How to generate a panel without breaking a numbered list?

[Dave McDonough]

I have a number list:

1. a

2. b

3. c

When I introduce a panel by hitting shift-enter and selecting a panel macro the list breaks:

1. a

PANEL

1. b

2. c

How can I use a panel without the list breaking and starting a new numbering?

[Dylan Fowler · Accepted solution]

Everybody, to fix this.

Go to this issue and upvote: https://jira.atlassian.com/browse/CONFCLOUD-67862

Also, upvote this comment so it gets more attention.

[Seth]

According to a status update on that Issue, they've got a fix for this on the roadmap, but they're focusing on a few other features first.

[Klay Ashby]

1. I find it absolutely
2. ridiculous that Atlassian

   ---

   NOTE: Atlassian usually makes good products.

   ---

3. is ignoring such a basic 
4. formatting principle.
5. I mean, I can do that in this super basic editor but not Confluence. 

[Nick Minchin]

1. Wow
2. You're
   
3. Right.... wtf

[Michael Schroeder]

No joy - I tried the the options described, above, with the backspace to 'stop' the numbering. Doing that just deleted the added line and took me back up to the end of "1." Using the cloud version, if that's relevant. I just want to add info blocks within numbered lists.

Honestly can't believe this is an issue as it's something that should be supported. What's the point of providing the ability to insert an info block in your documentation if you can't do it within a numbered list?? 100% of the time, my numbering restarts. Please fix this...

[Kevin Shaw]

Agreed.  Numbered lists break too easily and there is no way to tell the next (incorrectly) numbered line to restart on the correct number.

[Emery]

.

[Christopher Tom]

This is really upsetting. My issue is similar but instead of breaking the list, now it's refusing to break the list and forcing the panel to appear after the numbered list no matter where I try to insert the panel.  Nevertheless, you shouldn't have to enter a Street Figher or Contra cheat code in order to use the panels/macros properly. 

[Marcelo Teixeira de Melo]

Same thing here, impossible to add the info panel, it goes to the end of the list regardless...

[Marcelo Teixeira de Melo]

And if you add a code snippet to one of the numbered items, it always goes to the bottom, it does not break the section, but it always goes to the bottom...

[Andy Strickland]

@Marcelo Teixeira de Melo I can use Shift+Enter to add a code block below a numbered list, as it will consider this part of the same paragraph.

New objects though, like an info panel, seem to break the numbering no matter what I do. I can't believe this is still an issue 2 years later...

[Lauren Liscinski]

I am also having this issue and really can't believe it hasn't been fixed yet. 

[Jasper Valero]

Me as well. This is a fundamental feature for any documentation/wiki-related tool. Confluence can't live without this for another month! Let's get this into an active Sprint @ Atlassian product peeps. :)

[Sue McMillan]

I am having this issue also.  The only thing I can do is put the panel at the end of the numbered items, but then it's out of place and not relevant to the last item.  Please fix this issue and allow panels to break numbered lists.

[Peter Coxhead]

I have this issue as well.  Having info panels inside an ordered list seems pretty reasonable to me.  I'm sure this used to work OK in previous versions of Confluence.

[lalith.vipulananthan]

Yup. I'm experiencing the exact same problem, which is making documentation quite frustrating since you have to either try to manually number everything yourself, or alternatively avoid using the extremely useful info/warning/error/note panel. 

@Fabienne Gerhard Do you know if there is any particular reason why Atlassian seems to be ignoring this particular issue?

[Nedaa Awwad]

Its solved by using " Shift + Enter " , thank you for this suggestion :) 

[Emery]

This needs to be higher up in the chain of replies. 

Thank you for this.

Edit: works for pictures not for panels.

[Todd Mirkin]

Shift enter only works if you are inserting the panel into a document without indented formatting such as the use of bullet points or numbers and letters.  No matter what level of the indented format you are in (e.g.: closed bullet, open, square) it puts the info panel after the last item in the formatted list and returns the format to the first level of indenture.

In the picture provided I am trying to place the info panel between the 2 sub bullets and point to where it went instead and how it reset the sub bullets to bullets.

[Klay Ashby]

It won't work between sub bullets or sub lists. You can make it work one level up, but that's it.

[Todd Mirkin]

That's exactly what I thought.  Thanks. :-)

[Alana Churchward]

I dont find it solved by using "Shift + Enter" at all

[Barb Yantha]

I am also finding that the Note panel breaks the numbering. I use this extensively and find the breaking of the lists a concern. Is there a workaround?

[Joël DRIGO]

Hi all.

I didn't see any information about a fix for this feature, but I did note that with a few manipulations I can get now the result (list with unbroken numbering) I've been waiting for so long (at least for the Info Panel, the only I tried).

1. first, enter your number list
2. then, insert the the Info Panel (anywhere, in or out the list, it will always go below the numbered list
3. select the panel: click on border (do not select as text), the panel will be become bordered like this
   
4. copy it (press ctrl-c)
5. put the cursor at the end of the target item
6. then paste (press ctrl-v)... tada !!!
   
7. If you need to insert an item just before a panel, select the panel (as mention above), then press enter; or insert the new item before the following item, not after the previous one. It seams it's not like a not breaking numbered list, but like many lists with restarting the numbering with offset.  May be it's not a real fix, but a non-voluntary operation or bug that allows the workaround 

[Sean O'Donnell]

This method works!

[Todd Mirkin]

I was trying to do that technique with a Bullet List being used and it wouldn't work for me like it did for you with Numbered List.  I was using the right click method for copy and pasting.  I know this sounds odd, but maybe the control key method works different in this environment or, and this is probably more likely, the Bullet List behaves differently.

[Klay Ashby]

It's pretty reliable if you make the pasted location plain text (i.e., no numbering or bullets) before you paste the item.

Afterward, apply the number or bullet style to the paragraph when you continue adding text. 

[Alana Churchward]

While that doesnt break the numbered list, as a Tech Writer, I like the left edge of my panel to line up with the start of the text in the step, not the number. LOL

[Joël DRIGO]

Hi all.

I didn't see any information about a fix for this feature, but I did note that with a few manipulations I can get now the result (list with unbroken numbering) I've been waiting for so long (at least for the Info Panel, the only I tried).

1. first, enter your number list
2. then, insert the the Info Panel (anywhere, in or out the list, it will always go below the numbered list
3. select the panel: click on border (do not select as text), the panel will be become bordered like this
   
4. copy it (press ctrl-c)
5. put the cursor at the end of the target item
6. then paste (press ctrl-v)... tada !!!
   

If you need to insert an item just before a panel, select the panel (as mention above), then press enter; or insert the new item before the following item, not after the previous one. It seams it's not like a not breaking numbered list, but like many lists with restarting the numbering with offset. May be it's not a real fix, but a non-voluntary operation or bug that allows the workaround

[Klay Ashby]

Good find. I'm also interested to try this on images.

[Tanya Bolotova]

Came here looking for a solution too and none of the suggested workarounds worked. 

However, I found my own workaround. It worked for me in the Cloud version with the new editor.

For those who come after me:

I was able to do it using source code editor. That really saved my docs as I need a lot of info/note/warning panels in my instructional docs. 

Steps: 

1. Install source code editor app to your confluence if you don't have one. (We're using Source Editor for Confluence but I would assume any one of them would work.)

2. Write your docs as is, with the info panel at the bottom of the list. Publish.

3. Open a published page in the source code editor. 

4. Cut the code for panel macro from where it currently is.

5. Paste it in the list item you need it to be, inside the <li> </li> tag, on a new line after your text.

6. Preview to make sure it's in the right place.

7. Save. 

8. You have your panel where it belongs. 

Downside: you cannot subsequently edit this panel in the native editor (see screenshot below). Which I personally don't care about. I'll just edit it in the source editor if I have to, and be happy with the look of my pages.

[Santanu Das]

This is the only thing that actually works (with the limitation of not being able to edit in the page afterwards.)  Rest of the suggestions are either too complicated or defeat the purpose of having numbered list, in the first place.

[Kargo Tech Comms]

Just here for the ratio. Its been three years since the OP and still no movement on this issue? 

[Fabienne Gerhard]

Hi @Dave McDonough - welcome to this wonderful community!

I tried to reproduce your problem but it worked fine.

1. Created a numbered list using 'Numbered List' in Editor toolbar with three rows
2. Hit Enter after first row (which creates a new second row)
3. Deleted the new second number by using backspace - Cursor is shown same way as expected when using Shift-Enter
4. Insert panel - list is still fine.

How did you create your list? 

What my also help would be put the panel macro right in the text (after your 'a') is automatically moved to the next line because of the wide.

[Nick Minchin]

5. Continue on with the list and add new numbered items, i.e. 

1. First item

<IMAGE> / <INFO PANEL>

2. Second Item

3. Third Item....

This doesn't work, still, 2 years later :/

[Nick Minchin]

Make that 3***** years later

[Emery]

Make that 4***** years later

[Emery]

Make that 5***** years later

[Alana Churchward]

Is this on the roadmap to be fixed yet?

I initially decided to use numbered tables to help with this, however, you cannot include a table within a table (in Cloud) or an excerpt within a table, or the visibility add on within a table, and I am sure there are other things.

Sometimes within a step, I may need a table, or a panel, or an excerpt, or to hide some text, so the reality is, you need to do the steps outside of the table, and use the numbered lists.

Along with that though, I like mine to go:

1. Step

    [Image/table/panel/excerpt]

Where the item is lined up with the text, and not the number (like below)

1. Step

[item]

If we can get some traction on this, I imagine you would please a huge number of Technical Writers and Content Creators who love Confluence, but get frustrated with some of the formatting issues.

[Nick Minchin]

Settle down, it's only been 4.5 years since it was first raised as an issue. Give them time!

[Peter Coxhead]

😂

[Alana Churchward]

Thanks for pulling me into line @Nick Minchin

That is such a short period of time given how long the universe has been around for...I definitely need to get my head on straight and relax,

[Nick Minchin]

That's better :) Also, they're only a small $47 billion company; it's not like they just have spare cash lying around to get to their users' issues!

[Eric Green]

Just use Shift+Enter :)

[Chris Kelley]

Terrible work around but this works for me. 

Create number list

Hit Shift / Enter at the end of the number line

Insert panel and add text

Take a screenshot of the panel

Delete the panel you insert

Past the screenshot

Continue with your numbered list 

[Tom Rufo]

Fix this please!!

[Sam Ugulava]

Hi everyone, 

I'm a Product Manager on the Confluence Content Experience team. Thanks for sharing your feedback with us. I recognize this isn't a great experience and want to apologize that we haven't pushed out a fix yet. We know this is a highly requested feature. 

We have been exploring a few solutions, but have not had the bandwidth to roadmap it yet. We will pick this up as soon as possible and will keep you updated. 

In the meantime, I've attached a screenshot of a potential work around using tables with numbered columns. This workaround allows you to put any amount of content that you prefer inside a single cell, and then, jump to the next one that would be the next in the numbering list order. 

Additionally, images can be added to a numbered lists directly. Inline images can be inserted as emojis.

Thanks for your patience! 

[Bailly Jamroz]

Hopefully this is addressed soon - formatting is nice to have for support documentation to keep things looking the same but having to use screenshots or tables for specific how-to pages isn't a great experience. Fingers crossed!

[Alana Churchward]

Using a numbered table, does not allow a table to be inserted inside the table (in Cloud). Some times, a step requires a table in it....

i think it needs to apply to images, panels, tables anything like that.

And I like mine to go:

1. Step

    [Image/table/panel]

Where the item is lined up with the text, and not the number.

[Tim Thompson]

Also want to learn how to fix this without some complicated workaround. Shouldn't it just work like the older editor? Can someone open a ticket to get this fixed?

[Martina Welander]

There's one here that you can watch and vote for: https://jira.atlassian.com/browse/CONFCLOUD-67862

[Tim Thompson]

Awesome. Thanks!

[Joël DRIGO]

The workaround with a table is crappy too.

1. The rendering is not that of a numbered list (so if you have other numbered lists, it breaks the uniformity, besides being ugly)
2. it takes three times longer to format it
3. the content is not wrapped so we have a horizontal scrollbar. To avoid this, I had to include the table in a layout, but lose some space in width

In short, it's nothing but bullshit.
And I'm not talking about the trick of doing it in Google Doc and then copy/paste... 

[Dominic Lagger]

Hi

I am a little bit confused. I tried this exactly how you described and get this: 

Another test showed another workaround, perhaps this is helpful for you:

1. add you list first
2. set the cursor at the end of line number one
3. hit normal enter
4. hit the backspace
5. now, the number show disappear and you can add normal content
6. paste the panel

Let me know, if this workaround helped you.

[Fabienne Gerhard]

@Dominic Lagger seems like we had look on this at the same time :) good that we got a similar solution

[Dave McDonough]

Hi guys, thanks for the answers. I should add I'm using the new editor. Dominic, using the method you suggested I got the following below. Are there any ways to mitigate this using the new page editor? Thanks

[Fabienne Gerhard]

Hi @Dave McDonough - did you try to add the panel at the end of the text of 1.a ?

[Dave McDonough]

I hit shift+enter at end of 1.a to start a new line and then added the panel

[Chris_Jones]

I am getting same behavior as well. Adding an info panel in the new editor to a numbered lists break numbering.

[Michael Schroeder]

Adding to the string - I've tried all of the suggestions (Shift + Enter) and everything just restarts the line numbering at "1" again.

If it's any use, I'm using the cloud version of the app and not a local server version (I've seen some reference to editing the underlying HTML with a plug-in, but that only works with the local version of the app).

Why isn't this fixed? Lot of workaround comments, none of which work for me, but no updates on why this isn't being addressed. Just seems to me that this is basic functionality that needs to work - makes info panels almost useless for me. I'm trying to create user documentation and very often I need to put info/warning/notification data within numbered lists.

[Chris_Jones]

Just want to echo Michael - this seems like basic functionality and a long lasting issue. Panels are excellent tools, but frustrating to use if they continually break lists. Leads to very inconsistent user docs.

[Raymond Bernardo]

I am having this issue too. It would be really nice for this to work as we are expecting

[Lior Polat]

Having the same issue - info panels breaks numbered lists, shift+enter does not solve the problem.

[Jack Koppa]

Same issue, would love to resolve this or vote on an issue, at least - also new editor, also Cloud

[Ahmed Salman]

The issue still exists, please fix it.

[jmatusewic]

Same issue, same complaints. Hope this gets addressed.

[Thomas DeToledo]

same issue too here and very frustrating

[Dylan Fowler]

Same issue.

Cloud version.

Pressing backspace after enter just deletes the number and returns you to 1.

Example

you start with

1.

2.

3.

You press enter on 1. to get a new 2. You press backspace. It deletes the new 2 and returns your flashing cursor to 1.

[aa.long]

This is still a problem, can this be fixed? 

[Christopher Tom]

At this point, sounds like a "don't bet your life on it..." It seems like such a simple fix that it's probably low on the list, only way it can jump up in prioritization is if it's more widely reported. Tell everyone you know to report the same issue.

[Michael Davis]

July 12, 2021, and panels/info boxes still break numbering in the new editor (Cloud version in my case). This is frustrating because Confluence is pushing this new editor hard on users, but it doesn't seem to be as capable as the old editor.

There's no workaround. Any new page uses the new editor by default, and I can't seem to find a way to go back to the old one in order to avoid this. Essentially, you can't use panels (note/info/warning/error) in any document where you also plan to use numbered lists, cause they're going to trash each other.

[Jamie Wolman]

I will just add that I am trying to do this today with the new editor and I get the new numbering and it does not work no matter how or where I try to hit Shift-Enter. Can this be fixed please?

I see the same think if you try to add a table in a bulleted list which I would also like to do. It just adds the table to the end after all last number in the numbered list. Would like to be able to add info panels and tables to bullets.

[Blane Dabney]

Definitely needs to be fixed, I've been beating my head against this for about an hour now. There is no functional workaround that I can find.

[Joël DRIGO]

I don't understand why this problem hasn't been fixed since it was reported.
The above procedure does not work. Worse, if you apply it, it adds a new empty line...
I have
1. a
2. b
3. c
I add an "info panel" after the a, I get :
1. a

1.
2. b
3. c

I can however insert a snippet code or an image in a numbered list without breaking it. Why not another type of snippet (panel, table, layout...) ?

To get around this problem, I just produced an image of the panel and inserted this image in the list, but this is not an admissible solution, just a crappy workaround (Especially if I have to change the text later, the type...). 

Please correct this problem.

[Nick Minchin]

It's a USD$1.6b company; it would seem customer complaints are lower on their list of priorities