Importing a word template into Confluence or creating complex templates in Confluence

Vitish Pendharkar

I am evaluating Confluence for its ability to generate Context-sensitive web help and PDFs (by using complex templates). I wish to know:

• Can we import word templates in Confluence and use them as they were created, without having to edit them in Confluence?
• If not, can we create complex templates in Confluence? For example, my company has templates that have three elements in a footer. Logo on the left, three lines in the middle; one below another, and page number on the right. The problem I am facing is that the three lines and page numbers are appearing close to each other in the output, even if I place a placeholder appropriately.

Answers to this are important to me to be able to decide whether to buy Confluence or not.

 

Zak Laughton

Hi Vitish!

Importing Word templates

You can import Word documents into Confluence as Confluence pages. I also just tested .dotx Word templates, and those can also be imported as a page. However, there is not a way to import Word files into a Confluence template.

When importing a Word document into Confluence, Confluence will do its best to match the Word document format using the capabilities of the Confluence editor. If the Word document has more advanced formatting that is not available in Confluence (e.g. formatted tables, custom text alignment) this may require manual editing to make it look how you'd like upon import. I recommend testing out a a few imports on a test instance to get a feel of the importer's capabilities.

Related documentation:

• Import a Word Document into Confluence
• Page Templates
• Importing Templates

Complex templates

I understand you would like templates to modify the header, footer and other details in a pdf export. You can do this by customizing the PDF stylesheet, which lets you have a separate template for each Confluence space.

Related documentation:

• Customize Exports to PDF
• Advanced PDF Export Customizations

If you're having any trouble with the PDF stylesheet customization, feel free to attach screenshots and code from your stylesheet so the Community can help you troubleshoot.

Thanks!
Zak