how to add confluence page attributes (if possible) (not labels)

[Rik Kochuyt]

I would like to add page attributes to my confluence pages, like "Document ID", "Effective Date", "Owner" (= not author), "Review frequency", ...

Now, I only can add a table at the top of the (template) page and ask/hope that this gets filled in (and maintained)

[Gabriela - LeanZero · Accepted solution]

The native tool for exactly this is the Page Properties macro, paired with the Page Properties Report. It's a step up from a loose table at the top of the page.

On the template, add the macro and put a two-column table inside it: the left column is the attribute name (Document ID, Effective Date, Owner, Review frequency), the right column is the value people fill in. The left-column labels become the reportable fields. Then on an index page, drop a Page Properties Report macro pointed at a label those pages share, and it pulls every page's values into one sortable table. So you author the attributes on each page and get a rollup view across all of them.

Two honest limits. It's still a table someone fills in, so the values aren't typed or enforced the way a real database field would be. And "Owner" here is whatever text you type, separate from Confluence's own single page-owner concept, and there's no built-in review-date reminder, so a Review date sits there as data but won't notify anyone on its own.

If you outgrow that, Confluence Databases (a proper typed-field content type you embed on pages) is the more structured native route, though it's newer and a bigger shift than the properties macro.

[Monika Ambrozowicz_Seibert_]

Hi @Rik Kochuyt! As others have already suggested, the default native approach here is the Content Properties macro (sometimes still called Page Properties macro), which lets you add a key-value table to a page.

It works, but all values are free text - there's no date picker for the end date, no user picker for the page owner, no dropdowns. You're also relying on people to fill it in consistently, which is the exact problem you're already running into with your manual table.

If you're open to a Marketplace app, I'd recommend Properties. It lets you define a Property Group - a named bundle of different fields (date, user picker, single-select dropdown, multi-select, text, status), and attach it to a Confluence page. Your 'document ID' becomes a text field, 'deadline' becomes a proper date picker, 'owner' becomes a user picker (completely separate from the page author), and 'review frequency' can be a dropdown with your standard options. No one has to remember to format it correctly - the form enforces it.

You can also decide whether you want to display them all the time or just attach them to the page and display when clicking on a byline item - that's entirely up to you.  

Finally, the app has Property Reports, which work like Confluence Databases but with strictly formatted data that is always in sync: e.g. changing the deadline on one page automatically changes it on all pages that display this property group. 

If you have any question about Properties, please let me know. I'm affiliated with the team behind the app and I use it a lot. 

[Brita Moorus]

Hi, @Rik Kochuyt!

One other option worth considering is Confluence Databases if you're on a plan that includes them.

Unlike Page Properties, databases let you define structured fields (for example, Owner, Review Date, Status, Document ID) with field types like dates, people, and dropdowns. You can then display or embed that information on pages and manage it more like structured data.

If you're looking for true page-level metadata with validation and typed fields, that's probably the closest native solution today. Otherwise, Page Properties is still the most common approach.

Hope this helps! 🧡

[Tomislav Tobijas]

Hi @Rik Kochuyt ,

Apart from using content properties macro I don't think there's much you can actually do 😕
I just had an idea: if specific fields/values here are missing, you could build an Rovo agent to review the content and add those values to the content properties section.

You could also use variables in templates, which might help a bit. 

I do know there's this module that is used by third-party vendors, but I haven't played with it myself to know if you could use something like this for your requirement. 👀

Cheers,
Tobi