Items in drop down list of the template disappear time to time when editing it
Asked by Chunyan Shi:

I have created a template with dropdown manuals. I have saved the page that I selected the right items in the dropdown list using the template. The items sometimes disappear when I try to edit the page again, so all dropdown spaces are empty just click 'e' to edit. I'd like to know how to solve this issue. Thank you!

I use the latest Chrome browser.


Answers:
author: Shannon S
body: Hello Chunyan Shi,

Welcome to Atlassian Community! It's nice to meet you. Can you tell me if you created your dropdown manuals using the Confluence list variable? If you can show me an example screenshot, it will help.

Thank you!

Shannon

comments: author: Chunyan Shi
body: Hi Shannon,

When I click 'edit' to edit a Confluence page using a template, I sometimes see all items in the dropdown manuals displayed correctly, sometimes just completely empty as shown in the 2 screenshots. It will be great to know how to solve it. Thank you!

Best regards,

Chunyan![image.png](https://community.atlassian.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/145108iB574569195711033/image-size/large?v=v2&px=999 "image.png")![image.png](https://community.atlassian.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/145112i6723BA633338CC53/image-size/large?v=v2&px=999 "image.png")


author: Shannon S
body: Hi [@Chunyan Shi](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/4369464),

Thank you for the swift reply and the examples. By chance, are these templates from Blueprints? There's a known issue where List variables in Blueprint templates are displaying blank:

* [CONFCLOUD-53918](http://CONFCLOUD-53918) *List variable not working in Blueprint Templates*

Otherwise, I have seen other special characters in the lists causing the problem, but the occurrence was rare.

I hope this helps!

Take care,

Shannon


author: Chunyan Shi
body: Hi Shannon,

Thank you for the reply.

I don't think I created a blueprint template. My template is not in the list of blueprint templates.

Yes, as I described, it happened not very rate to me, but rather often and also to my colleagues. We really want to know how to solve it.

Have a nice weekend,

Chunyan


author: Shannon S
body: Hi Chunyan,

Thank you for confirming! If I understand correctly, the template is entirely custom, and you didn't edit an existing Confluence template to create it. Is that correct?

Are there any special or non-Latin characters in your lists, by chance?

Thank you,

Shannon


author: Chunyan Shi
body: Hi Shannon,

Yes, it is custom, which I copy-pasted from another place, then modified and saved.

I have one item 'A \& B' on the list. Will '\&' be the problem. I think my colleague use a similar template, but there is no '\&' in her template, but she also has the issue.

Best regards,

Chunyan


author: Shannon S
body: Hi Chunyan,

Can you tell me from where you copied the template content? If you create a new template by hand and not copy and paste anything, can you replicate the behavior?

Shannon


author: Chunyan Shi
body: Hi Shannon,

I have created a new template manually and didn't copy and past anything. So far, all looks good, so I can't replicate the behavior. I also tried the template which I had the issue before, I didn't see any blank dropdown happens today. I don't know why the issue is disappeared today, but it happened very often a week ago.

Best regards,

Chunyan


author: Shannon S
body: Hi Chunyan,

I'm glad to hear the issue resolved itself! If that happens again, you can try checking in your browser network tools. Perhaps something was preventing those menus from loading at the moment.

If you reencounter it and get stuck, feel free to reach out. :)

Take care,

Shannon


author: Chunyan Shi
body: Hi Shannon,

I'm back with the same issue again :)

I said last time the issue didn't appear when I created a new page based on the templated I used before and tested it right away. However, today I tried to edit the page I created last time, the issue comes back. As you can see in the file I uploaded. The dropdown items became blank after I click 'edit'. Do you have any alternative way which can avoid this? Thank you!

Best regards,

Chunyan


author: Chunyan Shi
body: ![dropdown_blank_issue.gif](https://community.atlassian.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/147395iE043E54541D4D470/image-size/large?v=v2&px=999 "dropdown_blank_issue.gif")


Tags: cloud

confluence-cloud