If a Page gets copied will it automatically update when the original does?

[Carolina Lopez]

So we have a Page that holds a document that we want to COPY to other Spaces, but that document will potentially change in the future and we're wondering if there is a way to make all the copies to update as well.

We haven't been able to find directions or context on how to do that, hence, we're asking here 🤔

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist- · Accepted solution]

Absolutely not. 

The whole point of a COPY is that you create something that is the same as the original because the original has stuff you want to use, but then you want to take the new page in a different direction.

However, you don't want a "copy", you want something that refers to a common source.  This is one of the things Confluence is good at.

Write a *single* page that that will be the document you want to share. Then, instead of copying it to allow branching, simply use the {include} macro to point to it. 

Any change to the source page of an include macro is instantly reflected in the pages including it.

[Carolina Lopez]

Sounds like a fair deal. Thanks, this was really helpful. Marking as solution.

[Louis Borders]

What if you want to have a master copy of a page in one workspace and several slave copies in other workspaces.

A different use case than the one you discuss. 

Thanks. 

[AnnWorley]

You should be able to use the Excerpt Macro and Excerpt Include Macro, as Nic hinted. You use the excerpt macro on the primary copy to designate what to include on the other pages, and the excerpt include macro on the secondary pages to display the primary page's content.

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

As the answer says, use the "include" macro.

[AnnWorley]

Yes, it's perfect for the described use case: Include Page Macro

Nic for the win again!

[Jaya Sharma]

I am not clear , if the page exist in the parent space and you wanted any changes happening to parent page to reflect if you are moving it to different space, then using the include in the child space(another space) would work?

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

Welcome to the Atlassian Community!

The include macro simply renders the content of another page within the current page.

Moving a page that has included another page to another space will not have any effect on the content, the include macro will continue to show the content of the target page it is configured for.

Note though, the include macro can take two different parameters.  It can accept the name of a page or a space and the name of a page within it.

In the first case the content rendered may change.  Imagine you have

• Space ABC
  • Page 1
  • Page 2
  • Page 3
• Space XYZ
  • Page 3
  • Page 4

If page 4 has "include XYZ: page 3" in it, then if you move it to space ABC, the include will not change

If Page 4 has "include page 3" in it, without the space, then if you move it to space ABC, the include will render the page at ABC:page 3