The New Confluence – New Beta Features Arriving Soon

[#1]

Hi Confluence admins! 👋

Confluence is evolving, and we’re bringing a wave of enhancements to improve the way you work! We’re enhancing the core experiences around navigation & organization, creation & editing, and collaboration & sharing. Some features will be available soon in GA (more on that in separate announcements), while others are launching as opt-in betas starting next week.

Live Docs – Lightning-fast team collaboration

Why: Confluence Live Docs are a new content type for real-time team collaboration, keeping everyone in the flow of decision making, brainstorming, or editing without having to pause to publish. Perfect for capturing meeting notes, group reviews, or idea sessions, Live Docs exist alongside Pages and can be transitioned to a Page if needed or vice versa.

What to expect:

• A new content type that lets you see, engage, and iterate on the work of others as it happens in front of you

• Seamless conversion between Live Docs and Pages or Pages to Live Docs(Convert via the ‘overflow’ menu - 3 dots at top far right)

Simplified access to tools – unified & consistent menus & toolbars

Why: We’re making Confluence more predictable and efficient by ensuring headers, sidebars, and panels are placed consistently across content types. The new layout removes unnecessary clutter, making key actions easier to find and use. Tools only appear when relevant, so you can focus more on your work.

What to expect:

• Redesigned Header & Overflow menus across all content types

• New floating action bar (bottom right) for frequently used actions

• New Details Panel for comprehensive information about your content (opened via floating action bar)

Comments Panel – a streamlined side-panel experience for all comments

Why: Confluence makes it easy to collaborate through comments, and we’re making it even better. The new comments panel provides a centralized view of all discussions, helping teams engage with feedback faster and more efficiently—without having to search for comments across the page. This makes it easier to stay aligned and keep work moving forward.

What to expect:

• Centralized view for both inline and page-level comments

• Quick filters for open, unread, and resolved comments

• Instant navigation to specific comments

How to Opt In

• Admins can opt in their sites through the New Features page under Site Settings once they receive access.

• We’re rolling this out gradually, so not everyone will see the option starting next week and through April 7. Keep an eye out for emails notifying you when your site is eligible.

• ⚠️ Note: Some Marketplace apps may have limited functionality during beta. Compatibility information will be provided before you opt-in, allowing you to decide the best time to opt in. Marketplace partners are actively working to ensure their apps align with these updates.

Get Involved

✅ Try it out and share feedback! Feel free to comment here and/or via the prompts inside the product. Your insights directly shape the future of Confluence.

Cheers,
The Confluence Team 🚀

[Kit Mitchell]

Great updates. I love the comments being grouped and aligned like this :D

[Eugene Victorov]

What's the difference between a Live Doc and a Page? Seems not obvious.

[Andy Gladstone]

@Abhinav Singh will the floating panel be populated based on the user's most frequently used editing tools, or the general population's? I am hoping it will be based on the user's as this will drive better adoption.

Also, along the lines of @Eugene Victorov's question, are Live Docs now just the name for a page that was in Live Edit mode? What difference is there in functionality between a page and a Live Doc? I know myself I already experienced one - Live Docs cannot be set to Presenter Mode. I discovered this when I built an entire agenda for an offsite meeting but could not get it to display in Presenter Mode as a Live Doc. Also, the naming scheme is confusing for users. When clicking to create and being presented with two seemingly equal choices of Live Doc and Page, users are confused which to pick. Why not just make this two different edit modes for the same content and just call it a Page as it has always been?

[Abhinav Singh]

@Andy Gladstone - the floating panel currently will have a fixed set of pre-determined choices that we believe are more commonly used actions across broad spectrum of users. We will be monitoring feedback from our users for more customization needed in the floating action bar, and can definitely consider user-level options and increasing the types of actions that can be added there in future.

Live Doc is a new content type (previously Live Edit mode) focused on quick collaboration without requiring a publish cycle.  Think quick brainstorming, meeting notes, etc. Pages will still exist as a content type that goes through a Draft > Publish cycle for more formal & final content. Think knowledge articles, SOPs, documentations, etc. Live Docs and Pages can be easily converted between each other through Convert in the ... menu. 

The team is currently working to get parity between pages & live docs, so something like presenter mode will make it to Live Docs soon.

[Eugene Victorov]

@Abhinav Singh thank you for the answer on Live Docs vs. Pages, but I'm sorry I still don't get the purpose of it.

A page not following a lifecycle workflow/status is a note by itself. Why create a new content type out of it? What are the use cases? Why a Page should be converted into a Live Doc just on the basis of (not) following a lifecycle workflow?

[Roger]

Basically Google Docs/MS Word Online?
Working together at the same page while you can see live what the other one is doing?

[Dave Mathijs]

I don't understand the need for Live Doc as a separate content type. Why not just have it as a toggle on a page option? Whiteboards, Databases and even Blog posts have a different function, but a Live Doc is a Page, just with a Live Edit.

[Johanna Vaher]

Looking forward to these, they seem great!

A thought: now I know you are moving the Details Panel to the action bar, but I think I would have had trouble finding it, had I not read this. The lower right corner is the least "interesting" corner in web pages, and I think I would have assumed the things located there are something extra that's not really relevant for me. The details panel is essential.