Background
Confluence pages are dynamically rendered when viewed. When pages are used as controlled documents in eSign Document Management (eDoc), the page contents and attachments are locked down for review, approval and document release. This prevents the stored content of the page from being changed, and the users will only be able to view the document that was approved.
Confluence pages may contain dynamic content macros. These macros may insert information from outside the current page. Examples include:
Include Page Macro - Includes content from another Confluence page
Jira Macro - Includes current content from Jira
iframe Macro - Includes content from an external web site into the page
If these macros are used in the Confluence pages that need to be controlled documents, Confluence will always display the latest information from these dynamic macros. Rendering new or different information to the users is generally not acceptable for controlled documents from a compliance perspective.
In this scenario, locking down the Confluence page content itself does not prevent the users from seeing new or imported content.
Approaches
There are two general approaches to resolve this challenge
Avoid including dynamic content macros within controlled documents
Use eSign Document Snapshots
The remainder of this how to provides a walkthrough of eSign Document Snapshots.
Overview
Snapshots provide an option to embed a static point-in-time revision of a document for review, approval and release. With a Snapshot, the output of dynamic content macros is frozen prior to document approval, meaning that the document when viewed by users will not change, even if it contains external content.
Technically the Snapshot is a PDF copy of the page. The eDoc app manages the Snapshots during the Review, Approval and Release process. Snapshots are displayed within an embedded Adobe PDF rendering frame that provides a virtually identical reading experience to a standard Confluence page.
Snapshot Workflow
Step 1 - Enable Snapshots
Snapshots can be enabled on any open Working Copy. Ensure the page has the eSign Document Header macro.
Step 2 - Generate Snapshot
When the draft page is ready for review, Use the Confluence - Export to PDF function to generate a PDF export of the draft Working Copy. Alternate export tools (e.g. Scroll PDF) can also be used.
After the PDF is downloaded, use the “New Snapshot” link in the eSign Header to upload the Snapshot into eSign Document Management.
Once uploaded, eSign will display the new PDF snapshot inline at the top of the Working Copy. Note the original Confluence text will still be displayed at the bottom of the page. On Release, only the Snapshot is published to the Release Copy.
Note that the eSign Header data is included in the PDF to identify Document ID and Revision. In the example below the eSign Signature Block and History macro are being used. At this point there are no approvals yet.
Tip - The default confluence PDF export adds 1” margins around exported PDF files. The export margins can be changed to minimize extra whitespace for online viewing. See more in the Appendix below.
Step 3 - Document Review and Approval
Proceed with standard eDoc review and approval. Note that the reviewers should focus on the snapshot content within the blue lines as that is what will be approved and published.
Edit the confluence page content as required, generate and upload new snapshots as necessary. After all approvals have been completed, the page will be finalized to Approved.
At this point the Document Owner may do a final snapshot refresh to include the completed signature block and revision history.
Step 4 - Document Release
After approval, proceed with the standard release workflow. With Snapshot mode enabled, eSign will perform some additional work to the release copy. Visually only the Snapshot content will be displayed.
On the released document, all persistent information (document type, ID and revision) is embedded in the PDF snapshot. This allows the document identification to be retained in the event the PDF file is downloaded/printed.
The online eSign Header continues to show dynamic info (e.g. Training is Due, Document is in Pre-Training, etc). The current status is always in the page byline.
Appendix - Additional Resources
A. Document Control and Publishing for External PDF Documents
The Snapshot feature can also be used to route, review, approve and publish any external PDF file as a controlled document. This may be useful for teams whose document sources are in alternate formats and they do not want to convert or edit them in Confluence. If the source can be converted to PDF, it can be uploaded as a Snapshot.
B. Tuning the PDF Export
Atlassian Confluence cloud has limited support for customizing the PDF page export. For example the default margins of the generated PDF can be reduced to have the snapshot PDF have less white space around it.
Confluence Cloud introduced a new PDF export engine in 2023 that improved some of the page rendering but users lost some of the flexibility and supported customizations. Below are 2 examples for the old engine and new engine. Recommend trying both to see which works best for you.
Apply custom PDF export configuration in Confluence Space Settings > Look and Feel > PDF Export > PDF Stylesheet for the space your working copies are stored.
Confluence New PDF Export Engine
/* Adjust PDF export to reduce page margins for eDoc Snapshots */
@page {
margin: 0mm;
}
Confluence Legacy PDF Export Engine
/* Adjust PDF export to reduce page margins and hide title for eDoc Snapshots */
@page {
margin: 0mm;
/* including this forces Confluence to fall back to legacy engine */
@top-center { font-size: 8pt; }
}
.pagetitle h1 { display: none; } /* hide the page title */
Notes
See https://support.atlassian.com/confluence-cloud/docs/customize-exports-to-pdf/ for more information on supported PDF customizations.
Atlassian is working on improving the new engine.
Known Limitations: The Jira macro only renders an table of Jira issues in the New PDF engine.
Alternative PDF Export Apps
There are additional PDF Export apps available in the marketplace that may provide additional options if the built-in PDF export does not meet your team’s needs.