Use Confluence to edit and manage user manuals and output them on different ways?

[Maximilian Dollinger]

We currently use Confluence as our internal knowledge base. Can we use Confluence to manage our user manual in multiple languages.

So we need a software to fulfill the following requirements to manage the user manual:

• Version management - changes need to be versioned continuously to be able to revert to older versions.
• Change tracking - to be able to transfer changes in the source file into other languages.
• Access management - To provide access to technical editors and translators.
• Output to the user as a pdf, as web-based help and in our app.

Is there any experience of user manuals in relation to these requirements, can Confluence do this?

[Dominic Lagger · Accepted solution]

Hi @Maximilian Dollinger 

I would say Confluence is the best Tool for this. Confluence fullfills all of your requirements out of the box!

• Version management - Confluence Server - Confluence Cloud
• Change tracking - Confluence Server - Confluence Cloud
• Access management - Confluence Server - Confluence Cloud
• PDF Export - Confluence Server - Confluence Cloud or with this app even more customizable

I would suggest you to go the cloud way, because the server is discontinued for 02/24.

Regards, Dominic

[Maximilian Dollinger]

Hey Dominic,

is it possibe to get a more detailed introduction from you how our company could use Confluence for this manual topic.

For example a short call?

Best Regards, Max

[Maximilian Dollinger]

Hey Dominic,

First, thanks for your quick answer.

Is it possible to get a more detailed introduction from you how our company could use Confluence for this manual topic.

For example a short call?

Best regards, Max

[Dominic Lagger]

Hi @Maximilian Dollinger 

Do you have any concerns about Confluence? Do you have detailed questions?

If so, I can try to help you here.

Regards, Dominic

[Maximilian Dollinger]

Hey Dominic,

We need to create a well designed User manual. So is there an add-on to edit documents in a professional layout like In design?

Regards, Max

[Matt Reiner _K15t_]

Hi @Maximilian Dollinger

I’m with the team at K15t, and I think our apps will help you do what you’re looking for.

• Version management
• With our app Scroll Documents, you can version one or more pages as a single unit. This is great for the kinds of content management tasks you mentioned. Have a look at @Laura Parraga -K15t- 's recent webinar where she shows how versioning and publishing work.
• Change tracking
• We’ve been handling change tracking and multiple languages on Confluence Server and Data Center for years now. We’re currently laying the groundwork for similar functionality on Confluence Cloud, so we’re not there quite yet. That said, we’d love to speak with your team to understand your use case so we can be sure our feature set can meet your needs in the future. I’d also recommend subscribing to our monthly newsletter. We’ll let you know just as soon as language support is ready to go.
• Access management
• As @Dominic Lagger mentioned, Confluence has a robust set of permissions that Scroll Documents makes use of. Building on it, in Scroll Documents, you can rapidly control access permissions for each version.
• Output to the user as a pdf, as web-based help and in our app
• You can export fully customized PDF and Word documents using our Scroll Exporter apps. You can also turn your versioned content into an online help center using Scroll Viewport. With it, your team can quickly customize your own site without the need for coding or running a web server. You can see an example of this by looking around our own help center. There's also a feature in Scroll Viewport where you can add in-app help in your app using an iFrame. I gave a talk recently all about it, if you're interested.

Let me know if you have any questions, or if you’d like to see any of this in action. I’m always happy to share.