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Confluence Cloud Knowledge Base Templates | Editing Default Templates

Kaitlyn Hoban

Hello,

In our Confluence Cloud environment, my goal is to edit the Knowledge Base Default Homepage Template so it's useful to us, instead of a dead page or inducing a heavy manual lift to edit. Thus far, it sounds like Confluence Cloud does not allow for default system templates to be modified (if you find that's wrong please correct me and let me know how!)

So I've moved to creating my own global template. Which I've accomplished in the hope of assigning that to be the default knowledgebase homepage, but again I'm hit with the inability to assign the template to the Knowledge base homepage. (Again if you find this is wrong please correct me!)

I've moved to just editing the knoweldgebase homepage, deleting everything, opening the right hand panel to access templates and wouldn't you know it seems there's a bug. I can open the tempaltes right hand panel, find the template I'm looking for and select it, I receieve a pop indicating "do i want to replace all content ?" I confirm and then…nothing happens. The page remains as is. Bug? I've cleared my cache, refreshed the page, went in incognito mode…nothing seems to actually make the template apply to the page after the prompt.

Would someone help me hit my overall goal of either editing the Cloud System Knowledge base homepage template or if not possible, figuring out the bug I'm apparently hitting with a template applying to the homepage?

Accepted answers

All comments

Arkadiusz Wroblewski

Hello @Kaitlyn Hoban

You can do this without changing the default Knowledge Base template. Create and publish a new page using your custom global template. Then, go to Space settings, select Space details, and set your new page as the homepage.

This method is documented by Atlassian.
https://support.atlassian.com/confluence-cloud/docs/set-up-your-space-homepage/

Please check if the issue with the template not replacing content occurs on a test page. If it does, you should contact Atlassian Support.

Best,

Arek🤠🧙‍♂️

James Gamble

Hola Kaitlyn,

You’re right that you can’t take a custom page template and assign it directly as the built-in Knowledge Base homepage template for an existing space. @Arkadiusz Wroblewski's reply provides the supported workaround: create a page using your custom template, publish it, then set that page as the space homepage under Space settings > Space details > More details > Home content. Atlassian documents that exact process here.

There is one other piece that may be useful if your goal is to change what future spaces start with. Confluence admins can edit the default space overview content under Confluence administration > Configuration > Global templates and blueprints, but Atlassian is explicit that those changes only affect newly created spaces. They won’t retrofit the homepage of an existing Knowledge Base space.

On the template replacement behavior you’re seeing, I’d separate that from the homepage question. Atlassian’s current template workflow states that switching templates creates a new page rather than updating an already published page in place. So if you’re editing an existing homepage and the template panel offers to replace its content but then does nothing, I wouldn’t depend on that as the way to build the homepage. The cleaner way would be to create a new page from your custom template, publish it, and set that page as the Home content for the space.

That gets you to the same end state without fighting the system-generated homepage or relying on the replacement behavior.

Thanks,

James

Kaitlyn Hoban

Thank you for your knowledge. I was able to create a new page and assign the new template to the page, and then assign the new page as the homepage. When I did this, something unexpected happened. I have a 4 automations setup to run when a new space is created (specific folders and pages with templates are created). All those pages that were created with automation under the original homepage…seemingly disappeared from the left nav. I can only see them in content manager after the new homepage was resassigned. Is this expected?

Kaitlyn Hoban

@James Gamble This is exactly what I want to do "Confluence admins can edit the default space overview content under Confluence administration > Configuration > Global templates and blueprints," however there is no homepage system template to find to edit. I only have the follow system templates to edit and none of them match what the homepage is displaying so I don't think they're it: Default Space Content, Default Personal Space Content, Sample Pages, Default Welcome Message.

James Gamble

Hola Kaitlyn,

Yes, that lines up with what you’re seeing. The built-in Knowledge Base homepage isn’t exposed as an editable system template in Global templates and blueprints, so there isn’t a separate “Knowledge Base homepage” template there to modify.

Those system templates you listed are the expected ones, and none of them control that Knowledge Base homepage layout.

For an existing Knowledge Base space, the practical approach is still to create the page you want and set it as the space homepage instead.

Thanks,

James

Gabriela - LeanZero

Hi Kaitlyn,

Yes, that's expected, and those pages are still in the space. Atlassian's homepage doc covers it: because the Content section of the space sidebar displays children of the space overview, it may not display the same pages it did before you changed it. Your automation created those folders and pages under the original homepage, so they're still its children, and that page is now at the top level of the space, where the tree doesn't show it.

To bring them back, select More actions next to your space's name, then Space settings, open the Content menu and select Reorder. Drag those folders and pages under your new homepage, and anything nested under them moves with them. Refresh and they're back. When I tried it on a test site the tree showed them as soon as they were under the new homepage. Once the old homepage is empty you can archive it, and if your new page sits under it, archive only that one page.

If you swap the homepage on your new spaces too you'll see the same thing there, since each one starts with its own default homepage and your rules build under it, and I couldn't find an automation action that sets the homepage, so I'd make the Reorder step part of the swap each time.

Joshua Brock _ Seibert Group_ GmbH

Hey @Kaitlyn Hoban!

Arkadiusz and James have already covered the key workaround: creating a new page from your custom template and assigning that page as your space homepage.

Regarding the issue where Confluence asks whether you want to replace the existing content but doesn't actually apply the template, that sounds worth investigating separately. Have you tried applying the same template to another existing page?

That could help determine whether the behavior is specific to your Knowledge Base homepage or affects template application more generally.

One additional thought regarding your goal of making the homepage more useful without extensive manual editing:

If you're looking for more flexibility in how the homepage is organized and presented, you might consider a Confluence page builder such as Karma…and just upfront, in full disclosure, I work with Seibert, the team behind Karma.

Karma provides a drag-and-drop editor and ready-made layouts that can help you create a knowledge base landing page with navigation cards, buttons, and links to frequently accessed resources.

It won't change Confluence's underlying template behavior or resolve the issue you're experiencing.

However, if your larger objective is to create a homepage that's easier for your team to navigate and maintain, it could be worth exploring.

Hope that helps!

Joshua
Content Writer & US Representative
Aura Apps and Agile Hive (products of Seibert Group GmbH)

Trevan Householder_Isos-Tech-Consulting_

Hi @Kaitlyn Hoban, good questions! On the missing pages: the sidebar only shows pages nested under the current homepage, so your automation pages are still sitting under the old one. Move them under the new homepage in Space settings > Content > Reorder and they'll show up again (docs).
And as @James Gamble said, there's no editable Knowledge Base homepage template. If you'd like one, CONFCLOUD-4538 is the request to vote on.
An easy trick in the meantime: create a page from your template, copy its content into the existing homepage, then delete the temp page. Nothing nested under the homepage moves. (That "replace content" prompt actually creates a new page instead of overwriting, which is why it seemed to do nothing.)

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