Two pages / folders with the same name within one space?

[Robert Bjørndahl Norby]

Hi. 

I've read many posts here that Confluence does not support this feature. Hyperlinks etc etc. 
But everything I find is 5+ years old, so I have a sliver of hope. 

My practical need for this feature is simple enough; 
We have a space with some main company categories. 
Within all of these categories are a bunch of pages naturally, and we'd like to categorise all of the documents based on type of documents. 

Example: 

Logistics
  Documentation
  Routines
  Reports 
SLA 
  Documentation
  Routines
  Reports 

I feel like I have heard all the arguments, but I can't for the life of me understand how something like this is compromised, in favor of searchability. The primary POINT of this kind of structure we want to use, is BECAUSE we can't search for everything. You'll have to know the names of all the pages you need to find then, because there is not enough hierarchy logic implemented to support large spaces with many documents. Which is the scenario we are experience right now, where searchability becomes less useful due to amount of pages, and folder/page-logic and duplicates names becomes the most useful. 
    
With all of that said, the searchability works great as is, and obviously it is useful, but it is quite frustrating when you try and do something because searching isn't enough, and you are restricted from doing it, because that keeps the searching most optimal. 

Is it in any way possible to have a structure as the example I showed above, or will Confluence still have none of it?

[repi]

@Robert Bjørndahl Norby 

Two pages with the same name cannot exist within a space.
Pages of the same name can exist in different spaces.
There are now two options:
1. Adjust the naming of the pages within a space.
Such as.
Logistics_ Documentation
Logistics_Routines
Logistics_Reports
SLA_Documentation
SLA_Routines
SLA_Reports
etc...
2. Create a separate space for logistics, SLA, etc.
hth ..

[Thomas Bowskill]

Hi @Robert Bjørndahl Norby ,

@repi is correct - it can't be done.

I get some of the gripes around searchability; at the same time I find that there are multiple ways to approach this that can live in harmony:

• Naming the pages (as suggested above) in a way that gives them uniqueness and searchability 
• Structuring a parent page so that it becomes the index of content -- all the content appears in the page itself.
  • Using templates to create certain page types: e.g. templates for Documentation, routines and reports, each with their own default label. You can then use macros like Content by Label to dynamically show links to any pages that meet the criteria (such as "With Parent" = "Current Page" and the label (e.g. "routines")).
  • Your main pages would then contain three Content by label macros (and maybe put them in panels and add headers to make navigation easy). Off this page you could even have Create from Template macros to ensure the right templates are used. This would mean people only really have one thing to search for

In my day-to-day, I've reached a marriage of the two methods I used above, and I've been driving the case for people to use search above all else. Create from Template and labels I have found to be the best ways for managing content & avoiding things from being misfiled.

Hope this helps somewhat, but I suppose it really depends on how much content you have in all of these pages and your organisation's preference for how to navigate

[Robert Bjørndahl Norby]

Hi. Thank you both for input. 
I think the only option we have is Repi's first suggestion. We already have a lot of spaces, and it is simply not feasable to have a seperate space for each category. Its also an internal structure thing. 

Secondly - and just want to point out - while your setup there Thomas seems smart and probably is a great way to work around this issue, the problem lies within the adaptability of that approach for our company. I'm afraid that is a too big change to just "slip in there", with so many people already using confluence in a certain way, the use of templates, or the lack thereof.   

I really thought the user-based UX had gotten rid of system-based UX by now, but alas. 

Thanks again. We'll figure something out. 

[Thomas Bowskill]

@Robert Bjørndahl Norby I know what you mean -- I went from a 100,00-strong organisation to one sub 300. The ability to influence Confluence is much easier when you are the main driver for change and can encourage everyone to follow your approach. 

Best of luck in finding a workaround that doesn't frustrate!

[James Conway]

@Robert Bjørndahl Norby 

Have you seen Duplicate Page Titles (Same Page Titles) from the team at venITure? It might help with your use case.

All the best

James

[Robert Bjørndahl Norby]

I don't think I have seen that, no! Looks promising though :S Is it like a plugin for confluence? 

[James Conway]

@Robert Bjørndahl Norby 

Yes, there are thousands of plugins available from the Atlassian Marketplace. Unfortunately according to the tags on this page it looks like you are on Confluence Cloud and this is only available for Confluence Server and Data Center at the moment. Perhaps if you contact the venITure support team they'll let you know if they are planning a Cloud version.

All the best

James