Adding instructional text to templates
Asked by Jincy Chacko:

I see that the guides say I have to choose "Template" then "Add instructional text" from the toolbar. But i do not see these options when i try to create the template. Is there another way to add instructional text into the template?


Answers:
author: Victor Mutambuki
body: ![Screen Shot 2018-05-24 at 10.15.27 PM.png](https://community.atlassian.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/22917iC8B2F1310EA184AB/image-dimensions/683x56?v=v2 "Screen Shot 2018-05-24 at 10.15.27 PM.png")

Jincy,

Click to EDIT on the template --\> click on Page Layout *(as shown in image) --\> Then Instruction Text.*

*Victor*

comments: author: Victor Mutambuki
body: Jincy,

Did this work for you?

Victor


author: Jincy Chacko
body: Yes. Thank you.


author: Victor Mutambuki
body: Jincy,

Good to hear. Please accept the answer or vote for it so that other users can use this information.

Victor


author: J. Pablo Fern?ndez
body: This is no longer valid, that toolbar doesn't look like that anymore.


author: Colleen
body: I have the layout icon but I don't have that informational text button that is in between the graph and the insert. Is there an updated answer to this question?


author: Katja Kanngiesser
body: I don't have this sophisticated toolbar, only a very limited choice of options. How can I still insert/change instructional texts?

![Bildschirmfoto 2022-03-01 um 11.28.50.png](https://community.atlassian.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/185824i7792E64FC51911A9/image-size/large?v=v2&px=999 "Bildschirmfoto 2022-03-01 um 11.28.50.png")


author: Corissa Bowman
body: Note: Placeholder text is ONLY available if you're editing a template ... not a standard page.

comments: author: Patrick Leal
body: Thanks!


author: jean eudes
body: Hi has this changed? I'd love to add a placeholder for our group document


author: Kote Khutsishvili
body: Is this still available? I can't see the functionality

comments: author: Christian Wuerdig
body: Yes, but it apparently got renamed to "Placeholder Text" and has been moved to the "Insert" menu. See this answer: <https://community.atlassian.com/t5/Confluence-questions/Adding-Instructional-Text-onto-a-New-template-using-new-style/qaq-p/1018770>

Looks like the documentation hasn't been updated yet


author: Matt Lovett
body: The new editor and associated documentation is a master class in how to drop the ball.


author: Patrick
body: Amen brother.

OK, here comes the rant...

I mean really just amazing poor documentation. I'm trying to make use of Confluence as a central hub of knowledge for our company while trying to learn it (previous experience was with a much older hosted version) and just can't believe how much the documentation is just wrong all over the place.

It would be great if Atlassian would add more pictures to the instructions so we can at least realize right out of the gate the documentation is out of date. Just saying things like...

**To insert instructional text:**

1. Choose **Template** \>**Instructional Text**in the toolbar

... without an image to clue you into the outdated material causes the user to hunt trying to find where you have gone wrong in the interface until you realize the documentation is just wrong.

Images or something like will likely greatly increase maintenance but it will also immediately let your customers know the state of the documentation. I'd take that over customer anger/frustration anytime.


author: Jerry Geyer
body: Placeholder Text does not behave the same way that Instructional Text did and I don't even understand it's use case. I cannot select and edit the text when I create a new page from the template.


author: J. Pablo Fern?ndez
body: I cannot find any of these things, I cannot find the Template menu, nor variables, nor placeholder text, nothing. :(


author: Callum_Hepburn
body: There's also supposed to be additional functionality to it in the same outdated doc (<https://confluence.atlassian.com/confcloud/blueprints-and-user-created-templates-724764985.html>), but there's no obvious way of changing the "placeholder" to different options besides text;
> You can also change the placeholder type from **Text** to either:
>
> * **User mention** -- Opens the user mention dialog.
> * **Jira Macro** -- Opens a dialog that allows you to create a new Jira issue, or search for one or more Jira issues to include on the page.


author: Maria Hauer
body: just to add some more things to the list that I've tried and haven't been working:

\* select a written text ==\> click on placeholder text ==\> text disappears, placeholder box appears ==\> same behaviour with a placeholder text which was initiallly created (you enter the text, click somewhere else and the box is gone for good)

\* copy an old instructional text from an old template with the old editor still showing ==\> only comes out as italic text in the new template

I saw some suggested solutions that include variables and a tiny bit of code, so not too bad. But to be honest I just want a functionality that is working properly and is described properly.


author: Maria Hauer
body: ahhh sorry - it was not obvious to me that I had to hit enter after entering the text in the box....so nevermind me, sorry for the confusion. This works as expected.


author: Jaine Steer
body: Yes - that simple carriage return and it works.


author: Rajesh Viswanathan
body: Easy to understand and learn. Thanks for sharing.


author: Joshua Mathews
body: Macro is **/placeholder text**.


author: Robert_Rosskopf
body: It'd be way more useful if the text is shown only in edit mode, no matter if it has been replaced. Or at least if clicking on the non-replaced placeholder directly opens an edit box for this area.


author: Colleen
body: See Brant's response with screen shots on the below link. You need to use the SPACE TOOL to have the 'Instructional Text' option.

<https://community.atlassian.com/t5/Confluence-questions/Edit-Informational-Text/qaq-p/1671819>


Tags: template