Can you create a template in Confluence which has an attachment?
Asked by Michael Roff:

Can you create a template in Confluence which has an attachment?

When you use this template, the page would be created, but attached to the page would be an attachment that is a copy of the original attachment as specified in the template?

Any ideas on how to do this (without writing a custom plugin) would be helpful.

Thanks


Answers:
author: Azwandi Mohd Aris
body: Just for the record, this is a related feature request - <https://jira.atlassian.com/browse/CONF-8892>

comments: author: Michael Roff
body: Thanks Azwandi, I have voted and watched that feature request.If anyone else comes across this answers article, I recommend you do the same.


author: Michael Roff
body: continued .... The missing piece of the puzzle is automating the way in which the generic excel document gets attached to the new page which is based on a basic template to embed an excel document.The key here is it all has to be automated. One click and the user can then start adding content to the embedded document.BTW - I think K15t is going to be a better solution in the long run ... but if there was a solution now as outlined above ... I might go for it.


author: TomC
body: We have a use case now that was looking to use this kind of approach. A page template was developed that calls for an attached Excel spreadsheet, which (now at least) must be attached separately. The spreadsheet has a long list of items on one worksheet; about 10 of them are piped onto a second spreadsheet, and that, the 'milestone' sheet, is the one displayed. Because these pages will often be used by wiki newbies, all of the (simple) instructions are on the wiki page, some hidden by the cloak macro to preserve page real estate.


author: TomC
body: postscript...We are considering just using a wiki table vs. a spreadsheet for this use case, because the rendering macro (viewxls) is not proving to be 100% reliable. That is, it sometimes opens in Read-Only mode, or not at all, generating internal support calls that end up with yours truly. It will require compromises, but is 100% reliable.As our Confluence use expands, we get more of these reports. With the new v4 editor, I believe I can convince most users to use pure wiki pages (instead of Word) and the improved wiki table (vs. Excel..in cases not requiring spreadsheet functionality).


author: Michael Roff
body: This was an original comment from VegasMickI am toying with the idea of using word or excel templates attached to confluence pages in an automated fashion so a team member could create a new page based on a template and then when the page opens up, it has an embedded document in it like word or excel which they can then edit and use a workflow to progress through an approval process.Image an expense document in excel - attached to a confluence page - workflowed through Comalatech Adhoc Workflows.to be continued ....


author: Michael Roff
body: This answer has been removed and replaced by a comment


author: Stefan Kohler
body: What is your use case? You can link to an attachment from your template, the attachment doesn't have to be on the page itself.


Tags: template