Increase number of suggested page statuses

[Koloman Pfeffer]

Hello Cloud-Admins,

In one of our QM-spaces, we use page statuses extensively but keep on running into the limit how many statuses you can predefine.

Currently it is limited to 5 statuses and you can additionally turn on creation of custom statuses by editors. Problem is, that I can't use this with automations, where only the predefined statuses can be accessed so I would really welcome either custom status creation via automations or a way to increase the number of predefined statuses.

Does anyone know a way how to achieve this?

Also I wanted to create a suggestion in the CONFCLOUD-project, but for some reason I can't create anything there, only for Data Center.

One last thing: Please don't suggest a marketplace app unless it's free, since currently I don't have a budget for new apps and couldn't justify a couple of hundred dollars per month for a small feature as this. Additionally I find it quite frustrating, if you are searching for answers and just find pages with ads for single issue marketplace apps.

Thank you!

[Stiltsoft Support]

Hi everyone!

We've been struggling to communicate the page status for Confluence users. The number of native Confluence page statuses is also limited, not to say that we lack the ability to search for pages in a particular status. That's why we introduced Handy Page Status in our Handy Macros for Confluence.
I realize that @Koloman Pfeffer is limited in using the paid app for this request, but my suggestion can help other Community users having the same request. 

I suggest trying out our Handy Macros for Confluence Cloud.

Using Handy Macros, you can:

• Create customizable status sets which are unlimited in their number
• Switch statuses directly in the view mode and view their history
• Use Page Status Report to search for pages in a particular Handy Page Status
• Use status-related CQL for Confluence automation

You can check out our blog post, diving deeper into how Handy Macros can help your Confluence page status management.

As well as this one, talking about Confluence tips and tricks with Handy Macros.

You can try the Handy Macros for Confluence app on the Atlassian Marketplace for free to see if it works for you.

And we will be glad to showcase our app on a quick demo for anyone interested.

[Kristian Klima]

Hi @Koloman Pfeffer 

I just created a custom status 'Holy Carp' and created an automation rule that assigns that status to a page when edited.

[Koloman Pfeffer]

Hi @Kristian Klima

Yes, we use for one particular space multiple automation rules that change the page status in a similar way. But to set a page to a particular status, you always have to create it in the space settings first, where the limit for custom statuses is 5.

We use this for QM documentation, where we show the current status of our approval workflow and I'm currently short of two custom statuses.

[Kristian Klima]

@Koloman Pfeffer 

Sorry, I misread 'Problem is, that I can't use this with automations, where only the predefined statuses'...

So basically you need 7 statuses.

As an idea... could labels help? For example, if there's a Review status, it could have two 'sub-statuses' - Review status + Ready for Review label AND Review status + In Review label.

Labels can be used in automation so you should be able to devise a workflow around that.

(BTW, I was inspired by an workflow app I was testing this week - Breeze by B1nary - which adds a label Draft to a page that's in Draft. BTW, I'm NOT suggesting an app, although it's free for 10 users :) , just pointing to a source of inspiration).

[Koloman Pfeffer]

@Kristian Klima 

No problem, I probably could have explained the challenge a bit more clearly.

Yes, I need 7 statuses and possibly more in the future.

Labels unfortunately don't have the same visibility as a status and can be edited by users too easily, so these are sadly not an option for us.

[Kristian Klima]

@Koloman Pfeffer 

That's true about the labels.

Having said that...

• A shot in the dark idea... what about Live Edit mode? Might be harder to manage but combined with restrictions might just work for some statuses/status transitions...
  
  
• A crazy idea... this would involve an app to sync two spaces but... you could have the first 5 statuses in one space, where you do all the editing and stuff, then sync the content to another space, where you'd have the last two (or five) statuses for the final stages of the process.
  
  This could open up interesting options with permissions... I actually have a mockup setup in which I'm using a page status to sync pages from one space to another (requires Space Sync for Confluence by Ricksoft which is not that expensive)

Sorry for this - I just find your problem rather interesting and worth looking into.

(Other than that, I find Workflows for Confluence by AppFox rather affordable compared to some other workflow apps. I'm not affiliated with AppFox)