Why can't I see automation in Confluence?

[David Corlette]

Per the docs at 

https://support.atlassian.com/cloud-automation/docs/create-automation-rules-in-confluence/

it says 4 things must not be true to see the 'automation' button at the top of pages in Confluence:

1) You're on the Space Overview page, a whiteboard, or a database. The automation icon appears only on pages in view mode.

(I am looking a regular page I just created)

2) You’re not an admin of the space you’re in (for Space automation).

(I have created a custom Automation rule via Space Settings > Automation, and it has Space scope, and I am a space admin)

3) You’re not a site admin or Confluence admin (for Global automation).

(N/A since the rule has space scope)

4) Your team has Cloud Standard or Cloud Free – automation is a premium feature in Confluence.

(How do I tell what we have? We are extensive Jira users and have 10s of thousands of Confluence pages, but I couldn't tell you which version we have...)

[Trudy Claspill · Accepted solution]

Hello @David Corlette 

Is the problem that you think you should see the Automation button at the top of the page but don't?

You're post is a little confusing where you state that the page says 4 things must not be true.

I think your looking at this part of the document:

Let's flip that script.

In order to see the Automation button at the top of a page:

- You must be viewing a page within the space (not the overview page, not a database, and not a whiteboard).  You have indicated that this is true; you are viewing a page.

- For Automations that are only space-specific, you must be a Space Admin for the space you are in. You have indicated you are a Space Admin for the space.

- For Automations that are global, you must be a site-admin. You said this in n/a since the automation is space specific.

- Automation is a feature of the Confluence Cloud Premium subscription only, so you must be using a Premium subscription.

That last bullet is actually not true. If you look at the Confluence Cloud Pricing page you can see that Automation is actually available in Free and Standard plans now.

https://www.atlassian.com/software/confluence/pricing

If it was not available in your plan then you would not have been able to access it in Space Settings.

Also notice that this block is talking about the availability of the option in Confluence Administration and Space Settings, not the button that would display on a page.

I think that the statements above that warning block about being able to see an Automation button in the upper right section of a page may be incorrect. I've looked at both free and premium subscriptions, and I don't see the button nor do I see Automation under the ... button also in the upper right corner.

I do see it when I click on the ... button next to a page in the navigation panel on the left.

When I click that button I then see a list of automation rules that use the Manual trigger.

[David Corlette]

This. It looks like they replaced the Automate button in the page title bar with the Loom feature - annoying. But you are right, I found it in the page tree.

[Connor · Accepted solution]

Hi @David Corlette I ran into this myself a few weeks back, and only just discovered the answer. Atlassian has removed the automation lightning bolt icon, and buried automations within the More menu. I discovered this while reading through product updates found within the Atlassian Administration Center. They started rolling this out December 21 and the status still shows as rolling out. I've copied/pasted the product update below for you.

Removing manual automation triggers from page view

We are removing the manual automation trigger (lightning bolt icon) option from the page header. You can now access manual automation rules from the More menu (three dots icon) in the left sidebar.

1. Select the three dots menu on a content item in the sidebar to open the More menu.
2. Then select Automate. If you have manually triggered rules set up, the Page automations window opens.
3. Select a rule.
4. Select Automate to run the rule.

Unfortunately it seems like they're rolling out this change piecemeal, as the lightning bolt has been removed in my Confluence site, but I see no Automate option within the More menu.

[Trudy Claspill]

@Connor 

Did you check the More option for the content item in the sidebar on the left, or are you check the More option on the page itself (in the upper right corner)?

The image I provided in my response is from the sidebar, as the update describes.

I did not find the option under the More button in the upper right on the page itself.

[Connor]

Hey @Trudy Claspill thanks for pointing that out, I was looking in the upper right corner More menu. I read that update several times, but I guess my brain was on auto-pilot and glossed right over it.

[Trudy Claspill]

I initially looked there too. I'm a bit surprised that it isn't in that location.

Kudos to you for finding it in the updates blog!

[David Corlette]

Agreed that it's annoying they moved it... I would expect Automations to be more useful than Loom videos, which is what I think they replaced it with I think...

[Barbara Szczesniak]

@David Corlette In case you're not seeing the Automate command on the content tree More actions menu, I just wanted to mention that you need to turn on Automation for the space in Space Settings > General > Features.

[David Corlette]

This was already turned on - weird that https://support.atlassian.com/cloud-automation/docs/create-automation-rules-in-confluence/ doesn't mention this as a necessary pre-requisite.