Confluence: Print and Test Anchor Links when in DRAFT copy of document

[Stephen Kairys]

Confluence Server 5.9.7:

I'm in the midst of editing a document. Because it's live content, I cannot save (publish) it until all changes are complete. So, I'm saving as a draft, being very careful not to click SAVE until I'm ready to publish. 

Is there a way to do the following:

1. Print the entire doc from DRAFT mode. I tried printing earlier today and the Print Preview showed all pages. Now, however, it displays a single page with: (a) The top of the document. (b) The fields/buttons on the bottom e.g. "What did you change" and PREVIEW/SAVE/CLOSE. 
2. test a new anchor link while in DRAFT mode? When I click on the link, the "Go to Link" choice is grayed out.

Thanks! 

Trying to print from Preview mode.PNG ‏17 KB

[Rob Woodgate]

HI Stephen,

As the risk of pointing out the obvious, why not copy the original page to your personal space, edit, save and test it as much as you like, then move it back to replace the original page when you're ready?

That would solve all your problems without having to find odd workarounds.

[Stephen Kairys]

Rob, Yes, it is an obvious solution. But not for us. Our installation has issues doing massive copy-and-pastes. (e.g. bold text is copied as plain text, etc.) I've worked with Atlassian on this issue but so far, we don't have a solution.

The above is a long-winded way of saying that copy-paste-edit-test-copy-paste won't work for us.

Thanks!

[Rob Woodgate]

Hi Stephen,

Apologies, I wasn't being clear.  I meant, have you tried using the Confluence page copy functionality to copy the page (for example to your personal space, or anywhere that's not "live"), make changes, then move the page into "live" to replace the existing one?

Assuming that that's not an option for whatever reason:

1. Try printing the page from Preview mode, not Edit mode.
2. Anchors are rendered at run time, so in Edit mode there isn't a link to go to.  You'll have to try it Preview mode.

[Stephen Kairys]

No worries, Rob. Never a need to apologize when you're trying to help someone. 

Anchor does not appear to work in preview mode.

As to printing, please see the bottom of this comment.

Maybe it's just me, but I find this behavior strange. I'd think "preview" mode would be "pretty close" to the real thing...

Thanks.

Trying to print from Preview mode.PNG

[Rob Woodgate]

Hi Stephen,

When I try to preview a page with an anchor on it, it previews but also shows the following message:

"Preview of dynamic macro on draft is only fully supported when shared drafts enabled."

I've not seen this before, but my guess is that it's something to do with collaborative editing (which we haven't got turned on).  Maybe that's a path to explore?

As for the printing, I'm also getting that in Firefox and Chrome, but not in IE11, oddly.  So as a workaround can you print preview in IE11?

[Stephen Kairys]

Rob,

OK, it prints in IE. But, not exactly as it appears in VIEW mode. e.g. the TOC macro shows as

"Table of Contents | Outline = true" (with a gray background),

It's just like it appears on screen. I guess IE (or Confluence) is printing literally what's on the screen, as opposed to what would be rendered when I save the document?

Thanks,

Steve

[Rob Woodgate]

Hi Steve,

Yes,that's correct, it will only print what's on the screen.  The browser calls your operating system's print routine, which simply prints whatever is being displayed, with no rendering or processing.  It's not a specific browser or application issue, it's just how the print routine works.

[Stephen Kairys]

Thanks Rob. 

Now, as to your other remark:

When I try to preview a page with an anchor on it, it previews but also shows the following message:

"Preview of dynamic macro on draft is only fully supported when shared drafts enabled."

I've not seen this before, but my guess is that it's something to do with collaborative editing (which we haven't got turned on).  Maybe that's a path to explore?

What is your Confluence version? I'm at 5.9.7 and have never seen this message. Are you on 6.0.x?

[Rob Woodgate]

Hi Steve,

I'm using Cloud, so version 6.0.[whatever the latest minor version is]. 

[Stephen Kairys]

Using Server here. So, you and I likely have different UIs. Thanks.