Linking to drafts

Question

We are writing pages A and B, which both have lots of links to pages D and E. However, pages D and E are still just blank pages.

We want to already create the pages D and E so we can link to them on A and B. Because otherwise we have to come back to A and B later. However, we don't want our users to see lots of blank pages in the menu overview, and have 75% of the links go to blank pages. (Both A/B and D/E will in fact be hundreds of pages.)

The following solutions are not practical:

* Undefined links: It's not possible to link from page B to an undefined link on page A.
* Leaving the blanks as drafts: It's not possible to link to drafts.

Which leaves as best solution: To restrict access to these blank pages D and E by publishing them in a separate space with restricted access (seems more practical than managing permissions per individual page). When they are finished, move them to the public space.

However, the issue with this solution is that the user will only get a "access denied" notification AFTER clicking the link. Which is the reason for this question: https://community.atlassian.com/t5/Confluence-questions/How-to-edit-link-color-based-on-target-space/qaq-p/2768877 .

Am I on the right track here or is there a more simple solution?

Kristian Klima_gtcuat · Answer

Doesn't have to be blank, just use a note macro with Work in progress :)

Alternatively, you can work with two synced spaces - your Source and your Target and sync final content from one to another, the idea being that your readers would only access the content in the Target space.

(Apps needed: Comala Publishing, Space Sync for Confluence)

Frederik Lombaert · Answer

Hi @Kristian Klima

Thanks for your reply!

This is indeed our current solution. But the inconvenience then, is that our users will see lots of blank pages, and most of the links will go to blank pages (until everything is ready, which might take years).

But if this is indeed the only solution, then we'll try to edit the links to blanks in a certain color as described in How to edit link colors based on target space.

Kristian Klima_gtcuat · Answer

Hi @Frederik Lombaert and welcome to the Community.

You can't link to a draft - the page does not exist.

Workaround:

Save (publish) pages D and E without content. Then reopen them to work on the content. This will allow you to link to them from A and B.

This is the easiest and simplest solution.