Child-macro in Confluence - why is my parent page / tree displayed / wrong?
Asked by Vera Henrichs:

Hello,

I want to show children so I added the Macro Children Display. But it shows ALL the parents, including the icon for the space in a huge format (see attachment).

How come and how do I turn that off?

Thank you

![](../../upfiles/Children.JPG)


Answers:
author: Vera Henrichs
body: Found something again:

Is it possible it has to do with the user directory?

Because I am a Confluence Internal Directory-user: I don't see Children (I see child2.jpg)  
An?ther colleague is a Delegated LDAP Directeory-user: He sees children like child1.jpg

Weird huh?!


author: Charles Wells
body: Is it possible you're running into a conflict with space, or instance, default blueprint settings or space theme? I notice that in our main company space, children are displayed by default (no macro needed) and this renders as your Child1.jpg. However, if I add the Children Macro and save, I see only the child page name without the "X Child Pages" heading.

Are you able to take a look at the space or global blueprints and see if Children are already set to show? You may also check the space theme. Ideally, there is a space serving as a sandbox where you could adjust some of these settings until you isolate and remove the conflict.

comments: author: Vera Henrichs
body: Hi

Love to look for that conflict, but where can I find those defaults?   
And where to find the sandbox?

Thank you


author: Charles Wells
body: Hi Vera,

1) You can reach the space templates via:

- Go to the Space Tools for the space in question (lowest point in left side bar)- Space Tools \> Content Tools \> Templates

You'll see the User Created Templates and Blueprints options. Under Blueprints, you can view how the blueprints are working in this space. \> Edit

More on blueprints

* [](https://confluence.atlassian.com/display/DOC/Working+with+Blueprints#WorkingwithBlueprints-CustomiseTemplate)<https://confluence.atlassian.com/display/DOC/Working+with+Blueprints#WorkingwithBlueprints-CustomiseTemplate>

While I doubt there is a pre-configured Children Display macro in these, it may be worth ruling out if you've inherited an existing setup.

2) You can also double check the space theme, as it could have been pre-configured as well.

* Space Tools \> Look and Feel \> Themes

More on customizing the theme - [](https://confluence.atlassian.com/display/DOC/Configuring+the+Documentation+Theme)<https://confluence.atlassian.com/display/DOC/Configuring+the+Documentation+Theme>

3) There's not a true default sandbox, but you could always make a space for that purpose. Usually during installation, there is an option to load a Demonstration Space (key = DS) that has sample data.

* [](https://confluence.atlassian.com/display/CONF35/Trying+Confluence+in+a+Demonstration+Site+or+Demo+Space)<https://confluence.atlassian.com/display/CONF35/Trying+Confluence+in+a+Demonstration+Site+or+Demo+Space>
* [](https://confluence.atlassian.com/display/DOC/Confluence+Setup+Guide#ConfluenceSetupGuide-6.ProductionInstallation:LoadContent)<https://confluence.atlassian.com/display/DOC/Confluence+Setup+Guide#ConfluenceSetupGuide-6.ProductionInstallation:LoadContent>

If you have this space, you could treat it as a sandbox. If not, you could always create a space and restrict permissions/access to it in order for it to function as a sandbox.


author: Vera Henrichs
body: The screenshot I gave, was about the Preview. I Saved the page now and it does what it has to do.

BUT.... i hoped to see the children under the Children-title. But I guess that's not happening because you add the macro to the page.

![](../../upfiles/Child-title.JPG)

But I have found something that maybe has to do with it?

We have copied our whole server with 2 Spaces to a new server and deleted the Space we didn't use. So the settings are the same.  
This Space is anonymous accessable and this is going on:

There is no macro on this page.  
Child1.jpg = when you haven't login![](../../upfiles/Child1.JPG)  
Child2.jpg = when we have logged in (admin-rights) ![](../../upfiles/Child2.JPG)

How come??


author: Yagnesh Bhat
body: Hi ,

Technically, the children display macro should only show the bullet points in your screenshot.

Can it be that the page you included the children display macro has other macros/content too? Also, please make sure that none of the parameters in the children display macro is already filled in.

[](https://confluence.atlassian.com/display/DOC/Children+Display+Macro)<https://confluence.atlassian.com/display/DOC/Children+Display+Macro>

And yes the confluence version you are using can also be a factor for determining the behavior of the macro.


author: Rodrigo Girardi Adami
body: Hi Vera,

The children macro have some parameters that can be set according [this page](https://confluence.atlassian.com/display/DOC/Children+Display+Macro).

<br />

One of them is the **Show Descendants** which must set to false to not show all child pages. Then you can set the **Depth of Descendants** to show the number of descendent that you'd like to show.  

As for the space icon, I've tested the macro in confluence 5.5.3 and it didn't bring over the space icon. Can you confirm this behaviour and the confluence version?  

cheers,  

Rodrigo


Tags: child-page

confluence-administration

macro