How do you create a macro to simply add pre-written text to a confluence page when in edit mode?

[Jiten Yagnik]

I need a way to be able to add some pre-written text to a confluence page when editing. 

My company often lists certain tasks with different bits of information and they want a way to be able to simply insert a template of text so that they only have to fill in the missing information, rather than copy and paste from previous tasks.

It seems like a really simple issue, but i'm struggling to find a solution. I'm assuming creating a macro is the right answer. Feel free to tell me I'm wrong!

Thanks in advance for any answers

[Stephen Deutsch]

Do you need something different from the built in template functionality?  Confluence allows you to create templates which have pre-defined text in the page, and then you can have people edit this pre-defined text.  You can even set variables so people fill it in like a form.

Here is some more information:

https://confluence.atlassian.com/doc/create-a-page-from-a-template-296093793.html

If you want just one section to be pre-defined, then that is a different story.

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

There's a couple of approaches, but there's a distinction we need to clarify.

When you add this macro, do you expect it to create a set of pre-set text and then remove itself?  Or should it remain as a macro on the page which always displays the pre-set text when the page is viewed?

If it's the first, there's not actually a lot you can do - macros are mostly supposed to run when a page is viewed.  There are some options when first creating a page, but the best place to look is the add-ons in the marketplace.

If it's the second, then it's easy, and you have options

1. Use the include macro to include the content of a page you keep (read-only) elsewhere
2. Write a macro add-on to display your text (I wouldn't bother with this, given 1 and 3, I mention it for completeness only)
3. Write a "user macro" that displays the text you need