Configuring and Using Questions for Confluence

[Charisma Riley]

We have started the trial for Questions for Confluence in our tenant, but now we have no idea how to configure it to use a specific space. Can we not just implement the feature wherever we like, on whatever page we like??

[Patrick Cartier [Candylio] · Accepted solution]

Hi @Charisma Riley,

When you ask a question you can select the space you would like to ask it in.  Here is some documentation about that:

https://confluence.atlassian.com/questions/integrate-questions-with-your-spaces-407724495.html

In short, "questions can be created outside a space organized just by topic, or asked inside a space, to inherit space permissions and keep things together."

Depending on the Confluence theme you are applying, this should work.

https://community.atlassian.com/t5/Confluence-questions/Restrict-questions-to-spaces/qaq-p/65602

[Charisma Riley]

I cannot understand how to ask the questions, nor do I understand how to display the questions that have been asked or answered. It all seems to go to a new space? Also, how do I configure questions to apply to a specific space? The documentation needs drastic improvement.

[Patrick Cartier [Candylio]]

This is documentation on how to ask a question:

https://confluence.atlassian.com/questions/questions-and-answers-407724478.html#Questionsandanswers-spacequestion

At the bottom it shows how to ask in a space.

"To ask a question in a space, go to the space and choose Questions on the sidebar  (if you can view the space you'll be able to ask and answer questions).  Alternatively, you can go to Create> Ask a question and choose the right space from the drop down. "

[Charisma Riley]

Yes, @Patrick Cartier [Candylio], I understand how they ask the questions. But my question is how do we see them? Where do the questions go? They do not appear on the page in which they are asked; the questions are site-wide but become invisible once asked. How do I tell Questions where to place the questions that are asked? How can I split them up into different pages depending on category? And why does it take the users off of the page to ask the question (it opens some sort of instance where the question is asked and it's really confusing. Everyone wonders how we can see the questions and the votes and comments. It is the weirdest add-in.)? I have a feeling there is a disconnect here because I'm not getting replies from anyone who has installed and tried to use. I'm hoping maybe someone with experience with the product can help?

[Patrick Cartier [Candylio]]

But my question is how do we see them?

See the answer below.

Where do the questions go?

If you ask them in a space there should be a button on the left side above the page tree that says questions, your questions asked in that space will go there.

If you don't ask them in a space then the questions should go in the header "questions".

They do not appear on the page in which they are asked; the questions are site-wide but become invisible once asked. How do I tell Questions where to place the questions that are asked?

I answered this in my above reply.  You can choose spaces or topics

How can I split them up into different pages depending on category?

From my experience, it is not possible to organize them by page, but you can tag them with different topics that will keep the similar questions together:

https://confluence.atlassian.com/questions/topics-407724479.html

And why does it take the users off of the page to ask the question (it opens some sort of instance where the question is asked and it's really confusing. Everyone wonders how we can see the questions and the votes and comments. It is the weirdest add-in.)?

To be fair I agree with you a bit here, it is somewhat confusing, but this is how the add-on works.  If you'd like to suggest an improvement I'd do it here: jira.atlassian.com.  

I have a feeling there is a disconnect here because I'm not getting replies from anyone who has installed and tried to use. I'm hoping maybe someone with experience with the product can help?

Confluence is so customizable that every instance could be different.  Different companies could have different add-ons which change the way the interface and actions within the software interact.  This is a free community where people volunteer their time to answer questions of other users.  The easiest and quickest way to do that is by providing the documentation and sharing previous experiences with the product.

If you would like in depth help with your instance I would suggest contacting a partner. https://partnerdirectory.atlassian.com/

Questions for Confluence, like other software, is not a perfect solution for everyone.  If you have feedback and would like something changed you can always leave it on jira.atlassian.com.

[Patrick Cartier [Candylio]]

Hi @Charisma Riley,

I would also like to add that I agree the documentation isn't great for Confluence Questions right now and in the last year they deprecated a lot of features for the tool.  It's definitely difficult to use.

Anyway, I hope I could help at least a little bit.

[Charisma Riley]

Patrick, I very much appreciate your help here and I'll experiment with it a bit more. Honestly, my boss just wants a way to allow the business developers to be able to submit ideas for business ideas so that the rest of the group can vote on them in Confluence. We are looking for an up-vote/down-vote solution, something simple. This app was something an Atlassian helper recommended. It is just not what we're looking for. It's a super bummer, too. And what with all of the limitations on cloud (and new ones coming for my company any day now--apparently we are one the few who haven't had our last customization macros removed yet), I don't even think something this simple can be done. The add-ons are stupidly expensive for one; for two, none on cloud have this functionality either, and for three, I can't build a simple custom voting solution because I can't use JS, a database, or access any other functionality in Cloud. Confluence Cloud has become a simple blank page duplication machine that you can put some text on. Maybe make something bold. Sigh. We are discussing moving to Server on-premises or open source solution that we can actually build to be something that fits us.

Anyway, thanks again for your assistance; it is appreciated. I've gone ahead and marked your response thread here as the correct answer.

[Patrick Cartier [Candylio]]

appreciate it @Charisma Riley

I think you could accomplish what you're looking for with questions. You might need to adjust a few expectations but it could work.

Anyway, hope it all works out in the end.

[Charisma Riley]

@Patrick Cartier [Candylio], I'd actually like to hear more about how you would go about implementing a solution with Questions for Confluence, if you're wiling to share. :D

[Patrick Cartier [Candylio]]

my boss just wants a way to allow the business developers to be able to submit ideas for business ideas so that the rest of the trip can vote on them in Confluence. We are looking for an up-vote/down-vote solution, something simple.

your boss can ask a question for each topic that you want ideas for, the questions can be organized by the topics OR you can choose to associate them with a space, either one.  Then business developers answer with their ideas and people can upvote or downvote them.

[Charisma Riley]

@Patrick Cartier [Candylio], ah, I see. I am definitely going to have to explore this further, obviously. A couple more questions, if you don't mind: How does one regulate the responses, such as removing comments or votes? Can we restriction people to voting only once and/or stop people from changing votes?

[Patrick Cartier [Candylio]]

An admin can remove answers (comments) and questions

You cannot remove votes, only downvote.

I believe as it is you can only upvote or downvote once per answer or question.

[Charisma Riley]

Cool, thanks. I'll report back how it goes.

[pickma]

@Patrick Cartier [Candylio]

I would like Questions itself to be PUBLIC.

I understand that an anonymous user will not be able to ask (sadly, that would be the enhancement that we need). But for now, I am ok to have them view only.

I can ask a question and I can tag it to a space which is authorized for anonymous. Logged-In users are able to see that question, the menu appears and it's all good.

However, the Questions menu is not visible to anonymous users - even though the space where the Q is in, is visible.

Is there a need to enable Questions the ADD-ON to be viewable by anonymous?

If so, how?

[Patrick Cartier [Candylio]]

Hi @pickma,

I don't have experience with this hands-on but it seems like this thread is relevant: 

https://community.atlassian.com/t5/Confluence-questions/Public-question-and-answers-on-confluence-cloud/qaq-p/708705

When an anonymous user accesses your space they should see the questions in the sidebar and be able to access it that way.

Maybe you are using some theming plugin as well?

Can you define the "questions menu" do you mean at the top of Confluence?

BTW you should create a new thread for a question like this, while it's related to the post it will get more attention if it stands alone.