How to delete a page in Confluence - plus 4 formatting tips

How to delete a page in Confluence

One of the most common questions users ask is how to delete a page in Confluence. While straightforward in theory, there are several different ways to approach this task.

Deleting one page with out-of-the-box Confluence

If you’re using Confluence out-of-the-box, you may need permission to delete a page. This is because space permissions and page restrictions can prevent users from removing content.

To find out if you can delete a Confluence page, click the icon with the three dots at the top right of the page, then click ‘Delete’. If you don’t see a ‘Delete’ option, contact your space administrator. Here's an example using Confluence Cloud:

Note that using this function won’t permanently delete the page. Instead, it will move to the space’s trash, where it can be restored or permanently deleted by a space admin. It also won’t delete child pages of the removed page - these will move up to the nearest parent page instead. 

For more instructions on deleting page hierarchies and unpublished pages, see Atlassian’s Confluence support.

Deleting multiple Confluence pages, comments and attachments

If you want to save time and delete pages, comments and attachments in bulk, ScriptRunner for Confluence can help with this and other ways to clean up your Confluence. We recommend restricting access to pages while you’re moving content around to ensure that no page edits or moves get missed in the shuffle. You can use scripts like Bulk Delete Attachments, Bulk Delete Comments and Delete Page Tree to perform more thorough clean-ups.

You can find out more about ScriptRunner for Confluence and how it can save you time by automating page management, space management and user management here. There’s also a 30 day free trial if you feel inspired to get stuck in.

How to improve the navigation and structure of your Confluence

One of the biggest mistakes first-time Confluence users make is dumping loads of information into one Confluence page, without considering structure and navigation. Long blocks of text not only look bad, but can be overwhelming to the reader and lead to poor user experience. They won’t read what you wrote, and we assume that you want them to!

Luckily, you can improve your page’s structure quickly and easily with a few clever formatting tips. Confluence’s different heading and font styles can be utilised, as can bullet points, numbered lists and links to other pages. For more powerful customisation, consider using apps like Content Formatting Macros to enhance your Confluence.

When you’ve got big chunks of text you can’t remove but want to make more accessible, consider using the Tabs Content Formatting Macro. 

Ideal for long lists and information that can be distinctly categorised, tabs make your Confluence page look cleaner and become easier for users to follow and navigate. They help to tidy up long blocks of text and reduce the need to create multiple child pages of relevant - but categorised - information. Instead, keep all your information on the same page. Simply break your content into relevant sections and tidy them away in tabs:

Unstructured chunks of text that dominate your Confluence pages can quickly and easily be tidied with the Tabs macro. Here's an example of how it can be used:

How to enhance the user experience in Confluence

Just because a site or page is internal-facing, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t consider user experience. Only 38% of workers feel satisfied or very satisfied with workplace tools, according to Deloitte. Meanwhile, organisations that create compelling digital workforce experiences generate 22% higher workforce engagement and more employee loyalty. It makes sense, then, to consider how to optimise your workforce tools to provide the most positive experience possible. This is especially important as remote work becomes the default and more people than ever are relying on these tools.

One simple way to improve the user experience in Confluence is by using the Progress Bar macro. Progress bars provide visualisation for documented processes in Confluence, making them especially useful for company intranets and wikis. They can help to demonstrate where users are in a journey, whether that’s in an HR onboarding process or an annual events plan.

How to make Confluence pages look better 

Confluence pages can be stylised and personalised in a variety of different ways, from adding background colours and headers through to incorporating emojis and gifs. One of the easiest ways to add design flair (and improve the user journey) is by adding buttons to direct users to internal and external pages. 

In Confluence Cloud, the Buttons macro allows you to create a single stylised button to add to pages, hyperlinking to other pages or websites. Meanwhile, the Buttons Group macro creates a group of stylised hyperlink buttons in a toolbar-like display.

Research shows that buttons convert at a higher rate than other calls to action, so they’re ideal to add to any content where you want users to click through and take a next step.

Note: Confluence Server and Data Center button macros differ slightly - here you’ll find Button Hyperlink and Button Group.

Extra for experts: How to make heavy customisation changes to Confluence Server and Data Center

Confluence power users looking for heavy-duty ways to alter Confluence will be pleased to know that more advanced customisation is available. If you’re handy with CSS and HTML, you can do everything from styling text and altering fonts to customising the Confluence footer and adding new background colours.

There are two Content Formatting Macros which are particularly useful for making this level of customisation: Div and Style Sheet. Note that these are both available on Server and Data Center. 

These allow you to add CSS to your pages to highlight sections of text, control the look and feel of tables and buttons, and alter the way text looks. You can completely overhaul and personalise your Confluence space, which is ideal if you’re using it as a company intranet or team home page. Note that these macros are best left to users who are confident with HTML!