When you add a new page, you do not have to write the content from scratch. Instead, you can base your new page on a template. A template is a Confluence page with predefined content. Some templates are provided by blueprints or add-ons, others are defined by Confluence users.

Some examples of where templates are useful:

  • A software development project may have a template for use cases.
  • A systems administration space may have a template for defining what information is kept about each server.

Global templates and space templates

In Confluence, there are two places to store your page templates:

  • Space templates: These page templates are available in a specific space only. People who have space administrator permission can define templates via the space administration screen.
  • Global templates: These page templates are available in every space on the site. People who have Confluence Administrator permission can define the global templates via the Confluence Administration Console.

System administrators can also download predefined templates.

On this page:

Related pages:

Creating a template

You can write your template using the Confluence editor. You can also add special variables to the page, if you want to include fields that the author will complete when adding the page. See Adding a Template for more information.

Using a template

Page templates are used only when adding a page. It is not possible to apply a template to an already-existing page. Once a page has been added using a template, the template is no longer linked to the page. All further editing is performed as if the template was never used. Some plugins provide enhanced template functionality. You can search the Atlassian Marketplace for template add-ons.

See Creating a Page using a Template for more information.

Templates provided by blueprints

A blueprint is a page template with added functionality to help you create, manage and organise content in Confluence.

Confluence ships with some predefined blueprints. You can also download additional blueprints from the Atlassian Marketplace. You can customise the blueprint templates to suit your individual needs and even develop your own blueprints.

See Working with Blueprints.

System templates

Confluence also provides 'system templates' containing content like the site welcome message and default space content. See Administering Site Templates.

Useful plugins

Before installing an add-on (also called a plugin) into your Confluence site, please check the add-on's information page to see whether it is supported by Atlassian, by another vendor, or not at all. See our guidelines on add-on support.

Extended template functionality:

Except where otherwise noted, content in this space is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 Australia License.