How do I customize a theme in confluence?
Asked by lambec:

When we create spaces in Confluence, I can select from 3 'themes':

Documentation

Knowledge Base

or

Team

My question is: Can I create my own custom 'theme' to select? (Rather than customize the global default, as not every space created will need this specific project theme...)


Answers:
author: Nic Brough -Adaptavist-
body: There's three answers, although they are all based on the same principle: Confluence themes are implemented as add-ons. So, you can:

* Download them from the marketplace
* [Write your own](https://confluence.atlassian.com/doc/creating-a-theme-147624.html)
* Use one of the more powerful theme editors that look like they implement one theme, but allow you to build up your own inside them and are very customisable. The three I've used are Brikit, Refined and Themebuilder  

  Yes, I now work for Adaptavist, so that could be seen as an advert for Themebuilder, but I would have said it years before I took this job.

comments: author: lambec
body: Thanks for the Info Nic; maybe you may have some more best advice for me and my specific need:

My team is: small, tech side uses JIRA, and project side uses Confluence (instances are self-admin, set-up and linked) and i'm trying to design confluence to be our PM tool.

Essentially, 90% of the new spaces we create are for Projects, and I'd like the ability when I click 'create new space' to be able to select a 'Project' template (pre-formated for consistency across project spaces, and also the macros of: meeting notes, documents, etc. in the sidebar). Whilst also leaving the 'blank' space alone, in addition to creating perhaps one other 'specific project' type template....

Perhaps I'm making changes at too-high a level? (What I ended up doing was edit the 'General space default', which will be fine for \~90% of the time). Also my user technical ability is limited so 'writing' a template is probably way beyond what I could do alone (although; I could create a JIRA project, and assigned a task to a tech teammate! :wink:)

I will trial the themes, and hopefully that's the best solution.


author: Nic Brough -Adaptavist-
body: I think that sounds more like blueprints, but they won't necessarily cover all the things that go into a theme.


author: Genevieve (Refined Partner Manager)
body: Hi Caitlin, Hi Nic,   

Full disclosure, I work for [RefinedWiki](http://www.refinedwiki.com). Our apps are in essence tools to customize Atlassian platforms.   

To answer your question Caitlin (better late than never!), our app [RefinedTheme for Confluence](https://www.refinedwiki.com/products/refined-theme-for-confluence/) (or [RefinedSpaces](https://www.refinedwiki.com/products/refined-spaces-for-confluence-cloud/) if you're on Cloud) does exactly what you're after by giving you the tools to be able to create 'custom space templates'.   

To give you an idea:   
This is an example of a [custom space template](http://confluence.refinedwiki.com/display/PX):   
![Screenshot 2018-03-08 15.22.02.png](https://community.atlassian.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/16674i9243E656875F8206/image-size/large?v=v2&px=999 "Screenshot 2018-03-08 15.22.02.png")[](http://confluence.refinedwiki.com/display/PX)So with this app you can have both global, and custom space templates (and it comes with the default templates as well) and apply them to the spaces that suit.   

Here is a link to the documentation about this feature (explained in more detail): <https://docs.refinedwiki.com/x/9gPXAQ>Further, if you have any questions you're welcome to contact our [support service](https://issues.refinedwiki.com/plugins/servlet/desk).   

P.s. Sorry for the very late answer, we are a bit slow on the uptake of Atlassian Community!


author: Steven F Behnke
body: Each space can customize it's own Theme a bit, foremost -- If you make the changes via the Space Administration, then the changes are local to the space and are not global.

Outside of that I would stand behind Nic's answer -- I've only used a few of the add-ons or written my own theme.

comments: author: Nic Brough -Adaptavist-
body: True, some themes (built in, and downloaded) can have some flexibility at a space level, they're not totally rigid. And, of course, if you write your own, you can build in that too.


Tags: confluence-administration