • Supported themes: Confluence Default theme, Documentation theme, Easy Reader theme.
    • Themes that are not supported: Left Navigation theme, Clickr theme. You cannot drag and drop attachments into spaces that use these themes.

Prompt to install Google Gears

If you are using a browser that does not support the drag-and-drop feature, and Google Gears has not yet been installed:

  • When you attempt to drag and drop a file into Confluence (but not the editor), you will see the following message:

    Screenshot: Generic Confluence prompt to install Google Gears



    Click OK to install Google Gears.

  • When you attempt to drag and drop a file into the editor, you will be prompted with the following message:

    Screenshot: Confluence prompt to install Google Gears


    Note: Save any drafted content before continuing with the installation of Google Gears. The installation process will replace your current Confluence page and you will need to restart your browser after the Google Gears installation has completed.

    Click Proceed with Installation to install Google Gears.

Initial use with Google Gears

When adding an attachment to a page or blog post in your Confluence site for the first time after Google Gears has been installed, you will be prompted to allow Google Gears to trust your Confluence site. If this warning message appears, choose I trust this site. Allow it to use Gears and then choose Allow.

Screenshot: Google Gears security prompt

Note: Google Gears is not supported on Safari. See CONF-20032 for updates.

Disabling drag-and-drop for external files

  • If you wish to disable the drag-and-drop feature, you can disable the entire Confluence Drag and Drop Plugin. See Disabling or Enabling a Plugin.
  • You can also disable the drop zone that appears on the 'Attachments' view or the image dialog box, by disabling the View Attachments Drop Zone or Image Dialog Drop Zone modules of the above plugin. This will remove these drop zones while retaining Confluence's drag-and-drop functionality.
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