How are Confluence databases different from regular tables?
Asked by Michael Kogan:

Hello all,

I started playing with Databases (currently in Beta) but couldn't understand how they are different from regular tables. I have been using tables for years to track progress (e.g. Owner, Issues and Status columns), so what additional value are Databases supposed to bring?

Thanks


Answers:
author: Kristian Klima
body: [@Michael Kogan](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/5445792)

Column: Pages, field type: Page link.

When I start typing, a list of pages appears, the one that I need typically appears on top after a couple of characters. Click, a Confluence link appears in the field.

Another column: Page details with Page link set to pages.

comments: author: Michael Kogan
body: Sorry, I mistakenly wrote "Page link field" instead of "Page status field". All what I described above happens when I try to add a "Page status" field type.

\["Page link" field works fine.\]


author: Kristian Klima
body: Oh, so for the Pages status field you should select **Pages** in the **Page link** option. Then it gets the corresponding values from the linked page.

You don't have to enter the actual link, the value is added automatically. It basically asks you 'where do I get this info from?'

Mind, the field remains empty if you don't use page status (which we don't as we use Comala Document Approval.


author: Michael Kogan
body: Unfortunately, **Page link**option is empty ("No options" item appears and nothing more) :-(


author: Kristian Klima
body: If you have one column set up with Page link, then you should see the following when populating other columns.

![2024-03-06_16-06-55.png](https://community.atlassian.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/310561i80905425F3705423/image-size/large?v=v2&px=999 "2024-03-06_16-06-55.png")


author: Michael Kogan
body: Yes, this worked!

Thanks a lot for your help and patience :-)


author: Kristian Klima
body: [@Michael Kogan](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/5445792) You're welcome.

Databases is a great tool with a great potential, the more people use it, the better :)


author: Chris Rollins
body: [@Kristian Klima](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/5074962), appreciate this is an old thread, but noticed you use comala. Is there a way to show the Comala approval status in a database?


author: marc -Collabello--Phase Locked-
body: Databases allow you to automatically "compute" and update fields.

comments: author: Michael Kogan
body: Care to provide some examples?


author: Kristian Klima
body: [@Michael Kogan](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/5445792)

Let's say that you have a page link in a column. DB can automatically populate fields like page status, owner, last updater, last update date... + there are filters.  

For example, we use it to track pages that we use in learning.

So we have a course name, the date it was published, list of pages that are used in the course, and the last updated page. I can set up the filter to list the pages that were updated after the course went live.

comments: author: Michael Kogan
body: Thanks,

I tried to add a page link field (column). Strangely enough, I was requested to provide a link to a page as part of the**field definition**, which does not make sense: I was expecting a link per entry. Additionally, there is nothing in that drop-down to choose from, even though the link to the page is part of the database (resides in another column).


author: Kristian Klima
body: Sharing my setup here, hope it helps.

**Column with page links**

![2024-05-20_13-47-57.png](https://community.atlassian.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/324795i1FA65AE375A40241/image-size/large?v=v2&px=999 "2024-05-20_13-47-57.png")

**Column with page details**

![2024-05-20_13-48-50.png](https://community.atlassian.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/324796i45B3805D5C08566F/image-size/large?v=v2&px=999 "2024-05-20_13-48-50.png")

My [article](https://community.atlassian.com/t5/Confluence-articles/Use-Databases-for-your-docs-life-cycle-management/ba-p/2663479) with the link to how to get all the pages into a DB (and set up the column)


Tags: cloud

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