Want to create cleaner-looking documentation in Confluence? Here's how
Documentation is a bridge between people and information. And when that bridge looks daunting or confusing, it simply isn't used, and crucial knowledge goes unnoticed. Thankfully, making your documentation readable (and even engaging) isn’t as hard as you might think.
We've already shared our guide to creating documentation in Confluence, so give that a read if you're just starting out. But if you're wondering, “How can I make my existing documentation easier for users to follow?", we're here to give you some pointers.
Why does clean and well-structured documentation matter?
Whether your documentation is internal or customer-facing, making it clear, concise, and professional lays the foundation for success.
- Reduce support times: 46% of employees “sometimes or almost always” struggle to find the answers they need. Easy-to-follow documentation helps users self-serve. They can find the answers they need faster, which reduces frustration and lightens the burden on your support team.
- Improve maintainability: If your documentation is disorganised, it's hard to locate information that becomes outdated or irrelevant. Keeping it clean helps you quickly find and update your content before users take onboard the wrong advice.
- Boost trust: Your documentation is a reflection of your organisation. By keeping it navigable, user-friendly, and up-to-date, readers are more likely to view your brand as competent and trustworthy.
How do you make documentation look clean and professional in Confluence?
Follow these five tips to create documentation that's readable, useful, and feels trustworthy to your audience.
Every tip showcases native Confluence features, but we've also included a few extra upgrades to further improve formatting.
These upgrades use Mosaic for Confluence, an app available from the Atlassian Marketplace.
1. Organise steps and content into bite-sized chunks 🗂️
Sometimes, documentation pages need to be lengthy to share all the necessary information. That doesn't mean you have to present your users with a wall of text! Using containers, such as collapsible sections or tabs, can be an effective way to make instructions and content more digestible for your audience.
You can create collapsible sections using Confluence's Expand macro, which is more discreet and subtle, or Mosaic's Advanced Expand macro, which provides more extensive customisation and branding (such as custom colours and optional icons). Use them for troubleshooting, in-depth explanations, or any other content that would otherwise clutter your page with text.
Confluence's built-in Expand macro (left) and Mosaic's Advanced Expand Macro
An even more effective way to save space is by categorising content into Tabs. This Mosaic macro is particularly useful for collating FAQs by topic, chunking installation steps, or even condensing pages' worth of information into a single tabbed view that readers can browse through at their leisure.
Just two ways you can use Mosaic's Tabs macro
You can even embed other elements inside Tabs, such as tables, the Code macro, and more, keeping everything neatly organised.
2. Make smart use of white space 🗒️
Adding extra space around your content not only makes it look cleaner and neater, but it's also easier to follow. Two of the easiest ways to achieve this are with Confluence's Divider and Layouts elements.
While Dividers break up the page with a horizontal line, Layouts add columns that sit alongside one another. These are particularly great for adding media alongside instructional steps, giving clarity to the text.
It's essential not to overdo these elements, as the page may actually feel more confusing. Here are some suggested guidelines:
- Dividers: Only add them between sections that cover different topics (e.g., between instructions and FAQs) to prevent confusion for readers.
- Layouts: Avoid switching layout styles frequently on a page, and limit the use of multiple columns in a Layout. You can add up to five columns, but we'd generally recommend two as a good number for most cases.
💡 Pro tip: Remember to consider the white space around the outside of your content. Making your macros full-width can significantly reduce this space, so be mindful of this when resizing them.
3. Highlight vital information ⚠️
Whether you're drawing attention to minimum requirements in your software documentation or signposting that a page of internal documentation isn't quite finished, highlighting text helps increase readability for users scanning the page.
One way to highlight content is with the Panel macro, which is useful for making a block of text stand out. You can select a preset to match the mood of your text (such as a warning or note), or you can choose a custom emoji and background colour if you prefer.
Confluence’s Panel macro
Looking for something a little more tailored? Mosaic's Background macro comes with a range of customisation options, letting you format highlighted content however you want.
Mosaic’s Background macro used as a title header
The Background macro is especially useful for creating standout sections to draw user attention, particularly if you want to use your brand colours. Which brings us to…
4. Keep a consistent colour palette 🎨
For external documentation read by customers, maintaining your brand identity across documentation is crucial because it helps to build trust in your content. Confluence Cloud comes with a built-in palette of 21 shades, meaning you can (hopefully) find at least one or two that reflect your brand colours.
To get your colours exactly right, Mosaic's Advanced Edition comes with a built-in Brand Kit that lets you manage your brand's images, colours, and icons. Use them across all of Mosaic's visual macros to make your pages look sleek, streamlined, and representative of your company.
Select your brand palette from the ‘Accent color’ dropdown
💡 Pro tip: Filling your documentation with colour can look bright and appealing, but too many different colours can lead to clashes. Regardless of whether you choose Confluence's native colours or use Mosaic's Brand Kit, limit yourself to two or three colours at most.
5. Cut down on setup time with a template 🧩
If you’re overhauling your documentation pages and you don’t know where to begin, a template can be a useful resource. Templates provide you with all the foundational elements, allowing you to create clean pages quickly. They also help you maintain consistency across your pages, which strengthens the credibility of your content.
Confluence comes with a variety of built-in templates for different document types, such as a Premortem, Budget Proposal, ITSM Runbook, and Statement of Work (SOW), helping you build out your full documentation in minutes rather than hours.
Confluence’s built-in Budget Proposal template
Built-in templates are functional, but for customer-facing content, you might like something with a bit more polish. One example is the Documentation template, one of 35+ visual templates included with Mosaic.
A snapshot of Mosaic's Documentation template
This template features a visual breakdown of key components, tabbed instructions, and interactive links to support and illustrate use cases. It gives you a solid framework for building documentation that your audience will read, understand, and trust.
With the right tools and guidelines, you can create consistent, easy-to-read, and trustworthy documentation inside Confluence.
What are your tips for creating better documentation in Confluence? Share with us in the comments! 👇