Deprecating infrequently used macros in Confluence Cloud

[#1]

Hi Atlassian Community,

We are deprecating a set of macros that are infrequently used by customers. Here’s how the deprecation will look:

On March 25, 2025 (now)

Ending support for deprecated macros

• We will no longer fix bugs for these deprecated macros, unless they are critical problems.

• Deprecated macros will now have “(Deprecated)” next to their names so users are aware that they are deprecated. Their descriptions will also call out their deprecation and link to deprecation documentation. (Note that this may take some time to start appearing on your site).

• For 6 months, existing instances of deprecated macros will remain functional in Confluence, and new instances can still be added to content.

On September 25, 2025 (6 months from now)

Removing deprecated macros from product

• We will remove the deprecated macros from Confluence Cloud.

• Users will no longer be able to add deprecated macros to content in Confluence Cloud.

• Existing instances of these macros will be replaced with a message that indicates the macro is no longer available with a link to deprecation documentation.

Deprecated macros

To better understand how these macros may be used in your site, you can use the Macro Usage feature in Confluence Administration. 

Deprecated macro	Alternative option
Chart	To create charts in Confluence, we recommend creating a table then using the “Insert chart” option for a better experience.
Contributors Summary	Use the Contributors macro. Note that you will not be able to get the same exact information with the Contributors macro.
Gallery	To organize images on a page in a dynamic gallery, we recommend using a Confluence database. Create a database, add a "Media and files" field column, and insert the images you want to organize. Then, choose a Card or Board layout for your database and pick your image field for the cover image option. To embed this on a page, simply copy a link to the database and paste it into the page. You can also use a layout, table, or cards macro to organize images.
Google Drive (Legacy Editor only)	Paste a link to a google drive file and it will automatically become a smart link that you can display as an embed.
Page Index	Use a macro like Insert Confluence list, Child pages or Content Report Table.
Powerpoint, Excel, and Word macros	Upload the file directly to Confluence content or paste a OneDrive smart link to embed files in Confluence.
Recently Updated Dashboard	Use the Recent updates macro
Related Labels	Click on a page label to see a list of related labels
Spaces List	Use advanced search and filter by “Type: Spaces.” Then, copy and paste the link in your URL bar into Confluence content. Note that this does not support the same filters as Spaces List. You can also visit the space directory.
Span	No alternative at this time.
User List	To mention a specific group of users, you can mention a team. Learn more

You can also find this these macros & others that have been removed in the past in our Confluence Support knowledge base article: Learn which macros are being removed.

[Barbara Szczesniak]

Glad to see that I don't use any of the macros on this list. 👍

[Michael Bachmann]

I had just prepared and was supposed to present our new "Event Gallery" for our events next week (using the Gallery and Cards macros, looks really neat). Seems like I have to scrap that now...

The suggested alternative is ridiculously cumbersome.

This will just strenghten the calls to move to Sharepoint, and admittedly I have no counter argument anymore if even such simple things aren't possible anymore.

[David Michelson]

@michael Thank you for your feedback. Just to clarify - we are NOT planning on deprecating the new "Cards" macro or "Carousel" macro. We are deprecating the very old and infrequently used "Gallery" macro.

[Michael Bachmann]

I'm aware of that, my comment was specifically aimed at the Gallery macro, I just mentioned the Cards macro as it was the new addition that made it look much better. Sorry if that was unclear.

With the removal of the Gallery macro we have no place within Confluence to put photos (20-100) of our in-house events in any meaningful way. Inserting and organizing them manually, as suggested in your article, is simply in no way feasible.

It is sad to see that such smaller features are being removed without any replacement and it's definitely hindering us to use Confluence as an intranet.

[David Michelson]

@michael Another alternative we can suggest for the Gallery macro that allows for more dynamic filtering (and less manual sorting) would be using a Confluence database! You can leverage a "Media and files" field column to add images to the database. Then, you can leverage the Card or Board layout options to make it look like a compelling gallery. You can easily embed this on any Confluence page by just copy-pasting the link to the database right into the page.

You can learn more about database layouts here: Layouts and options.

[Michael Bachmann]

I really appreciate your effort (and creativity), but this is just in no way feasible for a normal user.

A user would need to create a separate database, setup the columns, insert the images one by one into each row of the database (imagine this for 50+ photos) to finally embedd the database into your actual page. Non-technical people in HR or Marketing are certainly not going to put up with this.

Sadly this is just yet another use case that we will have to move to Sharepoint.

[Ken Poulton]

Why the eagerness to slash and burn?  All of our content is internal documentation that just needs to stay there and NOT GET BROKEN.

Our instance has 85 uses of Gallery.  Users are not going to learn deal with a database to replace this.  All those pages will just be broken, and become permanent black eyes for Confluence.

Gallery is the only macro on this list that we use a lot, but this eagerness to break things is an ongoing problem with Confluence.