List Creation for Variable
Asked by Jen Latkowski:

First - I am new to Confluence and have spent most of the day try to solve this on my own so please forgive the newbie question.

We are looking to create a template which can be used over and over for various Client related details. I have created a variable field called "Client Name" and selected the "List" option.

I have over 400 items I need to include in the list of options, and entering them manually, separated by commas and attempting to keep them in alpha-order seems like a massive waste of time. There has to be a better way.

Since my list is in Excel, and could easily be imported into a table, I am thinking once done there has to be a way to use that table to populate the variable list (especially since we will add to the list as new clients come on board)?

Am I off the mark on this? I have to believe we are not the first people to try something like this, but since I cannot find anything anywhere perhaps I am wrong.

Has anyone out there done something like this or have any suggestions?


Answers:
author: Shardul Juyal {Addteq}
body: Hi [@Jen Latkowski](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/4309879)

With our app [Excellentable](https://marketplace.atlassian.com/apps/1211672/excellentable-spreadsheet-for-confluence?hosting=cloud&tab=overview), you can import the excel file in confluence, edit it natively and publish the results as HTML display.

You can reach out to our [support](https://jira.addteq.com/servicedesk/customer/portal/17) channel for the specific use case


author: Stiltsoft Support
body: Hi [@Jen Latkowski](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/4309879)

At the moment, you don't have the native Confluence functionality for your use case. However, there are multiple third-party apps at the Atlassian Marketplace that could help you.

For example, our [Handy Macros for Confluence](https://marketplace.atlassian.com/apps/1214971/handy-macros-for-confluence-formatting-and-interactive-ui?tab=overview&hosting=cloud&utm_source=atlassian-community&utm_medium=answer&utm_campaign=handy-macros-traffic-sources&utm_id=1216111&utm_content=List_Creation_for_Variable)I would allow you to create custom status sets with unlimited number of statuses to choose from. You'll need to create a set with options just once. after that, it can be reused over many Confluence pages.

Another benefit is that Handy Status can be changed in the page view mode without switching to the edit mode.


author: Jessica
body: Hi Jen,

Hope you are doing well!  

At this moment, we don't have native functionality for [creating a template](https://support.atlassian.com/confluence-cloud/docs/create-a-template/) that could help automatically add variable/list options.

Correct if I am wrong, but you are looking for having a way to import the information from your excel sheet and import the information there as a template, or data to be entered as variables, is that correct?  

Currently, we don't have the functionality of importing doc, pdf, or excel files like templates, but depending on the use case, we can raise a new Feature Request for you.  

However, since you have over 400 items to be entered on the list options, would it be a feasible solution if required for users to enter the information only?  
If that works, you can use the [variable text instead of list](https://support.atlassian.com/confluence-cloud/docs/create-a-template/#:~:text=that%20variable%20appears.-,Example,-The%20example%20below), so who is creating the page could enter the information there. :)  

Hope that helps!  

Kindest Regards,  
Jessica


Tags: cloud

confluence-cloud

select-list

variable