Why should I use a label?
Asked by mritter:

*This question is in reference to Atlassian Documentation: [Page Properties Report Macro](https://confluence.atlassian.com/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=186089616)*

I don't get the point why to use a label? Wouldn't it be easier to use a given Page Property instead. E.g., an artifact type/ page type. This way you could it include in a template as well.


Answers:
author: Monika Antos [Adaptavist]
body: There is no right or wrong answer here. You may find that page properties work better for your purposes. I love both!

There is a limited set of features in Confluence that works with page properties. They are good for exposing some information about your pages, but if you combine them with labels, you can build a pretty neat pages that allow you to look at your content from many various perspectives.

I rely on labels when I create my navigation pages - I heavily depend on the **Content by Label** macro, which can list pages that are tagged with one to many labels.

I encourage you to explore some other macros that require label(s) to be present on a page to see how you could use them to build your content dynamically.

Cheers!

comments: author: Nic Brough -Adaptavist-
body: That's what I'm getting at - they **both** have uses. Which are different.


author: mritter
body: Labels are useful. I won't deny this.

Didn't know the Content by Label macro. Thnx for the hint. Seems this allows similar use cases also for attachments and blog posts. Which as far as I can see the Page Properties macro can't.

But my question is more about:

<https://confluence.atlassian.com/doc/page-properties-macro-184550024.html>
> Add a **label** to your page - you will need to specify this label in the page properties report macro.
>
> ...
>
> :warning: Don't forget to add a label to your page, or your page will not appear in the Page Properties Report macro.

And I still think this is wrong. I can't see why this should be necessary.


author: Sandy Johnson
body: I recently discovered the Content by Label macro which I really like. You can restrict how many pages it displays which is good because we have some that have 50 or more related pages. However, I want users to be able to see the full list if desired even if we have set the limit to say 10. Is there a way to have "more" button or something similar so they can expand the list past the predetermined limit?


author: Nic Brough -Adaptavist-
body: Labels are fast, easy, intuitive and recognisable, and don't need the users to understand how to use page properties in the right way. Page properties are more powerful, but need thought.

comments: author: mritter
body: Assume you put the properties in a template. This way the user doesn't need to know the page properties but how to choose the correct template. You may include, e.g., a property PageType. Possible values would be, e.g., concept, cookbook, meetingMinutes etc.

If a user has to configure the page properties, e.g., set the owner for a page or adjust the document's status - the user has to know how to use the page properties anyway.

You may also think of a property for a team name, or a given project, or whatsoever.

Conclusion: At least for the artifact type `page` labels are an additional thing to do with no benefit at all. I'm not sure whether a page properties macro can be used at an attachment or a blog post. But since they can be labeled, one may use this as a workaround. But to be honest, it would be more like a labelText Report Macro than a PageProperties Report Macro.


author: Nic Brough -Adaptavist-
body: What happens when you dump me with incorrect properties, or don't supply ones that are useful in the templates? Or if I want to tag a set of pages for some reason? I don't want to faff around having to change all the properties or reports. With a label I can, well, label a page and be done with it.

Properties have a lot of uses, and embedding them in templates is great. But labels are far easier to use, and better for most of your users.  

Conclusion - labels are better for the majority of users because they don't need to understand them - they work as you'd expect without having to learn how this particular software does it.


author: mritter
body: It's easy to use select-macros in the value column. Also possible date pickers to ensure date format is correct. Or use @name-notation to ensure the named person is a known Confluence user. The possibilities are endless, you may even validate the values. Btw: You cannot do this with labels. And it seems you are a developer, and you underestimate the imaginativeness of users on how to spell a term correctly. In other terms, if you bank on users to spell labels correctly, you are completely lost.


author: Nic Brough -Adaptavist-
body: I think you're missing the point. Those comments are all fine for properties. And properties are useful.

That's not what labels are for. Labels allow a user to tag things the way they want. This instantly makes them better than properties for most cases because they don't have to understand anything more complex than "I wrote that on it". They're instantly useful without having to learn how to use them properly or what the (often arbitrary) rules on usage might be.


Tags: page-property