Confluence is where your team writes and organizes shared documents

Confluence is a wiki-style platform where teams create, edit, and store documentation in one place. Unlike email or shared folders, Confluence keeps all your documents linked together, searchable, and version-controlled — so you can find what you need and see who changed it and when. It's made by Atlassian, the same company behind Jira, and many teams use both together.

The core idea is straightforward: instead of having documentation scattered across Google Drive, Notion, Word files, and email threads, your team writes everything in Confluence. One person drafts a guide, another adds to it, someone flags an error, and the document updates in real time. Everyone sees the latest version. No more "is this the final version?" confusion.

Confluence works through spaces (folders for related documents), pages (the documents themselves), and child pages (pages nested under other pages to create a hierarchy). You can link pages to each other, embed images and videos, use templates to standardize how documents look, and set permissions so only certain people can read or edit.

Key Takeaways

  • Confluence stores all team documentation in one searchable place, with version history so you can see who changed what and when.
  • Pages live in spaces, and you can nest pages under other pages to organize documentation by topic or project.
  • You write in Confluence's editor using formatting buttons or markdown, and can link pages together so readers navigate between related documents.
  • Permissions control who can view, edit, or comment on each page, so sensitive documentation stays private while public guides stay open.
  • Templates let you standardize how certain types of documents look — like onboarding guides, meeting notes, or process runbooks.

Creating a page and choosing where it lives

When you open Confluence, you see a list of spaces your team has created. Each space is a container for related pages — one space might hold all product documentation, another might hold HR policies, another might hold engineering runbooks. Click the space you want to work in, then click "Create" in the top right. Confluence asks you to choose a template or start blank.

If you start blank, you get an empty page with a title field and a text editor below it. Type your page title first — this is what shows up in search results and in the page tree on the left. Then click in the editor and start typing. As you type, Confluence auto-saves every few seconds, so you don't lose work if your browser crashes.

Before you publish, decide where the page should live in the hierarchy. When you create a page, Confluence asks you to choose a parent page — the page this one should nest under. If you're writing a troubleshooting guide for a product, the parent might be the main product documentation page. If you're writing a meeting note, the parent might be a "Meeting Notes" page. This nesting makes it straightforward for readers to navigate: they see the parent page, click into it, and find all the child pages listed below.

Formatting text and embedding media

Confluence's editor has a toolbar with formatting buttons at the top: bold, italic, underline, lists, headings, links, and more. You can also use markdown shortcuts — type # followed by a space to create a heading, or **text** to make text bold. If you're familiar with markdown from GitHub or Reddit, Confluence's syntax is similar.

To embed an image, click the image icon in the toolbar, then upload from your computer or paste a URL. Confluence stores the image and displays it inline in the page. You can resize it by dragging the corners. To embed a video, use the same process — Confluence supports YouTube, Vimeo, and other platforms. You can also embed other Confluence pages, Jira issues, or external content like Google Sheets or Figma designs.

Tables are useful for comparing options or listing steps. Click the table icon, choose how many rows and columns you want, and Confluence creates an empty table. You can add or delete rows and columns later. For code snippets, click the code block icon, choose your programming language from a dropdown, and paste your code. Confluence will syntax-highlight it automatically.

Linking pages together so readers can navigate

One of Confluence's strengths is linking. Instead of writing "see the troubleshooting guide" and hoping readers find it, you can link directly to that page. Highlight the text you want to turn into a link, click the link icon in the toolbar, and Confluence shows you a list of pages you can link to. Type the page name to search, click the page you want, and the link is created.

When you link to another Confluence page, Confluence also tracks the relationship. On the page you linked to, a "Links" section appears at the bottom showing which pages link to it. This helps readers discover related content and helps you see which pages are actually being used.

You can also link to external websites, email addresses, or files. Click the link icon, choose "External Link" or "Email", and paste the URL or email address. Confluence will create the link and display it with an icon showing it goes outside Confluence.

Setting permissions so the right people can see and edit

By default, a page inherits permissions from its space. If the space is open to your whole team, everyone can see and edit pages in it. If the space is restricted, only people you add can access it. To change permissions on a single page, click the three-dot menu in the top right, select "Permissions", and you'll see a list of who has access.

You can give different permission levels to different people. View means they can read the page but not edit it. Edit means they can change the content. Restrict means you're removing their access. You can set permissions for individual people, groups (like "Engineering Team" or "Marketing"), or everyone in your Confluence instance.

A common pattern is to keep documentation open for reading but restrict editing to the page owner or a small team. This prevents accidental deletions while letting everyone learn from the documentation. For sensitive pages like salary information or security procedures, you might restrict both reading and editing to a specific group.

Using templates to standardize documentation

If your team writes the same type of document repeatedly — like meeting notes, incident reports, or onboarding checklists — templates save time and may support consistency. Confluence comes with built-in templates for common formats. When you click "Create", you see a template gallery. Choose "Meeting Notes" and Confluence creates a page with sections for attendees, agenda, decisions, and action items already laid out.

You can also create custom templates. Write a page the way you want it to look, then click the three-dot menu and select "Save as Template". Give it a name and description. The next time someone creates a page in that space, your template appears in the template gallery. This is especially useful for runbooks (step-by-step procedures), status reports, or project kickoff documents.

Templates don't lock you in — they're just a starting point. After you create a page from a template, you can edit it however you want. The template just saves you from typing the same headers and structure every time.

Finding pages and keeping documentation up to date

Confluence has a search bar at the top of every page. Type a keyword and Confluence searches page titles, content, and comments. Results show the most relevant pages first, and you can filter by space, author, or date. If you're looking for a page you know exists but can't remember the name, search for a word you remember from it.

Over time, documentation gets outdated. Confluence helps you spot this by showing a "Last updated" date at the bottom of every page. If a page hasn't been updated in months but describes a process that changed, someone should update it. Some teams use a "Review Date" field in their templates — a date when the page owner should check if the content is still accurate and update it if needed.

You can also watch a page to get notified when it changes. Click the three-dot menu and select "Watch". Confluence will email you whenever someone edits the page or adds a comment. This is useful if you're responsible for keeping a page accurate or if you want to stay in the loop on a project.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I see who changed what on a page?

Yes. Click the three-dot menu and select "Page History". Confluence shows every edit, who made it, and when. You can click any version to see what the page looked like at that point, or click "Restore" to revert to an older version if someone made a mistake.

What's the difference between a space and a page?

A space is a container — like a folder. A page is a document inside that container. You create multiple pages inside one space to keep related documentation together. For example, a "Product Documentation" space might contain pages for features, troubleshooting, and API reference.

Can I export a page or read it as a PDF?

Yes. Click the three-dot menu and select "Export". Confluence can export to PDF, Word, or HTML. This is useful if you need to share documentation with someone outside your Confluence instance or keep an archive of a page at a specific point in time.

What happens if two people edit the same page at the same time?

Confluence handles this gracefully. If you're both editing, you'll see each other's changes appear in real time. When you save, Confluence merges your changes. If you both edited the exact same sentence, Confluence flags it and asks you to choose which version to keep.

Can I use Confluence offline?

Confluence is cloud-based, so you need an internet connection to use it. However, some teams run Confluence on their own servers (called Data Center), which gives them more control. For most teams, the cloud version is standard and requires being online to read or edit pages.