Update page properties by automation

[Uta Samaga]

Is it possible to use Confluence Automation to transfer the status of a Confluence page to the table containing the page properties on the same page? Ideally, I’d also like to include the author of the last edit. I’d really appreciate any advice.

[Kris Klima _K15t_ · Accepted solution]

Hi @Uta Samaga 

Depending on which page properties you want to, this trick might help.

Go the the page's page information page, it has the following format:

https://YOURSITENAME.net/wiki/pages/viewinfo.action?pageId=1234556

Copy the URL and use it in the iframe macro on that same page. You will end up with smth like this:

(iframe macro settings here are 100% width, 800 pixels height)

[Uta Samaga]

Hi Kris, thank you for this idea. Sounds funny and maybe one time it will be what I need. For actual situation it's a bit too much... but really thanks a lot!!

[Gunjan Kumar · Accepted solution]

Hi @Uta Samaga 

In Confluence (free plan), it’s currently not possible to automatically update specific cells in a Page Properties table with values like page status or last editor using Automation. Automation cannot read or update values inside the Page Properties macro directly. 

Automation can still update page content in general using rules and smart values (for example when a page is updated), but it works at the page content level, not at the level of individual table cells. Because of this, the usual workaround is to insert placeholders in the page content and use automation to replace them with smart values such as the last editor or last updated date. This works as a simple content replacement but isn’t a true automatic sync with the Page Properties table.

[Himanshu Tiwary · Accepted solution]

Hi @Uta Samaga ,
Yes but only up to a point.

Confluence Automation can work with a page’s content status and details like who last edited it. So, in an automation rule, you can use values for the current page status, the last editor’s name, and the last updated date.

The limitation is that the Page Properties macro does not automatically pull that information into the table on the same page. In other words, Automation can read or update the page status, but the Page Properties table will not natively mirror that status for you on its own.

So the realistic answer is:

use Automation to set or react to the page status

capture values like the current status, last editor, and last updated date

You cannot:

automatically sync the page’s built-in status into a Page Properties table on the same page using only standard Confluence features

The cleanest workaround is to make the Page Properties table itself the main source of truth, and then use reporting from there elsewhere in Confluence.

If you really want the same-page table to update automatically, it would usually require a more custom setup, such as using Automation with the Confluence API to edit the page body and replace values inside the table. That can work, but it is much less simple and more fragile than a native solution.

So in plain terms: yes, it is possible to automate parts of this, but not in the exact way you described with standard Confluence Page Properties alone. For the author of the last edit, that part is available in Automation, but getting it to appear automatically inside the Page Properties table on the same page would likely need a custom API-based workaround.

[Uta Samaga]

thanks a lot for your detailed explanation, Himanshu!

[Arkadiusz Wroblewski · Accepted solution]

Hello @Uta Samaga 

As far as I know, no without Rest API.

Automations in Confluence Cloud have its limitations.

[Uta Samaga]

Thank you very much!

[mr john · Accepted solution]

Interesting use case! From what I know, Confluence Automation can update page properties, but directly syncing the page status and last editor into a Page Properties table on the same page can be tricky because automation usually updates metadata rather than table content.

One possible approach is using page properties with labels or status macros and then updating them through automation rules. For the last editor, you might be able to reference a smart value like lastUpdated.by if the rule supports it. Curious if anyone has implemented a clean workaround for this.