Where do I find a macro to include an "Ask a Question" button?

[Ron Benchetrit]

The "Questions List" macro used to display an "Ask a Question" button, but it has recently disappeared.  Is there a way to get it back or is there a new macro that I should be using maybe?

Any suggestions greatly appreciated,

Thank you,

Ron

btw, we are using Confluence Cloud

[cylon · Accepted solution]

Hey Ron,

Unfortunately, the Ask button is a deprecated CQ feature, as documented on https://confluence.atlassian.com/questionscloud/blog/2017/07/functionality-update-and-moving-to-our-new-cloud-infrastructure.

However you can link to the ask question page as a workaround to this.

For asking a question in a global space, use this (fill in <hostname>)

https://<hostname>/wiki/plugins/servlet/ac/com.atlassian.confluence.plugins.confluence-questions/globalQuestionsViewer?ac.com.atlassian.confluence.plugins.confluence-questions.path=/questions/ask

For asking a question in a space, use this (fill in <hostname> and <spaceKey>):

https://<hostname>/wiki/display/<spaceKey>/customcontent/list/ac%3Acom.atlassian.confluence.plugins.confluence-questions%3Aquestion?ac.com.atlassian.confluence.plugins.confluence-questions.path=/questions/ask

Hope this helps :)

[cylon]

@Sebastien Etorre Confluence Questions now support deep linking :)

[Sebastien Etorre]

Hi Alice,

this looks nice ! I'm going to give it a try, should make our life better. Thanks for the heads-up.

Best,

Sébastien

[Sebastien Etorre]

Hi @cylon,

would be great if we could hard code the "Topics" parameter of the question in the URL. Would allow to create Questions 'in context', depending on the place from where they were created.

Best,

Sébastien

[cylon]

Hey Sébastien

Yup I agree that there is still a gap in functionality of the old Ask button and the url workaround :(

I've added this ticket to keep track of this suggestion. I would suggest for you to watch and upvote there https://jira.atlassian.com/browse/CONFCLOUD-58418. 

Unfortunately I can't guarantee when we can get around to this, as we still have a busy backlog to get through and this change is not that simple - routing changes, change in source of truth for data fetching, dealing with new topics/malformed topics with bad characters etc - just being open here and setting expectations.

Warm regards,

Alice

[Sebastien Etorre]

Thanks for the ticket, I'll keep an eye on it... for the years to come I'm afraid. :-(

Best,

Sébastien

[Nick Dillon]

Having just started to trial Confluence and running into this issue, which I see was raised more than 3 years ago and is still not fixed, I will evaluate alternatives. It's a fundamental problem if a list of questions cannot have an "Ask" button alongside it!

[Mj]

Almost a year on and still no "Ask a Question" button. Questions is supposed to be integrated with Confluence but navigating away from the content that one is asking a question about is by no means integrated.

[Helen Gosper]

I'm surprised there are not more requests for this functionality to be restored. A (not cheap) 'Questions' plug-in without the ability to add an 'Ask a Question' button to pages. Really?

[Sebastien Etorre]

We're still using lame workarounds. Like often with Atlassian, people just get used to the pain...

[Sebastien Etorre]

"we scrapped this project"

Indeed. That's what eventually happens...

Thanks for opening the initial thread though. This one saved me some time.

[Ron Benchetrit]

Hi folks, due to this regression as well as a lack of features to organize conversations into categories (tagging was not enough), we scrapped this project.  In all honesty, our current email system provided more functionality than Questions did.  Despite numerous tries, I could not sell Questions as is to my management.

[John Minne]

yup

[Shannon S]

Hi Ron,

From the looks of this article: Integrating questions with your spaces it appears to be part of Questions for Confluence, which is one of our add-ons for Confluence.

You can try it for free for a period of time. Go to your Admin panel in your Cloud Instance, and find Discover New Applications to start your trial. 

Let me know if you have any trouble with that.

Kind Regards,
Shannon

[Ron Benchetrit]

Shannon, thanks for the links, but I am already fully subscribed to the Questions add-on in my Cloud.

Still, I went through the instructions and they reaffirm that something is wrong with my site.  The instructions suggest enabling the "Ask Button" in the "Questions List" macro, but this macro doesn't exist in my system!

The next instructions suggest adding an "Ask A Question" template, however this doesn't exist in my system either!

Any other ideas?

btw, I have full administrative permissions to my site.

[Shannon S]

Hi Ron,

I did some research and it appears this functionality has been removed from Cloud, amongst other features, as you can see in this blog:

Functionality update and moving to our new Cloud infrastructure

This is the reason the Cloud version of Integrate Questions with your spaces doesn't include any of those steps that you're seeing in the Server version that I sent you.

Have a look at that and please let me know if you have any questions.

Kind Regards,
Shannon

[Ron Benchetrit]

Shannon,

Apologies for the late reply, I'm just getting back on track with this initiative.  Since there is no longer an "Ask Question" button available in the macro, what is the suggested alternative?  Is there a hyperlink to a specific page that I can use instead for my users to ask a question?

Or, should I be using the global Question page instead of a named space?  What is the Atlassian best practice for asking questions?

Thank you,

Ron

[Shannon S]

Hi Ron,

On your sidebar in Confluence, do you have a Questions panel? 

If not, do you mind if I make you a support ticket in the support portal so I can have a look at your instance?

Kind Regards,
Shannon

[Sebastien Etorre]

Hi Shannon,

having the same issue as Ron. This is a lame functional regression. "Why" the button isn't there any more is of no real interest; explaining "How" we may emulate one, or "When" the button will be back would make a bit more sense.

Sorry for seeming annoyed, but we are annoyed. You can't just sell stuff, and then pull the plug on features.

Have a nice day,

Sébastien

[Shannon S]

Hi Sébastien,

Thank you for reaching out. Since Ron hasn't been able to respond lately, I can work on this issue with you.

Could you just confirm that you are also on Cloud, and if you do not see the Questions panel on your left sidebar?

I had asked Ron if it was alright if I create a ticket for him in our Support queue so I can have a look at the instance itself, and if you'd like me to proceed that with you, please let me know! Then we can get to the bottom of this and see what the new behavior is.

Kind Regards,
Shannon

[Sebastien Etorre]

Hi Shannon,

thanks for following up. We are on Cloud, I'm full admin. I do see the Questions link on the left sidebar, but this isn't the user experience we're looking to create. Everywhere else in our Spaces, users can create a content from a button next to the block where it is to appear. That used to be the case in the Questions macro. Here, Users have to navigate back up to the Main page of the Space, an there only may they see the Questions link in the left panel. Won't work.

I tried going to the Questions page, in order to put a simple link to the Question template... but you can't deep link to that template (JS button, no hard coded url).

Bad...

Sébastien

[Shannon S]

Sebastien,

Thank you for confirming. So the "Ask a Question" button is not missing due to a bug, but was deprecated, and for now you will need to continue to go through the menu item as you are letting your users know. 

I will speak with the team today to see what they have in plan for us in the future, since I know the new version is something they are actively working on.

I will keep you updated with what I find out.

Kind Regards,
Shannon

[Sebastien Etorre]

"button is not missing due to a bug, but was deprecated"

OMG, it's even worse. Poor design and specification, functional regression... and you guys are fine with it.

Scary.

Sébastien

[Shannon S]

Sébastien,

The original feature was deprecated, but that doesn't necessarily mean there will not be a similar feature later on. Please allow me to discuss with the development team and I will have more information for you.

Thank you for your understanding.

Kind Regards,
Shannon

[Sebastien Etorre]

"The original feature was deprecated, but that doesn't necessarily mean there will not be a similar feature later on."

The issue is that you can't deprecate something, and leave a functional hole - even a small one - for an undetermined amount of time before some kind of replacement is expected.

Other platforms we use tend - on the contrary - to manage overlap between a feature sunset and the availability of it's new version, or substitute. Seems rational and respectful of Users.

Thanks,

Sébastien

[John Minne]

removing the "ask a question" button has slowed adoption of confluence on new teams and as such we are reviewing alternatives.