In this article, I want to share my use-cases for emojis and hear yours. What do you think about them? Can they be useful? Are there any problems when using them? Do you use custom emojis?
Emojis help convey feelings and tones that might be lost in plain text. This is especially evident in chat apps but also in the comment sections of tools like Jira and Confluence.
Without Emoji:
This phrase could easily be interpreted as sarcastic, especially if the context is unclear.
With Emoji:
The 😃 emoji clarifies that the speaker genuinely means it in a positive way.
I also believe that emojis can improve readability if used correctly.
Custom emojis can be particularly useful in professional settings. They allow teams to incorporate specific icons and symbols relevant to their work. For instance, my personal favorite use-case is adding software icons as emojis in Confluence to help organize and visually distinguish articles more effectively.
To add custom emojis in Jira and Confluence, follow these steps:
Note: This feature must be allowed by your admin. If not, the admin can add emojis from the admin panel.
For more detailed instructions, check out the official documentation:
First, let's talk about knowledge bases. I like to add software-based labels to my articles and gather them all together using the label macro on the main page. On this main page, I describe what the software is and add its icon as a custom emoji in the title. This example is demonstrated on a demo page, created with the help of Atlassian Intelligence. I used only one example here but I actually use this method for various software articles, including Zoom, Teams, Outlook, SharePoint, Figma, Miro, etc.
The second example involves my own spaces where I manage all my Atlassian documentation. Similar to the previous example, I categorize documentation for each configuration by product, using custom emojis for easy identification. This example was also created with Atlassian Intelligence, but the core idea is to have documentation divided and visually distinct by product.
I really like the Checklist for Jira add-on and the Confluence action item feature, but unfortunately, you can’t use the Confluence action item in Jira issue descriptions. In instances where the issue checklist is not installed, I use a workaround by adding emojis to mark items as checked.
For example, I like to use the checkmark icon (✅) to mark something as done. I typically use it in internal comments or task descriptions that I create for myself. Additionally, I sometimes add other emojis like a question mark (❓) for items that need clarification or an 'x' (❌) to indicate tasks that have some problems or are canceled or not applicable.
Share your experiences with emojis – how do you use them, and what benefits or challenges have you encountered?
Kerli Loopman
Atlassian Consultant & Community Leader
Trinidad Wiseman
Tallinn, Estonia
1 accepted answer
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